Oldsters among us as well as connoisseurs of Tom Hanks movies will recall the saga of the Apollo 13 lunar mission of 1970, which was crippled by an oxygen tank explosion 200,000 miles from earth (which is a bad place in general to have explosions on your vessel). Through incredible ingenuity, resourcefulness, and courage on both the part of Mission Control and the Apollo 13 astronauts, the crew finally was able to safely return to earth four days later after orbiting around, but not landing on, the moon. The only injury suffered was that of astronaut Fred Haise, Jr., who developed a dehydration-provoked urinary tract infection resulting from the necessity to severely ration drinking water after the explosion.
You would think that this mission would have been a source of pride for NASA, considering the heroic rescue of the astronauts against overwhelming odds. However, NASA was embarrassed by the fact there was an explosion in the first place and a failure to complete the mission's objective to land on the moon. NASA therefore refused to allow the display of the Apollo 13 capsule within the United States. As a result, the main part of the capsule itself (named "Odyssey") resided for many years in the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Paris, while some 80,000 sub-components were sent all over the world for research or for display. Finally, however, NASA relented. The Cosmosphere (Hutchinson, Kansas's leading aerospace museum--and one definitely worth visiting) acquired the Odyssey through the Smithsonian Institute and, after a 12-year long quest for the 80,000 sub-components and a subsequent restoration, now has it on display.
Astronaut John Swigert was a last-minute addition to the crew after one of the other astronauts had to be scrubbed for medical reasons. Swigert, in his rush to get ready, failed to file his tax returns prior to embarking on the mission. When the capsule splashed down on April 17, the crew was transported to nearby American Samoa, where Swigert was handed a 1040 form with instructions to complete same.
For the official NASA description of the events which occurred on the Apollo 13 mission, please click here.
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