- NASA Director: This could be the worst disaster NASA's ever experienced.
- Gene Kranz: With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.
- Blanche Lovell: Are you scared?
- [Susan nods]
- Blanche Lovell: Well don't you worry, honey. If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it.
- Gene Kranz: We've never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option.
- [last lines]
- Jim Lovell: [narrating] Our mission was called "a successful failure," in that we returned safely but never made it to the moon. In the following months, it was determined that a damaged coil built inside the oxygen tank sparked during our cryo stir and caused the explosion that crippled the Odyssey. It was a minor defect that occured two years before I was even named the flight's commander. Fred Haise was going back to the moon on Apollo 18, but his mission was cancelled because of budget cuts; he never flew in space again. Nor did Jack Swigert, who left the astronaut corps and was elected to *Congress* from the state of Colorado. But he died of cancer before he was able to take office. Ken Mattingly orbited the moon as Command Module Pilot of Apollo 16, *and* flew the Space Shuttle, having never gotten the measles. Gene Kranz retired as Director of Flight Operations just not long ago. And many other members of Mission Control have gone on to other things, but some are still there. As for me, the seven extraordinary days of Apollo 13 were my last in space. I watched other men walk on the moon, and return safely, all from the confines of Mission Control and our house in Houston. I sometimes catch myself looking up at the moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the moon, and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?
- Henry Hurt: I, uh, I have a request from the news people.
- Marilyn Lovell: Uh-huh?
- Henry Hurt: They're out front here. They want to put a transmitter up on the lawn.
- Marilyn Lovell: Transmitter?
- Henry Hurt: Kind of a tower, for live broadcast.
- Marilyn Lovell: I thought they didn't care about this mission. They didn't even run Jim's show.
- Henry Hurt: Well, it's more dramatic now. Suddenly people are...
- Marilyn Lovell: Landing on the moon wasn't dramatic enough for them - why should NOT landing on it be?
- Henry Hurt: Look, I, um, I realize how hard this is, Marilyn, but the whole world is caught up in this, it's historic-...
- Marilyn Lovell: No, Henry! Those people don't put one piece of equipment on my lawn. If they have a problem with that, they can take it up with my husband. He'll be HOME... on FRIDAY!
- CAPCOM 2: 13, we just got another request from the Flight Surgeon for you to get some sleep. Don't like these readings down here.
- Jim Lovell: [Tearing off his biomeds] Let's see how he likes this. I am sick and tired of the entire western world knowing how my kidneys are functioning!
- Dr. Chuck: [after Lovell's heartrate flatlines] Flight, we just lost Lovell!
- CAPCOM 2: 13, Houston. Jim, we just had a bottoming out on your biomeds.
- Jim Lovell: I'm not wearing my biomeds.
- CAPCOM 2: [after Gene Kranz shrugs it off] Ok, Jim. Copy that.
- [Jack and Fred now tear away their own biomeds]
- Dr. Chuck: [after all three crew members flatline] Flight, now I lost all three of them!
- Gene Kranz: It's just a little medical mutiny, Doc. I'm sure the boys are still with us. Let's cut them a little slack, ok?
- [US income tax returns are due in 2 days, but Swigert is 200,000 miles away]
- Jack Swigert: Uh, well, if anyone from the, uh, from the IRS is watching, I... forgot to file my, my, my 1040 return. Um, I meant to do it today, but, uh...
- Sy Liebergot: [back at Mission Control] That's no joke. They'll jump on him!
- Marilyn Lovell: Blanche, Blanche, these nice young men are going to watch the television with you. This is Neil Armstrong, and this is Buzz... Aldrin.
- Neil Armstrong: Hi.
- Blanche Lovell: Are you boys in the space program too?
- Jim Lovell: From now on, we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. And it's not a miracle, we just decided to go.
