Watch Lunar Landing

The Apollo 13 mission was intended to be a "routine" trip to the moon. But when an oxygen tank exploded, the spacecraft was crippled and its three-man crew placed in mortal danger. The Lunar Module, intended for deployment on the lunar surface, would instead be used as a "lifeboat". Scientists and engineers on earth had to reexamine the spacecraft's electrical, navigational and propulsion systems in order to save the crew. NASA faced tough questions. With limited resources, could the crew survive? How would the crippled ship navigate? The explosion left shards of debris floating weightlessly around the ship, obscuring the stars, those celestial markers that have guided explorers for centuries. Course corrections were calculated using the only clearly visible celestial bodies, the sun, the moon and earth. The power of the moon's gravitational pull was used to slingshot Apollo 13 homeward. The mission, which could have had tragic consequences, was a resounding success. It was a test of the accumulated knowledge of all previous Apollo missions and in many ways was NASA's finest hour.

In 1961, President Kennedy set a goal for the nation: beat the Russians to the Moon and do it within the decade. In '69, NASA met that goal--but no one defined what should happen next. As a growing number of political, social, and economic problems vie for the nation's attention and money, Congress, Presidents, and the public aren't certain if manned space flight is really worth the cost and risk. But for legendary flight director Gene Kranz and the men and women of Mission Control, there's no doubt. Despite waning public support and shrinking budgets, they still have a job to do with no room for error.

In the late 1950's, the United States secretly began developing atomic powered rockets. One of the bolder ideas was to use nuclear explosions to propel a spaceship the size of a ten-story building carrying hundreds of people, livestock to feed them and tons of material and equipment into space for prolonged trips to Mars, Saturn and beyond.

It is the most astounding machine ever conceived or built...Mankind's first attempt at a re-useable spaceship. The story of the Space Shuttle is the triumphant saga of the dream of flight...tempered by the physical and technological challenges faced by determined people whose reach exceeded their grasp.