Jim Lovell recounts the Apollo 13 disaster

To the average American living in 1970, the space program had become rather humdrum. The previous year had witnessed Apollo 11’s historic first Moon landing and Apollo 12’s precision touchdown within walking distance of the unmanned Surveyor 3 spacecraft. But by early 1970, NASA’s run of success had turned much of the nation complacent. Many wondered whether fixing problems on Earth demanded more attention than exploring the Moon.It was in this climate that Apollo 13 set off on April 11 for the third lunar landing. The mission was to be the first devoted largely to science, and targeted an area near Fra Mauro Crater that scientists thought had been splattered by debris from the impact that formed Mare Imbrium.

Jim Lovell served as Apollo 13’s commander. This was his fourth trip into space. He had previously teamed with Frank Borman on Gemini VII in December 1965, when they achieved the first rendezvous with another manned spacecraft; with Buzz Aldrin on Gemini XII in November 1966, that program’s final mission; and with Borman and Bill Anders on the historic Apollo 8 mission in December 1968 that first sent astronauts to the Moon. On Apollo 13, he was joined by a pair of rookies: Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise. Swigert was a last-minute replacement for Ken Mattingly, who had been exposed to German measles a week before launch and was the only crew member who did not have immunity.

The first two days of the mission went largely according to plan, if little noticed by the broader public. None of the three major U.S. TV networks carried the crew’s primetime television broadcast the evening of April 13. But the world certainly took notice later that night when an oxygen tank in the service module exploded and put the mission — and the lives of the astronauts — in jeopardy. The harrowing return journey transfixed the nation and the world.

Recently, I had the honor to interview Captain Lovell about Apollo 13 at the Lake Forest, Illinois, public library. As you might expect, the events of the mission remain etched in his mind even after 50 years.