- [Several technicians dump boxes containing the same equipment and tools that the astronauts have with them onto a table]
- Technician: We've got to find a way to make this
- [square CSM LiOH canister]
- Technician: fit into the hole for this
- [round LEM canister]
- Technician: ... using nothing but that.
- Television Reporter: Is there a specific instance in an airplane emergency when you can recall fear?
- Jim Lovell: Uh well, I'll tell ya, I remember this one time - I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there's no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shrangri-La, and we were in the Sea of Japan and my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone... because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. And so it was - it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean. And I, I look down there, and then in the darkness there's this uh, there's this green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. And it was the algae, right? It was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was - it was - it was leading me home. You know? If my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So uh, you, uh, never know... what... what events are to transpire to get you home.
- Ken Mattingly: 13, this is Houston, do you read?
- Jim Lovell: Roger that, Ken. Are the flowers blooming in Houston?
- Ken Mattingly: That's a negative, Jim. I do not have the measles.
- [stares at the flight surgeon]
- Fred Haise, Sr.: I know why my numbers were wrong. I only figured it for two people.
- Jack Swigert: Maybe I should just hold my breath.
- Jim Lovell: Houston, we're getting our first look at the service module now. One whole side of the spacecraft is missing. Right by the high gain antennae, a whole panel is blown out, right up... right up to our heat shield.
- [Jim's daughter wants to go trick-or-treating as a hippie]
- Barbara Lovell: Dad, can I please wear this?
- Jim Lovell: Sure.
- Marilyn Lovell: Jim!
- Jim Lovell: No! No, absolutely not.
- Jim Lovell: [after the Odyssey has re-emerged from blackout] Hello, Houston. This is Odyssey. It's good to see you again.
- Jack Swigert: [about to turn power back on in the capsule] Ken, there's an awful lot of condensation on these panels. What's the story of them shorting out?
- Ken Mattingly: Umm... We'll just have to take that one at a time, Jack.
- Jack Swigert: [to himself] Like trying to drive a toaster through a car wash.
- R.E.T.R.O. White: Flight, we are looking at a typhoon warning on the edge of the prime recovery zone.
- Gene Kranz: Say again, RETRO?
- R.E.T.R.O. White: Flight, we are looking at a typhoon warning on the edge of the prime recovery zone. Now, this is just a warning, it could miss them...
- Gene Kranz: Yeah, only if their luck changes.
- Marilyn Lovell: [none of the TV networks are showing Apollo 13's TV broadcast] Do they know they're not on the air?
- Henry Hurt: We'll tell them when they get back.
- Jim Lovell: [pointing to a large "NO" note on the control panel] What is that?
- Jack Swigert: Oh, I was getting a little punchy and I didn't want to cut the LEM loose with you guys still in it.
- Jim Lovell: That's good thinking.
- Jim Lovell: Uh, Houston, we are ready for the beginning of PTC, and I think once we're in that barbecue roll, Jack and I will eat.
- Fred Haise, Sr.: Hey, I'm hungry.
- Jim Lovell: Are you sure?
- Fred Haise, Sr.: I could eat the ass out of a dead rhinoceros.
- Jim Lovell: Gentlemen, what are your intentions?
- [Jack Swigert and Fred Haise turn around and stare at Lovell]
- Jim Lovell: I'd like to go home.
- Jim Lovell: Freddo, how long does it take to power up the LEM?
- Fred Haise, Sr.: Three hours by the checklist.
- Jim Lovell: We don't have that much time.
- [Lovell and Haise are trying to get control of the lunar module]
- Jim Lovell: We're all out of whack. We try to pitch down but we yaw to the left. Why can't I null this out?
- Fred Haise, Sr.: She wasn't designed to fly attached like this. Our center of gravity is the command module.
- Jim Lovell: It's like flying with a dead elephant on our back.
- Jim Lovell: [Jim sits down in the pilot's seat intended for Jack Swigert] Sorry Jack, it's an old habit. Kinda used to the pilot's seat.
- [gets out of the seat]
- Jim Lovell: She's yours to fly.
