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{{Short description|Failed Moon landing mission in the Apollo program}} {{About|the 1970 spaceflight|the film based upon it|Apollo 13 (film){{!}}''Apollo 13'' (film)||Apollo 13 (disambiguation)}} {{Pp-semi-indef}} {{featured article}} {{Use American English|date=January 2014}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox spaceflight | name = Apollo 13 | image = File:Apollo 13 Service Module (lossless crop).jpg | image_caption = ''Odyssey''{{'}}s damaged [[Apollo command and service module#Service module (SM)|service module]], as seen from the [[Apollo Lunar Module]] ''Aquarius'', hours before reentry | image_alt = | mission_type = Crewed lunar landing attempt ([[List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types|H]]) | operator = [[NASA]] | COSPAR_ID = {{Unbulleted list|CSM: 1970-029A|LM: 1970-029C}} | SATCAT = 4371<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=4371|title=Apollo 13 CM|website=N2YO.com|access-date=August 18, 2019}}</ref> | mission_duration = 5 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes, 41 seconds{{sfn|Orloff|2000|p=309}} | spacecraft = {{Unbulleted list|[[Apollo command and service module|Apollo CSM]]-109 |[[Apollo Lunar Module|Apollo LM]]-7}} | manufacturer = {{Unbulleted list|CSM: [[North American Rockwell]]|LM: [[Grumman]]}} | launch_mass = 44,069 kg (CSM: 28,881 kg;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-029A |title=Apollo 13 Command and Service Module (CSM) |publisher=[[NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive]] |access-date=January 9, 2023}}</ref> LM: 15,188 kg)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-029C |title=Apollo 13 Lunar Module / EASEP |publisher=[[NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive]] |access-date=January 9, 2023}}</ref> | landing_mass = {{convert|11133|lb|kg|order=flip}}{{sfn|Orloff|2000|p=307}} | crew_size = 3 | crew_members = {{Unbulleted list|[[Jim Lovell|James A. Lovell Jr.]]|[[Jack Swigert|John L. Swigert Jr.]]|[[Fred Haise|Fred W. Haise Jr.]]}} | crew_callsign = {{Unbulleted list |CSM: ''Odyssey'' |LM: ''Aquarius''}} | launch_date = {{start date text|April 11, 1970, 19:13:00|timezone=yes}} UTC<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-029A |title=Apollo 13 |publisher=[[NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive]] |access-date=January 9, 2023}}</ref> | launch_rocket = [[Saturn V]] SA-508 | launch_site = [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A|Kennedy LC-39A]] | landing_date = {{end date text|April 17, 1970, 18:07:41|timezone=yes}} UTC | landing_site = South Pacific Ocean<br />{{Coord|21|38|24|S|165|21|42|W|type:event|name=Apollo 13 splashdown}} | recovery_by = {{USS|Iwo Jima|LPH-2|6}} | interplanetary = {{Infobox spaceflight/IP | type = flyby | note = orbit and landing aborted | object = Moon | distance = {{convert|137|nmi|km|order=flip|sp=us}} | arrival_date = April 15, 1970, 00:21:00 UTC }} | docking = {{Infobox spaceflight/Dock | docking_target = LM | docking_type = dock | docking_date = April 11, 1970, 22:32:08 UTC | undocking_date = April 17, 1970, 16:43:00 UTC | time_docked = }} | insignia = Apollo 13-insignia.png | insignia_alt = Apollo 13 logo | crew_photo = Apollo 13 Prime Crew.jpg | crew_photo_caption = [[Jim Lovell]], [[Jack Swigert]], [[Fred Haise]] | crew_photo_alt = Three astronauts posing behind a lunar globe | programme = [[Apollo program]] | previous_mission = [[Apollo 12]] | next_mission = [[Apollo 14]] }} '''Apollo 13''' (April 11{{endash}}17, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the [[Apollo program|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 [[Apollo command and service module#Service module (SM)|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|lunar module]] (LM), 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 [[Apollo command and service module#Command module (CM)|command module]] (CM) pilot and [[Fred Haise]] as [[Apollo Lunar Module|Lunar Module]] (LM) pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for [[Ken Mattingly]], who was grounded after exposure to [[rubella]]. A routine stir of an oxygen tank ignited damaged wire insulation inside it, causing an explosion that vented the contents of both of the SM's oxygen tanks to space.{{NoteTag|The event is described as an explosion in modern NASA histories and accounts by the crew.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Apollo 13 accident|author=Williams, David|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/ap13acc.html|publisher=NASA|quote=The Apollo 13 malfunction was caused by an explosion and rupture of oxygen tank no. 2 in the service module.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Cortright|1975|pp=248β249}}: "I did, of course, occasionally think of the possibility that the spacecraft explosion might maroon us... Thirteen minutes after the explosion, I happened to look out of the left-hand window, and saw the final evidence pointing toward potential catastrophe. "</ref> However, the formal accident report avoids the use of the term.{{sfn|Accident report|p=143}} NASA engineers at the time preferred "tank failure", both because it was more accurate and to avoid the negative connotations around the word "explosion".<ref>{{harvnb|Cooper|2013|page=21}}: "Later, in describing what happened, NASA engineers avoided using the word "explosion;" they preferred the more delicate and less dramatic term "tank failure," and in a sense it ''was'' the more accurate expression, inasmuch as the tank did not explode in the way a bomb does but broke open under pressure."</ref>}} Without oxygen, needed for breathing and for generating electric power, the SM's propulsion and life support systems could not operate. The CM's systems had to be shut down to conserve its remaining resources for reentry, forcing the crew to transfer to the LM as a lifeboat. With the lunar landing canceled, mission controllers worked to bring the crew home alive. Although the LM was designed to support two men on the lunar surface for two days, [[Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center|Mission Control]] in Houston improvised new procedures so it could support three men for four days. The crew experienced great hardship, caused by limited power, a chilly and wet cabin and a shortage of [[potable water]]. There was a critical need to adapt the CM's cartridges for the [[carbon dioxide scrubber]] system to work in the LM; the crew and mission controllers were successful in improvising a solution. The astronauts' peril briefly renewed public interest in the Apollo program; tens of millions watched the [[splashdown]] in the [[South Pacific Ocean]] on television. An investigative review board found fault with preflight testing of the oxygen tank and [[Teflon]] being placed inside it. The board recommended changes, including minimizing the use of potentially combustible items inside the tank; this was done for [[Apollo 14]]. The story of Apollo 13 has been dramatized several times, most notably in the 1995 film ''[[Apollo 13 (film)|Apollo 13]]'' based on ''[[Lost Moon]]'', the 1994 memoir co-authored by Lovell β and an episode of the 1998 miniseries ''[[From the Earth to the Moon (miniseries)|From the Earth to the Moon]]''. {{toc limit|3}}
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