Image of the Day #3
On April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST as Apollo 13 lifted off to take Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert to the moon, the USA public had bored of these missions. TV audiences have dwindled to the point where the TV networks did not want to show any live broadcasts.
The excitement of the previous missions had satisfied the public's appetite for moon walks. Now it was time to get back to watching Happy Days and the Fonz.
But who knew that a couple of days later, Jack Swigert would say six words that would catapult the Apollo 13 mission to legendary status. "Huston, we've had a problem here..." The rest is history.
Here is the Apollo 13 Command Module being lowered onto a recovery ship's deck after bringing the three astronauts back to Earth safely.