NASA launches Apollo 13 on April 11, 1970, the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third scheduled moon landing. Two days later, at almost 56 hours into the mission in April 13, the Apollo 13 oxygen tank 2, exploded, damaging the oxygen tank 1, the interior of the service module and blowing off the bay no. 4 cover.
With the oxygen stores depleted, the command module was unusable, the mission had to be aborted, and the crew transferred to the lunar module and powered down the command module and the mission objective changed to getting the Crew safely home.
After a lot of hard work and improvisation, the Apollo 13 spacecraft with Astronauts. Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise returned safely to earth Earth on April 17, 1970, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean . More
Note: The original Command Module pilot for this mission was Thomas "Ken" Mattingly Jr., but due to exposure to German measles he was replaced by his backup, Command Module pilot, John L. "Jack" Swigert Jr.