- Fred Haise, Sr.: [after faultlessly performing numerous crucial operations that it was never designed for, thereby saving the astronauts' lives, the crew must jettison their Lunar Excursion Module, "Aquarius". Fred watches through the window as it drifts off into space] She sure was a good ship.
- Jack Swigert: Farewell, Aquarius, and we thank you.
- Marilyn Lovell: Jeffrey?
- Jeffrey Lovell: Why are so many people here?
- Marilyn Lovell: Well, you know, your dad's flying his mission.
- Jeffrey Lovell: He said he was going to get me a moon rock.
- Marilyn Lovell: Right. Well, something broke on your daddy's spaceship. And he's going to have to turn around before he even gets to the moon.
- Jeffrey Lovell: Was it the door?
- Jack Swigert: [Swigert bumps his head on the ceiling of the crowded lunar module] Oww! Goddamn this piece of shit!
- Fred Haise, Sr.: Hey! this piece of shit's going to get you home! That's 'cause that's the only thing we've got left, Jack.
- Jack Swigert: Well, what are you saying, Fred?
- Fred Haise, Sr.: Oh, I think you know what I'm saying...
- Jack Swigert: Now wait a minute... all I did was stir those tanks...
- Fred Haise, Sr.: What was that gauge reading before you hit the switch?
- Jack Swigert: Hey, don't tell me how to fly the damned CM, all right? They brought me in here to do a job, they asked me to stir the damned tanks, and I stirred the tanks!
- Fred Haise, Sr.: You didn't know what you were doing, do you?
- Jim Lovell: Jack, quit kicking yourself in the ass.
- Jack Swigert: This is NOT MY FAULT!
- Jim Lovell: No one is saying it is. If I'm in the left-hand seat when the call comes up, *I* stir the tanks.
- Jack Swigert: Yeah, well, tell *him* that.
- Fred Haise, Sr.: I just asked you what the gauge was reading. AND YOU DON'T KNOW!
- Jim Lovell: All right, we're not doing this, gentlemen. We are *not* going to do this. We're not going to go bouncing off the walls for ten minutes, 'cause we're just going to end up back here with the same problems! Try to figure out how to stay alive!
- CAPCOM 2: Aquarius, this is Houston.
- Jim Lovell: [shouting] ARE WE ON VOX?
- Fred Haise, Sr.: No, we're not on VOX.
- Jim Lovell: [Hits switch, calm tone] Yeah, Houston, this is Aquarius. Go ahead.
- Ken Mattingly: [after another power-up simulation fails] I know this sequence works, John.
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: The sequence looks good, we're just over budget on the amperage.
- Ken Mattingly: By how much?
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: Three or four amps.
- Ken Mattingly: Goddamn it, John! Is it three or four?
- John Young: Four.
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: Four!
- Ken Mattingly: [sighs] Four more amps...
- [He ponders for a moment]
- Ken Mattingly: We know they have some power left in the LEM batteries, right?
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: Yeah.
- Ken Mattingly: We have an umbilical that provides power from the Command Module to the LEM.
- John Young: Right. It's a backup for the LEM power supply.
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: I'm listening.
- Ken Mattingly: So, reverse it. Reverse the flow and see if we can draw these four amps from the LEM batteries before we cut it loose. Why can't we do that?
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: [Looks at John] We don't have a procedure for that, do we?
- John Young: You're gonna lose a lot in the transfer, Ken.
- Ken Mattingly: Yeah, yeah. But all we're talking about here is four amps.
- William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: When I go up there on 19, I'm gonna take my entire collection of Johnny Cash along!
- [On the night of the Apollo 11 landing]
- Jim Lovell: Christopher Columbus, Charles Lindbergh, and Neil Armstrong. Ha, ha, ha. Neil Armstrong!
- [Jim Lovell is told that Ken Mattingly will be too sick to fly]
- Jim Lovell: I've trained for the Fra Mauro highlands... and this is FLIGHT SURGEON HORSESHIT, Deke!
