On This Day in Space: April 17, 1970: Apollo 13 returns home from aborted moon mission
On April 17, 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth after narrowly avoiding a deadly disaster in space.
On April 17, 1970, Apollo 13 returned to Earth after narrowly avoiding a deadly disaster in space. This was supposed to be the third mission to land on the moon.
Astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise launched on April 11 and were two days into their trip to the moon when an oxygen tank exploded, and NASA had to abort the mission. When the astronauts called mission control to report the incident, Swigert uttered the famous quote, "Houston, we've had a problem."
— What Caused the Apollo 13 Accident?
— Apollo 13 Astronauts Share Surprises From Their 'Successful Failure' Mission
— What If Apollo 13 Failed to Return Home? New Video Tells All
— How Apollo 13's Dangerous Survival Mission Worked (Infographic)
With the service module running out of oxygen, they opted to use the lunar lander as a lifeboat. Because the oxygen was also used to power the spacecraft's fuel cells, they were also running out of power. They shut down all nonessential systems and turned down the heat, and spent four cold, miserable days heading back to Earth. [NASA's Apollo 13 Mission of Survival in Pictures]
Get the Space.com Newsletter
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
They had to go back into the service module for reentry, and they didn't know if their heat shield had been damaged by the explosion. Luckily they survived reentry and safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
On This Day in Space Archive!
Still not enough space? Don't forget to check out our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week.
Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.
-
Arc Light Just so you know, the X-15 took off from Edwards AFB under the wing of a B-52 & was airdropped over Delamar Dry Lake, Nevada. The flight to the altitude record wasn't planned, but the rocket engine burned for two seconds longer than expected. The test flight was scheduled to peak at 280,000', but actually reached 314, 750' due to the extra rocket burn time.Reply -
Fourth Root Misleading wording. Bob White did not set the world altitude record on July 17th, 1962. Four Astronauts and two cosmonauts had flown higher prior to his flight. One could say it was the highest manned flight of a winged craft. But that's not the wording that was used.Reply -
DrRaviSharma On this date in 1969, I was part of NASA Apollo TeamReply
Contributed to Experiments in orbit and on Surface of Moon (ALSEP) etc.also trained astronauts
Studied containation on and ouside Spacecraft.
The Moon gave me employment to work for 5 Years on exciting Human Space flight Programs Skylab, Planning of Space Station and Space Shuttle
See My picture taken with Buzz Aldrin in 2009
https://www.space.com/india-moon-landing-not-a-failure.html
I received Apollo Achievement Award from NASA dated July 20, 1969.
Thanks Hanneke Weitering for today's Historic post
Ravi
Dr. Ravi Sharma -
Mergatroid "Allegedly, the moon turns green because of its close proximity to Uranus"Reply
I'm sorry about that. I hear they have been investigating x-rays from the same source. I had no idea. I'll get a doctor to check into it.
Sorry everyone.
Sorry...