APOLLO 13
April 11, 1970

Apollo 13 was the seventh crewed flight of the Apollo program and the third meant to land on the Moon. It lifted off on a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 11, 1970. The astronauts were commander Jim Lovell, command module pilot Jack Swigert and lunar module pilot Fred Haise. Swigert replaced Ken Mattingly at the last minute, after NASA's flight surgeon grounded Mattingly because of possible exposure to German measles. The crew was heading for the Fra Mauro highlands.

On April 13, about 56 hours after liftoff and nearly 330,000 kilometers from Earth, an oxygen tank exploded in the service module. The explosion also crippled the second oxygen tank and shut down the fuel cells, which supplied the spacecraft with electricity and water. The command module, Odyssey, could not support the crew any longer, and the landing was cancelled. Swigert and Lovell reported to Mission Control in Houston: "Houston, we've had a problem." The film version of the story made the line more famous as "Houston, we have a problem."

Without the service module, the crew moved into the lunar module, Aquarius, which was built for two men and two days on the Moon, not three men and four days back to Earth. Power was cut to a minimum, the cabin grew cold, drinking water was rationed and carbon dioxide began to rise. Engineers on the ground, led by flight director Gene Kranz, designed an adapter from items on board so that the crew could use the command module's carbon dioxide filters in the lunar module's system, and the crew built it by following instructions over the radio.

The spacecraft was already on a trajectory that would swing around the Moon and back toward Earth. The crew fired the lunar module's engine to speed the journey home, and passed the far side of the Moon at an altitude of 254 kilometers (137 nautical miles), a distance of 400,171 kilometers (248,655 miles) from Earth, the farthest humans have ever traveled. Lovell had also flown on Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the Moon, but he never walked on it.

The last hurdle was reentry. The crew released the service module and saw how badly it was damaged, then powered up the cold command module and separated from Aquarius. The spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970, and the astronauts were safe. NASA investigators later traced the explosion to damaged wiring in the oxygen tank.

The story was dramatized in the 1995 film Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard. Tom Hanks played Lovell, Bill Paxton played Haise, Kevin Bacon played Swigert, Gary Sinise played Mattingly, Ed Harris played Kranz and Kathleen Quinlan played Marilyn Lovell. The film won two Academy Awards.

The Apollo program continued: Apollo 14 landed at Fra Mauro in 1971, and the program ended with Apollo 17 in December 1972, when Eugene Cernan became the last man on the Moon. Browse the Apollo 13 pieces below, then explore Apollo 12, Apollo 11, Apollo 17, our Apollo memorabilia page and our signed astronaut autographs.

Jim Lovell flew in space four times and traveled to the Moon twice, but never walked on it. He was a member of the Apollo 8 crew, the first to leave Earth orbit and circle the Moon, and the commander of Apollo 13, the mission that nearly ended in disaster after an explosion. This page tells his story and points collectors to the Apollo pieces we offer from Paris.

James Arthur Lovell Jr. was born on March 25, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin and then the US Naval Academy, graduating in 1952. He became a naval aviator and later a Navy test pilot at the test pilot school at Patuxent River, Maryland. NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1962, in the same group as Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman and John Young.

His first spaceflight was Gemini 7, in December 1965, with Frank Borman. The two men spent 14 days in orbit, a record at the time, and carried out the first rendezvous in space with another crewed spacecraft, Gemini 6A. In November 1966, Lovell commanded Gemini 12, the last mission of the Gemini program, with Buzz Aldrin. Aldrin performed a spacewalk of more than five hours, showing that astronauts could work outside a spacecraft.

In December 1968, Lovell flew on Apollo 8 with Borman and William Anders. It was the first crewed flight to the Moon. The crew orbited the Moon ten times, photographed the Earth rising above the lunar horizon, and read from the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve in a broadcast watched around the world. Lovell was also the backup commander of Apollo 11, behind Armstrong.

Lovell commanded Apollo 13 in April 1970, with Fred Haise and Jack Swigert. An oxygen tank exploded two days into the flight, and the crew had to abandon the planned landing and use the lunar module as a lifeboat to return to Earth. Mission Control in Houston, Texas, guided them home, and they splashed down safely on April 17. It remains one of the most famous rescues in the history of the space program. Lovell wrote the story with Jeffrey Kluger in the book Lost Moon, which became the 1995 film Apollo 13. Tom Hanks played Lovell, and Lovell himself appeared in the film as the captain of the recovery ship.

Lovell retired from NASA and the Navy in 1973 and worked in business. He lived in Lake Forest, Illinois, where he ran a restaurant. He died on August 7, 2025, at age 97. In total he spent about 715 hours in space.

Photographs, documents and prints signed by Jim Lovell are sought by Apollo collectors, and authenticity matters. Browse our Apollo 13 memorabilia, our Apollo 11 memorabilia and our signed astronaut autographs. For other missions, see our Apollo memorabilia page.

Fred Haise was the lunar module pilot of Apollo 13. He was due to walk on the Moon in April 1970, but an explosion ended the landing and turned the mission into a fight to bring the crew home. This page tells the story of this NASA astronaut and points collectors to the Apollo 13 pieces we offer from Paris.

Fred Wallace Haise Jr. was born on November 14, 1933, in Biloxi, Mississippi. He became a Marine Corps fighter pilot and later studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He then worked as a research test pilot for NASA, including at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where many of the nation's test pilots flew experimental aircraft. NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1966.

