Apollo 13 more immediate and visible warnings of anomalies. Because Apollo 13 followed the free-return trajectory, its altitude over the lunar far side was approximately greater than the orbital altitude on the remaining Apollo lunar missions. The Moon was almost at apogee during the mission (as it also was during the flights of Apollo 10 and Apollo 15), which also increased the distance from the Earth. The combination of the two effects ensures that Apollo 13 holds the absolute altitude record for a manned spacecraft, reaching a distance of from Earth on 7:21 pm EST, April 14, 1970. The A7L spacesuit intended
Apollo program the fire that the cabin inner wall burst, allowing the fire to erupt onto the pad area and frustrating attempts to rescue the crew. The astronauts were asphyxiated before the hatch could be opened. NASA immediately convened an accident review board, overseen by both houses of Congress. While the determination of responsibility for the accident was complex, the review board concluded that "deficiencies existed in command module design, workmanship and quality control." At the insistence of NASA Administrator Webb, North American removed Harrison Storms as command module program manager. Webb also reassigned Apollo Spacecraft Program Office (ASPO) Manager Joseph Francis