Apollo 13 was the mission famously aborted after an oxygen tank explosion. Launched on April 11, 1970, it was intended to become the third crewed mission to land astronauts on the Moon. About two days after launch, an oxygen tank in the service module failed catastrophically, crippling the spacecraft’s electrical power and life-support systems.
The explosion began after the crew activated fans to stir the cryogenic oxygen in a tank. Damaged wire insulation inside the tank allowed an electrical short and fire, causing pressure to rise until the tank ruptured. The failure also led to the loss of the service module’s other oxygen supply and fuel-cell power, forcing Mission Control to cancel the landing.
Commander Jim Lovell, command-module pilot Jack Swigert, and lunar-module pilot Fred Haise used the lunar module Aquarius as a lifeboat. They looped around the Moon and returned safely to Earth on April 17. The crisis became a landmark in mission-control problem-solving, including the improvised adaptation of carbon-dioxide scrubbers for the three-person crew.