60 Fun Facts About Apollo 13

In which year did Apollo 13 fly?

Apollo 13 launched on 11 April 1970 and splashed down six days later on 17 April 1970; it was meant to be the third crewed Moon landing, after Apollo 11 and 12.

Which mission did Jim Lovell fly in December 1968, before commanding Apollo 13?

Apollo 8, in December 1968, was the first crewed flight to orbit the Moon; Lovell was its command module pilot and had already flown Gemini 7 and Gemini 12, making him NASA's most experienced astronaut.

What exploded aboard Apollo 13 two days into the flight?

A routine stir of the tank ignited damaged wire insulation, and the blast vented both of the service module's oxygen tanks to space.

Which spacecraft did the Apollo 13 crew use as a 'lifeboat' after the explosion?

The lunar module, designed to keep two men alive on the Moon for about two days, became a lifeboat: Houston improvised ways for it to support three men for most of the trip home.

Who played Jim Lovell in the 1995 film Apollo 13?

The script was written with Kevin Costner in mind because he looked like Lovell, but Hanks won the part for his knowledge of space history.

Who directed the 1995 film Apollo 13?

Ron Howard directed Apollo 13, his follow-up to The Paper (1994); his father Rance, his wife Cheryl and his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard all have small parts in it.

Which famous movie line from Apollo 13 was never actually said during the mission?

'Failure is not an option' was coined by the screenwriters after flight controller Jerry Bostick told them failure was never considered; Gene Kranz liked it enough to title his 2000 memoir with it.

Which mission crew member was grounded two days before launch after being exposed to rubella?

Ken Mattingly, the prime command module pilot, had been exposed to German measles through backup crewman Charles Duke and was replaced by his own backup; he never fell ill and later flew Apollo 16.

Which two Academy Awards did Apollo 13 (1995) win from its nine nominations?

Apollo 13 won Best Film Editing (Mike Hill and Dan Hanley) and Best Sound at the 1996 ceremony, losing Best Picture to Braveheart; it joined the National Film Registry in 2023.

Where did the Apollo 13 command module splash down?

The command module splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean southeast of American Samoa on 17 April, and the crew were aboard USS Iwo Jima within about 45 minutes.

What was the call sign of Apollo 13's lander?

Lovell took it from Aquarius the water-bearer, not from the song in Hair as some reporters assumed.

What was the call sign of the Apollo 13 command module?

Odyssey was Lovell's choice for the command module; he liked the dictionary definition — a long voyage with many changes of fortune — which proved apt.

What did the Apollo 13 crew and Mission Control famously improvise from duct tape, plastic and cardboard?

The 'mailbox' was a carbon dioxide scrubber adapter that let the command module's square lithium hydroxide canisters work in the lander's round receptacles; CAPCOM Joe Kerwin read up the build instructions.

Which actor played flight director Gene Kranz in Apollo 13?

Ed Harris played Gene Kranz, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor; he lost to Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects.

What did President Nixon award the Apollo 13 crew when they reached Hawaii?

He then stopped in Houston to give the same honour to the Mission Operations Team, on the recommendation of NASA chief Thomas Paine.

What was Apollo 13's intended landing site on the Moon?

Fra Mauro, a hilly highland region named for its 95-km crater, was chosen because its ejecta blanket holds material excavated from deep within the Moon by the Imbrium impact.

How far from Earth was Apollo 13 at its farthest point?

Apollo 13 reached about 400,000 km (400,171 km) from Earth at its farthest, a crewed-spaceflight distance record, because the Moon was near apogee and the free-return path swung wide.

Which everyday chore did the command module pilot realise mid-flight he had forgotten to do?

The command module pilot realised in flight that he had not filed his income tax return, due 15 April; Houston later confirmed he qualified for a 60-day extension as a citizen out of the country.

Lovell summed up Apollo 13 with which two-word phrase?

Lovell called Apollo 13 'a successful failure': the landing was lost, but the crew's safe return after the explosion showed the value of the recovery procedures and has been called NASA's finest hour.

What was Apollo 13's mission motto?

Ex luna, scientia means 'From the Moon, knowledge'; Lovell adapted it from his alma mater's motto, and the phrase is lettered across the bottom of the mission patch.

How much water was each Apollo 13 crewman rationed per day on the way home?

Each man was rationed about 200 millilitres (six ounces) of water a day on the return, a fifth of normal intake; the crew lost 14 kg between them and came home with 12.8 kg of water to spare.

How cold did it get inside the darkened Apollo 13 spacecraft?

