The Slingshot Plan

• Launched at 13:13 (military time) and was the 13th mission in the Apollo series.

• One of the original crew members couldn't go due to a measles exposure.

• The public was not interested in the mission until the accident happened.

• The crew had to perform over 500 operations in the correct sequence to restart the command module.

• Three man crew consisted of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and John Swigert

• The saying 'Houston we have a problem' came from this mission when an oxygen tank blew up and Jim Lovell and John Swigert both reported to mission control in Houston, Texas that there was a problem.

• The women who were responsible for the doing the math involved in getting the men home were never recognized until recently. 

• Gene Krantz, the head of mission control in Houston during the Apollo 13 mission had lost 3 Astronauts during the Apollo 1 mission when the rocket exploded due to mechanical malfunction.

Katherine Johnson was a true American Hero.  Read the book "Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson saved Apollo 13.  Then see if you can get back to Earth by focusing on the problem at hand, staying calm, and persevering to the end just like the NASA ground and flight crew did over 50 years ago.