Apollo 13 crew. The crew of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission wave to the media on board the recovery ship, USS Iwo Jima. The crew members are (left to right): Fred Haise, James Lovell and Jack Swigert. Apollo 13 was launched on 11 April 1970, and was planned to be the third manned landing on the Moon. Two days into the flight, about 300,000 km from Earth, an explosion in an oxygen tank crippled the spacecraft. The three astronauts used the Lunar Module as a life raft, only returning to the Command Module just before reentry to Earth. Apollo 13 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 17 April 1970.