Lovell decided spacesuits would be too hot, so he and Haise wore their lunar boots and the third man pulled on an extra coverall.

Which Apollo 13 crew member developed a urinary tract infection on the way home?

Fred Haise, the crew's lander pilot, developed a urinary tract infection from the meagre water ration and ran a fever on the way home; he was later slated to command the cancelled Apollo 19.

Which famous astronaut sat on the review board that investigated the Apollo 13 accident?

Neil Armstrong, nine months after his own Moon landing, sat on the Cortright Review Board chaired by Langley director Edgar Cortright, which delivered its report on 15 June, two months after the flight.

What was Apollo 13's spacecraft made to do with the Saturn V third stage, for the first time?

Apollo 13's spent S-IVB third stage was deliberately crashed into the Moon, the first such impact; Apollo 12's seismometer, left on the surface five months earlier, recorded it, prompting Lovell's quip that at least something worked on this flight.

With debris blocking star sightings, what did the crew use to align the spacecraft for the PC+2 burn?

With debris making star sightings impossible, the crew confirmed their platform alignment by sighting the Sun, which proved accurate to within a degree, and the PC+2 burn went as planned.

Which manufacturer jokingly invoiced North American Rockwell over $312,000 for 'towing' Apollo 13 around the Moon?

Grumman, builder of the lander that towed the crippled craft home, sent North American Rockwell a tongue-in-cheek $312,421.24 invoice: $1 a mile towing plus $4 for the first mile, and $8 a night for an 'additional guest in room'.

How long did Apollo 13's reentry communications blackout last?

The blackout ran about six minutes, roughly a minute and a half longer than predicted, because the shallow entry path stretched it out; controllers feared the heat shield had failed.

The Apollo 13 film was adapted from which 1994 book?

Journalist Jeffrey Kluger co-wrote it with Lovell after Lovell retired in 1991; Kluger cameos in the film as a TV reporter.

How were the weightless scenes in Apollo 13 filmed?

The cast and crew flew aboard NASA's KC-135 reduced-gravity aircraft, the 'Vomit Comet', filming in 25-second bursts of weightlessness over 612 parabolas — about three hours 54 minutes in total; Steven Spielberg suggested it.

Who turned down the last-minute command module pilot role in Apollo 13 in favour of Seven?

Brad Pitt turned down the role of the last-minute command module pilot to make Seven (1995) with David Fincher; the part went to Kevin Bacon instead.

Who played the grounded prime command module pilot in the film Apollo 13?

Gary Sinise, fresh from playing Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump (1994), played the astronaut bumped from the crew by the rubella scare, who then works the simulator to find a power-up sequence.

Which actress played Marilyn Lovell in Apollo 13?

Kathleen Quinlan played Marilyn Lovell and was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, losing to Mira Sorvino for Mighty Aphrodite.

What cameo did the real mission commander make in the 1995 film?

Howard wanted to make him an admiral, but Lovell insisted on appearing in his real retired rank of captain, in his own Navy uniform.

How did the film alter Lovell's real radio call, 'Houston, we've had a problem'?

The reworded line was voted number 50 on AFI's list of the 100 greatest movie quotes.

Which film knocked Apollo 13 off the top of the US box office after four weeks at number one?

Waterworld, Kevin Costner's costly ocean epic, opened on 28 July 1995 and took the number one spot after Apollo 13's month-long run; Apollo 13 nonetheless finished the year third worldwide behind Die Hard with a Vengeance and Toy Story.

Where did Hanks, Paxton and Bacon train before shooting Apollo 13?

The three actors spent time at the US Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, where Lovell and Apollo 15 commander David Scott, the film's technical adviser, put them through exercises in simulated modules.

Which of the director's relatives played Blanche Lovell in the film?

The director's mother, Jean Speegle Howard, played Blanche Lovell; his father Rance played the family minister and his brother Clint played EECOM Sy Liebergot.

How long after the oxygen tank fans were switched on did the crew hear the bang?

The bang came 95 seconds after the tank stir switches were flipped, when a short circuit in the fan wiring ignited the Teflon insulation inside tank 2; the film compresses the gap to almost nothing.

Which flight director's Black Team steered Apollo 13 right after the explosion, a role the film largely gives to Kranz?

Ken Mattingly later said that if there was a hero, Lunney was, by himself, a hero for the calm he brought that night.

Which company built the faulty Oxygen Tank 2 as a subcontractor to North American Rockwell?

Beech Aircraft built the tanks as a subcontractor; its thermostatic switches were rated for 28 volts, but pad tests at Kennedy ran the heaters at 65 volts, welding the switches shut and cooking the wire insulation weeks before launch.

