That is the unbelievable story of three NASA astronauts who had been left stranded 200,000 miles from Earth after their spacecraft malfunctioned, however extremely made it again residence alive.The Apollo 13 was NASA’s third time attempting to land on the moon which instrument place on April 11 1970.The mission was meant to ship Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise into area, however issues didn’t work out once they had been 4 fifths of the way in which to their vacation spot.The crew of NASA’s Apollo 13 ( House Frontiers/Getty Photographs)It was three days into the journey when the group had been located within the command module.Every little thing initially appeared to be going wonderful till an explosion within the cylindrical craft occurred.The sudden blast was brought on by heat-damaged wires subsequent to the tanks, inflicting them to ignite and explode.Lovell instructed the Historical past This Week podcast: “I…regarded down at Jack Swigert within the command module and his eyes had been as extensive as saucers.”And I might see that…this was the beginning of a protracted, treacherous journey residence.”At 200,000 miles from Earth, this left the three astronauts stranded with solely quarter-hour of energy and oxygen left to outlive on.That’s when Lovell radioed the management centre to inform them in regards to the main challenge they had been going through.The crew had been on a path which might take them previous Earth. YouTube/ NASAHe stated: “OK, Houston, we have had an issue right here.”Whereas NASA tried to determine what had occurred, their oxygen might be seen leaking from the craft and time was operating out.Due to fast considering from these on board, they had been capable of transfer themselves into the lunar module for security, counting on little bits of water to final them till they may arrive residence.Lovell instructed Historical past: “They labored out a system after which they relayed it as much as us phrase by phrase.”Hose. Duct tape and an previous sock and my gosh, time was the one factor that saved us from dying.”Deciding to go away the steerage laptop on, the three males drifted again to Earth over three days in a chilly, damp module.Fortunately, once they re-entered the ambiance, they had been capable of pull their parachutes and land within the South Pacific to be rescued.The mission was thought of a profitable failure. YouTube/NASANASA ended up calling Apollo 13 a ‘profitable failure’ – having learnt helpful classes from the disastrous mission, and saved three males’s lives.They wrote: “Regardless of nice hardship brought on by restricted energy, lack of cabin warmth, and a scarcity of potable water, the crew returned to Earth.”Going forwards, Apollo 14 had an extra battery and a reserve oxygen tank to stop any comparable catastrophes from taking place once more.