- Deke Slayton: Jim, if you hold out for Ken, you will not be on Apollo 13. It's your decision.
- [Swigert has just successfully powered up the Command Module]
- Jack Swigert: Uplink completed. We got her back up, Ken. Boy, I wish you were here to see it.
- Ken Mattingly: I'll bet you do.
- Deke Slayton: [as Swigert is piloting the command module for docking] Come on rookie, park that thing!
- William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: Odyssey, this is Houston. We need you to power down immediately. And you're gonna have to power up the LEM at the same time, so you better get somebody over there.
- Jim Lovell: We already have Freddo in the LEM, Houston.
- William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: We've got serious time pressure here, Jim. You've gotta get the guidance program transferred, and you've gotta do it before you're out of power in the command module, or you're not gonna be able to navigate up there.
- Jim Lovell: How much time? Can you give me a number?
- William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: Well, we're looking at less than fifteen minutes of life support in the Odyssey.
- Jim Lovell: [sharing a look with Jack, then joining Fred] We've got fifteen minutes, Freddo. It's worse than I thought.
- Sy Liebergot: Flight... I recommend we shut down reactant valves to the fuel cells.
- Gene Kranz: What the hell good is that gonna do?
- Sy Liebergot: If that's where the leak is, we can isolate it. We can save what's left in the tanks and we can run on the good cell.
- Gene Kranz: You close 'em, you can't open 'em again! You can't land on the moon with one healthy fuel cell!
- Sy Liebergot: Gene, the Odyssey is *dying*. From my chair here, this is the last option.
- Reporter: So... the number 13 doesn't bother you?
- Fred Haise, Sr.: Only if it's a Friday, Phil.
- Reporter: Apollo 13 - lifting off at 1300 hours and 13 minutes, and, entering the moon's gravity on April 13th.
- Jim Lovell: Uh, Ken Mattingly has been doing some... scientific experiments regarding that very phenomenon, haven't you?
- Ken Mattingly: Well, uh, yes, well I uh, had a black cat walk over a broken mirror under the lunar module ladder, didn't seem to be a problem.
- Fred Haise, Sr.: We also consider a real helpful letter we got from a fellow who said we ought to take a pig up with us for good luck.
- [the crew has been "killed" in a simulator accident]
- Jim Lovell: Well... if I had a dollar for every time they've killed me in this thing, I wouldn't have to work for you, Deke... Well, we have two days, we'll be ready. Let's do it again.
- Congressman: Now Jim, people in my state keep asking why we're continuing to fund this program now that we've beaten the Russians to the moon.
- Jim Lovell: Imagine if Christopher Columbus had come back from the New World and no one returned in his footsteps.
- Ken Mattingly: Here's the order of what I want to do. I want to power up Guidance, E.C.S., Communications, warm up the pyros for the parachutes, and the command module thrusters.
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: The thrusters are gonna put you over budget on amps, Ken.
- Ken Mattingly: Well, they've been sitting at 200 below for four days, John. They've got to be heated.
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: Fine. Then trade off the parachutes, something.
- Ken Mattingly: Well, if the chutes don't open, what's the point?
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: Ken, you're telling me what you need. I'm telling you what we have to work with at this point. I'm not making this stuff up.
- Ken Mattingly: They're gonna need all these systems, John.
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: We do not have the power, Ken. We just don't have it.
- Ken Mattingly: Okay. I'm gonna go back and re-organize the sequencing again and find more power. Let's start from scratch. Clear the board.
- John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: [covering his mic, to John Young] I don't know where the hell we're gonna find it.
- [as everyone is madly trying to identify the problem from instrument readings]
- Jim Lovell: Houston, we are venting something out into space. I can see it outside window one right now. It's definitely a... a gas of some sort.
- [pause]
- Jim Lovell: It's got to be the oxygen.