Apollo 13
April 15, 1970
The temperature inside Apollo 13 is down to 38 degrees Fahrenheit. The crew cannot sleep properly. They're dehydrated — rationing water. They're running on fumes and determination and the people at Mission Control who will not give up on them. One more day.
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Apollo 13
April 13, 1970
Something went very wrong on Apollo 13 tonight. An oxygen tank exploded 200,000 miles from Earth. Two of the three fuel cells are dead. The service module is venting into space. Three men are in a crippled spacecraft on the way to the Moon and nobody knows yet if they…
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Apollo 12
November 14, 1969
Apollo 12 launched today into a stormy sky. Thirty-six seconds after liftoff, lightning struck the Saturn V. Twice. The spacecraft lost power to most of its systems. Mission Control nearly called an abort. One flight controller — twenty-six-year-old John Aaron — knew exactly which switch to throw. They continued to…
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Apollo 11
July 20, 1969
Sunday, July 20th, 1969. At 4:17 PM Eastern time, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module Eagle in the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong said: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." I was in my living room. I am not ashamed to say I could not speak…
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Gemini
March 17, 1966
The Gemini 8 mission nearly ended in catastrophe yesterday. Neil Armstrong and David Scott were in an uncontrolled spin — one revolution per second — when Armstrong managed to use the reentry thrusters to stop the tumbling. They had to abort the mission. Armstrong is home. But reading the account…
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