Apollo 13: How Tape and Cardboard Saved Three Astronauts

Houston, We've Had a Problem Three astronauts were three hundred thousand kilometers from Earth when their spaceship exploded. This really happened, in April 1970, on Apollo 13, a mission to the Moon. Two days in, an oxygen tank blew up. Jim Lovell radioed: Houston, we've had a problem. Their power and oxygen were running out. The Moon landing was over. Now they just had to survive. They moved into the tiny lunar module, a lifeboat built for two people, for two days. It got freezing cold. Water froze on the walls. The air began to fill with carbon dioxide. So on Earth, engineers built a fix using only what was on board. Plastic bags, cardboard, and tape. The astronauts copied it, piece by piece. And it worked. They swung around the Moon, and headed home. Six days after launch, they splashed down in the ocean. All three alive. Home. Three astronauts were three hundred thousand kilometers from Earth when their spaceship exploded.