Before Apollo 13, Haise served on the backup crews of Apollo 8 and Apollo 11. On Apollo 13, he flew with commander Jim Lovell and command module pilot Jack Swigert, who replaced Ken Mattingly at the last minute after Mattingly was exposed to German measles by Charlie Duke, a member of the backup crew. Haise, Lovell and Swigert were due to land in the Fra Mauro highlands, and Haise would have been among the next men to walk on the Moon.

On April 13, an oxygen tank exploded in the service module, cutting the electricity, oxygen and water supply of the command module. The crew moved into the lunar module, Aquarius, which Haise knew well as the pilot responsible for it. They followed instructions from Mission Control in Houston and the flight director, Gene Kranz, to build a makeshift adapter for the carbon dioxide filters, and they returned safely to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. The 1995 film Apollo 13 shows Haise, played by Bill Paxton, in these events.

Apollo 13 was Haise's only spaceflight. He was named backup commander of Apollo 16, which put him in line to command a later mission, but NASA cancelled Apollo 18, 19 and 20. He then took part in the Space Shuttle program: in 1977, he flew the shuttle Enterprise in the approach and landing tests, dropped from the back of a Boeing 747 to glide to a landing at Edwards. He left NASA in 1979 and worked for the aerospace company Grumman until the 1990s. The Apollo 13 crew received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970, and Haise is a member of the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Photographs, documents and prints signed by Fred Haise are sought by Apollo collectors, and authenticity matters. Browse our Apollo 13 memorabilia, our signed astronaut autographs and our flown to the Moon artifacts. For other missions, see Apollo 12 and our Apollo memorabilia page.

Jack Swigert became the command module pilot of Apollo 13 only two days before launch. A few days later, he reported to Mission Control: "Houston, we've had a problem." This page tells the story of this American astronaut, from Denver to the Moon and then to Congress, and points collectors to the Apollo 13 pieces we offer from Paris.

John Leonard "Jack" Swigert Jr. was born on August 30, 1931, in Denver, Colorado. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado in 1953 and joined the US Air Force, where he flew fighter aircraft. He then served in the Air National Guard, and later earned a master's degree in aerospace science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He worked as an engineering test pilot for North American Aviation, the company that built the Apollo command module.

NASA selected Swigert as an astronaut in 1966. He was a member of the backup crew of Apollo 13, as the backup command module pilot, and he knew the spacecraft's systems and emergency procedures well. When Ken Mattingly was grounded after exposure to German measles, Deke Slayton, NASA's director of flight crew operations, chose Swigert to take his place. He trained with Jim Lovell and Fred Haise for only a couple of days.

On April 13, 1970, an oxygen tank exploded in the service module. Swigert, Lovell and Haise abandoned the planned Moon landing and used the lunar module as a lifeboat, while Mission Control in Houston guided them home. Swigert's calm in the command module helped the crew restart it before reentry, and the spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 17. Kevin Bacon played Swigert in the 1995 film Apollo 13. It was Swigert's only spaceflight.

After leaving NASA in 1977, Swigert had already served as executive director of the House of Representatives committee on science and technology. In 1982, Colorado voters elected him to the US House of Representatives for the new Sixth Congressional District. He died of cancer on December 27, 1982, at age 51, before taking office. A statue of Swigert represents Colorado in the US Capitol.

Photographs, documents and prints signed by Jack Swigert are sought by Apollo collectors, and authenticity matters. His life was short, so his signature is relatively scarce. Browse our Apollo 13 memorabilia, our signed astronaut autographs and our flown to the Moon artifacts. For other missions, see Apollo 12 and our Apollo memorabilia page.

Gene Kranz never flew to the Moon, but he was one of the people who made it possible. As flight director at Mission Control in Houston, he led the team that guided the Apollo 11 landing and the rescue of Apollo 13. This page tells his story and points collectors to the Apollo pieces we offer from Paris.

Eugene Francis Kranz was born on August 17, 1933, in Toledo, Ohio. He studied aeronautical engineering at Parks College, part of Saint Louis University, and became a fighter pilot in the US Air Force. After working as an engineer in the aircraft industry, he joined NASA's Space Task Group at the Langley Research Center in 1960, at the start of the space race.

Kranz worked as a flight controller in the Mercury program, which sent the first Americans into space. He became a flight director during Gemini, starting with Gemini 4 in 1965, when control of American missions moved from Florida to the new Mission Control Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He wore a white vest made by his wife, Marta, that became his trademark, and his team was known as the White Team.

On January 27, 1967, a fire killed the crew of Apollo 1: Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. Kranz told his team that from then on, flight controllers would be known by two words, "tough" and "competent." The pledge shaped the culture of Mission Control for the rest of the Apollo program.

Kranz was the flight director in charge of the landing of Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969. When program alarms sounded during the descent of the lunar module, Eagle, he and his controllers had seconds to decide whether to continue, and they gave the go-ahead. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquility.

Nine months later, on Apollo 13, he led the team that worked to bring the crew home after an oxygen tank exploded. Kranz organized "tiger teams" of specialists to solve one problem after another, from power to carbon dioxide to the reentry procedure. The Apollo 13 mission operations team received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970. In the 1995 film Apollo 13, Ed Harris played Kranz, and the line "Failure is not an option" was written for him. Kranz used it as the title of his 2000 book about Mission Control, Failure Is Not an Option. He also appears in documentaries, such as the History Channel series When We Left Earth.

Kranz later served as deputy director and then director of mission operations at the Johnson Space Center during the Space Shuttle program, and retired from NASA in 1994.

Our archive of Apollo 11 collectibles includes a flight chart that belonged to Gene Kranz. Browse our Apollo 11 memorabilia, our Apollo 13 memorabilia and our signed astronaut autographs. For other missions, see our Apollo memorabilia page.