Apollo 13 Home Safe | NASA

"Apollo 13" was the seventh crewed mission in NASA's Apollo space program and was intended to be the third mission to land on the Moon. However, it became famous for the phrase "Houston, we've had a problem." On April 13, 1970, an oxygen tank in the spacecraft's service module exploded, causing a critical failure in the spacecraft's systems. The explosion occurred while the spacecraft was en route to the Moon.

The crew of Apollo 13 consisted of James A. Lovell Jr. (Commander), John L. Swigert Jr. (Command Module Pilot), and Fred W. Haise Jr. (Lunar Module Pilot). Following the explosion, the mission had to be aborted, and the primary objective of landing on the Moon was no longer achievable.

The crew and mission control faced numerous challenges as they worked together to bring the astronauts back to Earth safely. The mission control team, led by Flight Director Gene Kranz, played a critical role in troubleshooting the problems and devising solutions.

Using the Lunar Module "Aquarius" as a lifeboat, the astronauts and mission control worked on course corrections and power conservation to ensure a safe return to Earth. They also had to perform a critical engine burn to adjust their trajectory.

The crew used the Lunar Module's descent engine to make this burn, as the Command Module's engine was unavailable due to the explosion. The burn had to be precisely timed to ensure they had enough velocity to re-enter Earth's atmosphere at the correct angle.

The crew, against all odds, managed to execute the engine burn with great accuracy. As a result, they safely re-entered Earth's atmosphere on April 17, 1970. The command module "Odyssey" separated from the Lunar Module, and the crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. They were then safely recovered by the USS Iwo Jima.

The "Apollo 13" mission is often referred to as a "successful failure" because while they didn't achieve their original goal of landing on the Moon, they overcame immense challenges and safely returned to Earth. It demonstrated the incredible skill, resourcefulness, and teamwork of the astronauts and the people at NASA's mission control.

The story of Apollo 13 was popularized in the 1995 film "Apollo 13," starring Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell, which depicted the events of the mission and the efforts to bring the astronauts home safely.