What did the Atomic Energy Commission want dropped safely, prompting Apollo 13's final course correction?

The SNAP-27 fuel cask sank 10 km into the Tonga Trench, and helicopter surveys later found no leak.

Which school's engineers calculated the docking-tunnel air pressure that separated Apollo 13's craft before reentry?

University of Toronto engineers, led by Bernard Etkin, had six hours to calculate the tunnel pressure that would push the lander clear without damaging the hatch, since the usual thruster separation needed the service module.

What was unusual about Apollo 13's mission patch, alongside Apollo 11's?

Like Apollo 11's, the Apollo 13 patch carried no crew names, apt since a crewman was swapped out two days before launch; artist Lumen Martin Winter based the design on his mural for New York's St. Regis Hotel.

What became of the Apollo 13 command module after the mission?

The same Cosmosphere workshop, Space Works, built the spacecraft interiors for the 1995 film.

Which anomaly hit Apollo 13 during launch, before the famous explosion?

Severe pogo oscillations caused it; investigators later found the engine was one cycle from catastrophic failure.

Which director's cameo as a congressman continued a tradition of appearing in his protégés' films?

Roger Corman, who gave the director his first directing job on Grand Theft Auto (1977), appears as a congressman on a VIP tour of the Vehicle Assembly Building; Corman cameos in many of his protégés' films.

Which visual effects company created Apollo 13's launch and space sequences?

Digital Domain, the effects house co-founded by James Cameron, produced the film's launch and space sequences under supervisor Robert Legato, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.

Who composed the score for the 1995 film Apollo 13?

James Horner composed the Apollo 13 score and earned one of the film's nine Academy Award nominations for it, in the Best Original Dramatic Score category; he lost to Luis Bacalov for Il Postino.

Which film did Lovell blame for his wife's pre-launch nightmare, recreated in Apollo 13?

Marooned (1969), in which three astronauts are stranded in orbit, had so unsettled Marilyn Lovell when the couple saw it before the flight that Lovell blamed it for her nightmare, which the film recreates.

Which of the Apollo 13 crew was elected to Congress in 1982 but died before he could be sworn in?

Jack Swigert, the last-minute command module pilot, won Colorado's new 6th congressional district seat in November 1982 but died of bone cancer on 27 December, a week before he would have been sworn in.

Lovell adapted Apollo 13's motto from the motto of which institution, his alma mater?

Lovell graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1952; he reworked its motto, Ex scientia, tridens ('From knowledge, sea power'), into Apollo 13's 'From the Moon, knowledge'.

Which animals appear on the Apollo 13 mission patch?

The Apollo 13 patch shows three flying horses drawing the sun god Apollo's chariot from Earth to the Moon; artist Lumen Martin Winter adapted them from a mural he painted for New York's St. Regis Hotel.

From which Kennedy Space Center launch pad did Apollo 13 lift off?

Apollo 13 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at 2:13 pm EST on 11 April; every crewed Saturn V except Apollo 10, which used 39B, flew from Pad 39A.

Why did the mission first put red stripes on the helmet and limbs of Lovell's spacesuit?

Reviewers of Apollo 11 pictures could not tell Armstrong from Aldrin; the change came too late for Apollo 12.

Roughly how much plutonium oxide was in the SNAP-27 fuel capsule Apollo 13 carried?

The SNAP-27 fuel capsule held about 3.79 kg of plutonium-238 oxide; its graphite cask was built to survive reentry intact, and monitoring found no release after it fell into the ocean.

How many Soviet ships headed toward the splashdown area to assist Apollo 13 if needed?

The Soviet Union sent four ships toward the landing area to help if needed; Pope Paul VI led 10,000 people in prayer, and the US Senate urged a pause for prayer on the evening of 14 April.

Roughly how many Americans watched Apollo 13's splashdown live?

An estimated 40 million Americans watched the splashdown live on 17 April, shown by all three networks — a sharp contrast with the crew's television broadcast just before the accident, which no network aired.

Which scandal cost Swigert his seat on the 1975 joint mission with the Soviet Union?

He was dropped from the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project crew over the Apollo 15 postal covers affair, in which astronauts flew unauthorised stamped envelopes to the Moon for sale; he left NASA in 1973 for a House committee job.

Which later mission finally landed at Apollo 13's intended site, in February 1971?

Apollo 14 reached the site on 5 February 1971: Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell spent two EVAs on the surface, hauling a cart of tools toward Cone crater, while Stuart Roosa orbited above.