Apollo 14 launched 50 years ago, on Jan. 31, 1971. “It’s been a long way, but we’re here,” said Alan Shepard as he stepped from the lunar module onto the Moon’s Fra Mauro highlands. It was more than a 240,000-mile trip – it was a hard-fought return to flight for NASA’s Apollo Program and America’s first person in space.
“Apollo 13” set out to chronicle NASA’s dramatic third mission to land on the lunar surface. It was based on Jim Lovell’s best-selling book, “Lost Moon.” On the big screen, what happened in 1970 is pretty much what you get.
In the moments following Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell’s report, “Houston, we’ve had a problem,” things happened fast. Lovell and his crewmates, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, worked with the team in Mission Control to sort out the issues facing the mission. But, key members of that effort believe they also were aided by a Higher Power.