Apollo 13 Apollo 13 Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module (SM) upon which the command module (CM) had depended. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and the critical need to make makeshift repairs to the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on
Apollo Applications Program Apollo Applications Program The Apollo Applications Program (AAP) was established by NASA headquarters in 1968 to develop science-based manned space missions using hardware developed for the Apollo program. AAP was the ultimate development of a number of official and unofficial Apollo follow-on projects studied at various NASA labs. Initially the AAP office in Washington was an offshoot of the Apollo "X" bureau, also known as the "Apollo Extension Series". AES was developing technology concepts for mission proposals based on the Saturn IB and Saturn V boosters. These included a manned lunar base, an earth-orbiting space station, the so-called Grand Tour