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‘Houston, we’ve had a problem’ is the now famous phrase radioed from Apollo 13 to Mission Control following the catastrophic explosion that dramatically changed the mission.
The Apollo 13 mission has become known as “a successful failure” that saw the safe return of its crew Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module Pilot John Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise.
Before launch on April 11, 1970, the wives of two of the astronauts, Marilyn Lovell and Mary Haise sat down with Gloria Mizzi for an exclusive interview on Maltese television.
Mizzi pioneered afternoon and morning programmes, including Il-Mara tal-Lum on which she interviewed women from all walks of life.
The Apollo 13 mission was the third crewed lunar-landing attempt, but was aborted after the rupture of an oxygen tank in the spacecraft’s service module. Swigert was the astronaut who first announced, ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem’.
The three astronauts travelled around the Moon and returned safely to Earth on April 17 after about 5 days and 23 hours, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom the next day.
