A Successful Failure
April 11–17, 1970
You haven't made your decisions yet, astronaut! 🚀
This page shows how your calls stacked up against NASA's — but the mission is still waiting for you on the launch pad.
Your Mission Performance
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🏅 See How It Counts →Your Decisions vs. NASA's Choices
| Decision Point | Your Choice | NASA's Choice | Result |
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The Mission, in Brief
Apollo 13 launched April 11, 1970. Two days later, 200,000 miles from Earth, an oxygen tank exploded. With the Command Module dying, the crew moved into the Lunar Module as a lifeboat, swung around the Moon on a free-return trajectory, rationed water and power to the edge of survival, and improvised a CO2 scrubber out of spare parts. On April 17, all three astronauts splashed down safely.
Jim Lovell called it a "successful failure" — no Moon landing, but a rescue that became one of NASA's finest hours. Work the problem, stay calm, and use what you have: that's how the crew came home.
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NASA Tent - Apollo Table
Presented by Ed Gruhl
Scout District Commissioner, Glacial Trails District
Educational content based on NASA historical records
Apollo 13 mission: April 11–17, 1970
All three astronauts survived and returned safely