--- 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: 2026-10-01T09:08:45.219Z 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2024 og:image:height: 1139 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Apollo 13 Was Called NASA's Most 'Successful Failure' > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=607caae9-2ca8-47f6-8b86-1b2807e549c3&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Apollo 13, NASA’s Highest-Stakes Learning Experience [Watch (HLS stream): Apollo 13, NASA’s Highest-Stakes Learning Experience](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/CC8wlr6k.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2015-04-11. Forty five years after its fateful flight, Apollo 13 is still seen as “NASA’s most successful failure.”_ by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Apr 11, 2015 9:16 PM UTC by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Apr 11, 2015 9:16 PM UTC 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) 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.” ## Transcript Houston, we've had a problem. Apollo 13 would've been the third mission to send humans to the surface of the moon but it never made it that far. Saturday marks the 45th anniversary of the doomed mission which launched April 11th, 1970. It's often called NASA's most successful failure. Two hundred thousand miles from earth during it's approach to the moon, an oxygen tank aboard the space craft service module exploded. This represented 2 immediate problems, a lost of immediate air and external venting that threatened to literally push the mission off course. It looks to me looking out the back that we are venting something. We are, we are venting something out into the into space. Roger, we copy you're venting. It's a gas of some sort. You say to yourself, why didn't this happen on Apollo 12? Or wait for Apollo 14? We didn't know what caused the explosion first, but the first thing we thought of ,. Perhaps a meteorite had hit the lunar module. Within minutes of the explosion, focus had shifted from getting to the moon, to getting safely back to earth. Despite the lost oxygen tank, the crew had plenty of breathable air left. The issue was removal of carbon dioxide. Lunar module scrubbers were designed to support two breathers for two days. The chemical scrubbers in the lunar module were designed to support two men for two days. Survival of the crew required they support three men for four days while they returned to Earth. And since the air systems in the lunar module were designed differently than those in the command module, it meant literally fitting square pegs in a round hole. On the ground, an adaptor was fashioned from materials the crew had available in the LEM. Cardboard from a checklist, plastic bags and tape. It's the quick thinking like this that gave Apollo 13 it's reputation as a successful learning experience for NASA. They were ready to think about things that were way outside of their procedures they practiced, to run through checklists, to use their imagination and come up with ways to very calmly. Work out the best way to bring three people back to Earth alive. Jim Lovell says despite its aborted status, the mission still inspired a generation. I meet people now in their 50s and even some early 60s that said when I was a small kid, I washed you go up into space and this -. It was the reason why I'm now an engineer or a scientist. And while the astronauts aboard Apollo 13 never did set foot on the moon they set a record of another kind during their slingshot around it's dark side. 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