"Houston, we have a problem." - 50 Years Later

50 years ago today, those words were sent from a small spacecraft, 200,000 miles from the surface of the Earth. It was on its way to the moon, with plans to land on the surface and study it. Of course, that all changed after the explosion that happened, crippling the space craft. The 1995 film, Apollo 13 was an instant  success and was praised for the film's faithful authenticity surrounding the incident. The film was released 25 years after the real incident, and this year the film turns 25 years old.

Instead of landing on the moon, the crew of Apollo 13 then has to endure trial after trial as they sling-shot around the moon and return home. The fate of the three men onboard captivated the world as they approached their home world. Finally, on April 17th, 1970, the crew safely landed in the South Pacific Ocean and were recovered by a nearby US Navy ship. The recreated splashdown from the 1995 film was shot near the Channel Islands, off the southern part of California's Central Coast, near Los Angeles.

Now, watch a fantastic short film that looks back on the incident. The film was created and released today by NASA and includes interviews with the crew of Apollo 13 as well as the original footage and the original delivery of "Houston, we've had a problem" by Jim Lovell. The start of a successful failure.