Apollo 13 was the mission aborted after an oxygen-tank explosion that still returned its crew safely.
Launched on 11 April 1970, Apollo 13 was intended to land astronauts James Lovell and Fred Haise on the Moon, with Jack Swigert serving as command-module pilot. About two days into the flight, an oxygen tank in the service module failed and damaged the spacecraft.
The crew used the lunar module Aquarius as a lifeboat while flight controllers in Houston developed procedures to conserve power, water, and oxygen. The astronauts traveled around the Moon without landing and transferred back to the command module before reentering Earth’s atmosphere.
Apollo 13 returned safely on 17 April 1970. The mission is remembered for the engineering and teamwork that overcame a life-threatening failure, rather than for completing its original lunar-landing objective.