In Apollo 13, what does flight director Gene Kranz say about failure during the mission crisis?

In Apollo 13, Gene Kranz says, “Failure is not an option.”

The line expresses the flight director’s determination to bring the damaged spacecraft crew home safely. In the film, Kranz leads NASA’s Mission Control team after an oxygen-tank explosion threatens the lives of astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert.

The quotation is strongly associated with the real Apollo 13 rescue, but the exact phrase was created for the film’s screenplay. Flight director Gene Kranz later said that he did not use those words during the actual mission, although the sentiment reflected NASA’s problem-solving culture.

Apollo 13 was released in 1995 and directed by Ron Howard. Tom Hanks played Lovell, and Ed Harris played Kranz. The film was based partly on Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger’s 1994 book Lost Moon.