Unreal Facts About The Apollo 13 Mission You Didn’t Know About

12. The Return to Earth Was A Miracle

Amazingly, the spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 17th April 1970. Mission Control hoped heat shields were not damaged, however, Apollo 13’s parachutes were finally spotted and all three astronauts splashed down safely into thePacific Ocean. In the hours before splashdown, the exhausted crew scrambled back over to the Odyssey powered it up. The craft had essentially been in acold water soak for days and could have shorted out, but thanks to safeguards put in place after the Apollo 1 disaster, there were no issues.

Lovell, Haise, and Swigert splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa, on April 17.