Apollo 13

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Happy to pose with the astronauts of Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 11–17, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and would have been the third Moon landing. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) exploded two days into the mission, disabling its electrical and life-support system. The crew, supported by backup systems on the Apollo Lunar Module, instead looped around the Moon in a circumlunar trajectory and returned safely to Earth on April 17. The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell, with Jack Swigert as command module (CM) pilot and Fred Haise as Lunar Module (LM) pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella. . James Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. ( LUV-əl; March 25, 1928 – August 7, 2025) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he, along with Frank Borman and William Anders, became one of the first three astronauts to fly to and orbit the Moon. He then commanded the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970 which, after a critical failure en route, looped around the Moon and returned safely to Earth. , John Swigert John Leonard Swigert Jr. (August 30, 1931 – December 27, 1982) was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer, United States Air Force pilot, and politician. In April 1970, as command module pilot of Apollo 13, he became one of 24 astronauts who flew to the Moon. Due to the "slingshot" route around the Moon they chose to safely return to Earth, the Apollo 13 astronauts flew farther away from Earth than any other astronauts before or since, though they had to abort the Moon landing. and Fred Haise Fred Wallace Haise Jr. ( HAYZ; born November 14, 1933) is an American former NASA astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Air Force, and a test pilot. He is one of 24 people to have flown to the Moon, having served as Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 13. He was to have been the sixth person to walk on the Moon, but the Apollo 13 landing was aborted en route. Haise flew five Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests in 1977. He retired from NASA in 1979. He is the last surviving crew member of Apollo 13 and the last surviving Apollo astronaut that flew to the moon without landing. .

Apollo 13 was the third intended moon mission which actually failed on land on moon. The feat was to bring the astronauts back alive to earth and the team on earth managed it by propelling the shuttle to a free-fall on pacific ocean.

It was classed as "successful failure".