On This Day, April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 Launched from Kennedy Space Center.

The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell with Jack Swigert as command module pilot and Fred Haise as Apollo Lunar Module pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella.

Two days later, the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module failed two days into the mission, leading to famous expression, "Houston, we have a problem."

To survive, the crew needed to overcome limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and make makeshift repairs to the carbon dioxide removal system.

There was a critical need to adapt the command module’s cartridges for the carbon dioxide scrubber system to work in the lunar module. Working together, thousands of miles apart, the crew and mission controllers were successful in improvising a solution.

Looping around the Moon, the crew returned safely to Earth six days later on April 1...