Programmed in 1970, the lunar mission failed to reach the moon as planned, but with prudent leadership and teamwork, seemingly impossible challenges were overcome and completed without any loss of life.
“Like Shackleton, I am a person who likes to struggle with unexpected challenges. When you see that things are not as they should be, or when you realize that something is going to go wrong, you have to think ahead.” The Apollo 13 commander said these words in a speech to the National Science Foundation during his mission visit to Antarctica in January 2000. Captain Lovell called Shackleton’s management of the Endurance voyage, which saved the entire crew, “miraculous leadership”. “We had the same attitude on Apollo 13: always look forward as long as you see a chance”.
“Houston we have a problem”
Like Shackleton, Captain Lovell was 42 years old when he faced the biggest test of his life. On the third day of their journey, the astronauts on Apollo 13 were finishing a television broadcast when the oxygen tank exploded. The accident destroyed the fuel cells that powered the spacecraft’s electrical and propulsion support systems. Just when they thought, “It can’t get any worse,” they realized that oxygen was escaping from the command module into space. Captain Lovell then uttered the historic words to the command and control center: “Houston, we’ve had a problem”. The crew of John L. Swigert Jr. and Fred W. Haise Jr. were 350,000 kilometers from Earth and it would have been overly optimistic to think that they would make it back in these conditions.