Apollo 13

Historical background

The documentary film tells the dramatic story of the Apollo 13 mission, which almost ended in disaster. The NASA control team performs superhuman feats to save the three astronauts Jack Swigert, James Lovell and Fred Haise.

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in NASA’s Apollo space programme and was to be the third landing on the moon. The mission was launched on 13 April 1970 and was under the command of James A. Lovell, with John L. Swigert as command module pilot and Fred W. Haise as lunar module pilot. Two days into the mission, however, an oxygen tank exploded, severely damaging the spacecraft and endangering the lives of the crew.

The focus of the mission quickly shifted from the moon landing to a desperate struggle to return the astronauts safely to Earth. The course of the spacecraft had to be reprogrammed. The docked lunar module Aquarius became the saving module, as the astronauts could still utilise sufficient oxygen and energy reserves. Thanks to their ingenuity and teamwork, the crew and mission control found makeshift solutions to conserve energy, oxygen and water so that the damaged spacecraft could successfully return to Earth on 17 April 1970.

The phrase “Houston, we have a problem”, with which Commander Lovell reported the explosion to mission control, became famous. Although the original goal was not achieved, Apollo 13 is considered proof of human resilience, ingenuity and the effectiveness of teamwork under extreme pressure.