Apollo 13: The Oxygen Tank Failure and the Lunar Module Lifeboat
The short version
Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970, meant to be the third crewed Moon landing. About 55 hours and 55 minutes in, oxygen tank number two failed, and the crew of three used the lunar module Aquarius as a lifeboat and looped around the Moon to return. The Apollo 13 Review Board traced the failure to a chain of mistakes, and Odyssey splashed down in the Pacific on April 17, 1970.
Full written account
Nine minutes after Jim Lovell said "Good night" at the end of a television broadcast, about 200,000 miles from Earth, there was a bang. The date was April 13, 1970, and the mission was Apollo 13, meant to be the third crewed landing on the Moon, at a hilly region called Fra Mauro. It launched on April 11, 1970 from launch pad 39A in Florida, and everyone aboard came home.
A smooth flight, then a bang
Lovell, already a veteran of three spaceflights including Apollo 8, commanded the mission. Fred Haise was lunar module pilot. Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, had been named to the crew only the day before launch, replacing Ken Mattingly, who had been exposed to German measles and had no immunity. Mattingly never caught the illness.
About five and a half minutes into the launch, the second stage's center engine shut down two minutes early; the other engine burned longer and the rocket reached orbit. Around 46 hours in, the capsule communicator told the crew, "We're bored to tears down here."
About 55 hours and 55 minutes into the mission, oxygen tank number two in the service module failed. Swigert reported, "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here," and Lovell repeated it: "Houston, we've had a problem." Within minutes two of three fuel cells were dead, one oxygen tank read empty and the other was draining. Lovell saw a gas venting into space.
The lifeboat
The lunar module Aquarius had been built for two people on a short trip to the surface; NASA's figure for its lifetime is about 45 hours. It now had to keep three alive for about 90. With only 15 minutes of power left in the command module Odyssey, Lovell and Haise moved into Aquarius while Swigert shut Odyssey down. It was the only part with a heat shield.
The long way around
The crew had left the free return path earlier, as planned. About five hours after the explosion they fired the lander's descent engine for about 35 seconds to get back on a path home. Two hours after rounding the far side of the Moon, a burn of about four and a half minutes sped up the trip, cutting it to about 142 hours. Debris from the explosion hid the real stars, so Houston devised a way to align using the Sun; Lovell found it less than half a degree off.
At its farthest the crew was about 248,655 miles from Earth, a record that held for 56 years.
Cold, thirst and a square peg
The cabin fell to about 38°F. Water was cut to about 6 oz per person per day. Lovell lost 14 lb and the crew together 31 and a half. After about a day and a half in the lander, a warning light showed dangerous carbon dioxide levels. The command module's canisters were square and the lander's openings round; engineers on the ground built a fix from plastic, cardboard and tape.
Flight controllers wrote the procedures to restart Odyssey in about three days, work that normally took about three months. Four hours before landing the crew released the service module and saw that an entire panel was missing. Odyssey splashed down near Samoa on April 17, 1970, and the USS Iwo Jima picked up the crew. The mission lasted just under six days.
What broke
NASA's review board described a chain of mistakes. The tank had been fitted to Apollo 10, removed and damaged, then repaired and installed in Apollo 13. In 1965 the heaters were changed to run on 65 volts instead of 28, but the thermostatic switches were never upgraded. Two weeks before launch the tank would not empty in a ground test, so the team ran the heater for 8 hours. The switches were probably welded shut, and nearby wiring suffered very high temperatures that badly damaged its Teflon insulation. At 55 hours, a routine stir of the tank let that wiring set off a fire in the pure oxygen.
NASA then rebuilt the oxygen system for later Apollo flights: stirring fans removed, wiring sheathed in steel, and an extra oxygen tank added in a separate bay.
Record and myths
"Failure is not an option" does not come from the mission recordings; by most accounts it was written for the 1995 film. On April 6, 2026, the Artemis II crew reached about 252,756 miles from Earth. Lovell died in 2025 but had recorded a message that NASA played to them on the morning of their lunar flyby.
Questions this video answers
What was the real line spoken?
Swigert said 'Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here' and Lovell repeated 'Houston, we've had a problem.'
How long was the lunar module meant to support the crew?
NASA's figure is a lifetime of about 45 hours for two people; it had to keep three alive for about 90.
What caused the tank failure?
The review board found a chain of mistakes, including a tank damaged on removal from Apollo 10, heater switches never upgraded from 28 to 65 volts, and an 8-hour heater boil-off before launch that damaged wiring insulation. Wiring then set off a fire in the tank when it was stirred.
How far did the crew get from Earth?
About 248,655 miles, a record that stood for 56 years until Artemis II reached about 252,756 miles.
How did they solve the carbon dioxide problem?
Engineers on the ground talked the crew through building an adapter from plastic, cardboard and tape so square canisters fit round openings.
