--- title: Why Apollo 13 Was Called NASA's Most 'Successful Failure' description: It was a successful learning experience for NASA canonical: https://time.com/3818495/apollo-13-45-anniversary/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-11T21:16:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:19:49.213Z article:section: Science og:title: Why Apollo 13 Was Called NASA's Most 'Successful Failure' og:description: Forty-five years have passed since the flight launched og:url: https://time.com/3818495/apollo-13-45-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf91f9a4fd71115df/6987eac40b72e360276e1720/nasa-apollo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Apollo 13 launch. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Apollo 13 Was Called NASA's Most 'Successful Failure' twitter:description: Forty-five years have passed since the flight launched twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf91f9a4fd71115df/6987eac40b72e360276e1720/nasa-apollo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Apollo 13 Was Called NASA's Most 'Successful Failure' by [Alex Rogers](/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Apr 11, 2015 9:16 PM CUT  Apollo 13 launch. Apollo 13 launch.Nasa by [Alex Rogers](/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Apr 11, 2015 9:16 PM CUT After losing oxygen and power in its unsuccessful trip to the moon, Apollo 13 still managed to do one thing well: [land](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1982779,00.html "undefined") back on Earth. April 11 marks the 45th anniversary of the mission’s launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center with the goal of landing on the moon. Watch the video above to learn about what’s frequently called NASA’s “successful failure.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3818495/apollo-13-45-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3818495/apollo-13-45-anniversary/"},"headline":"Why Apollo 13 Was Called NASA's Most 'Successful Failure'","datePublished":"2015-04-11T21:16:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:19:49.213Z","description":"Forty-five years have passed since the flight launched","url":"https://time.com/3818495/apollo-13-45-anniversary/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf91f9a4fd71115df/6987eac40b72e360276e1720/nasa-apollo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf91f9a4fd71115df/6987eac40b72e360276e1720/nasa-apollo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Apollo 13 launch.","caption":"Apollo 13 launch.","creditText":"Nasa","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3818495/apollo-13-45-anniversary/","name":"Why Apollo 13 Was Called NASA's Most 'Successful Failure'"}}]}] ```