Pastel-colored Jupiter dazzles in gorgeous Hubble telescope photo

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this unique panchromatic image of Jupiter on Aug. 25, 2020. The photo combines Hubble observations in near-infrared, visible and ultraviolet light.

 It's like somebody put Jupiter under a blacklight. 

A new photo by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the solar system's largest planet in surprising pastel hues.

The image, captured on Aug. 25, combines data in ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light to give researchers a new look at Jupiter, one that could reveal insights about the gas giant's thick atmosphere.

Related: The best Hubble Space Telescope images of all time!

"In this photo, the parts of Jupiter’s atmosphere that are at higher altitude, especially over the poles, look red as a result of atmospheric particles absorbing ultraviolet light," Hubble team members wrote in a description of the photo, which was released on Thursday (Sept. 17). "Conversely, the blue-hued areas represent the ultraviolet light being reflected off the planet."

The white storm in the upper left portion of the image, which first boiled up on Aug. 18, "is grabbing the attention of scientists in this multiwavelength view," Hubble team members wrote. "The 'clumps' trailing the white plume appear to be absorbing ultraviolet light, similar to the center of the Great Red Spot, and Red Spot Jr. directly below it. This provides researchers with more evidence that this storm may last longer on Jupiter than most storms."

Hubble, a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency, launched to Earth orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery in April 1990. Scientists soon realized that the big scope had a flaw in its primary mirror, which spacewalking astronauts fixed in December 1993. 

Astronauts maintained and upgraded Hubble on four additional servicing missions after that, the last of which occurred in 2009. As the new Jupiter photo shows, the telescope is still giving astronomers and the public amazing views of the cosmos, three decades after its launch.

Space calendar 2020: Rocket launches, sky events, missions & more!

There's a lot going in space in 2019. Check out our up-to-date space launch schedule and calendar here!

LAST UPDATED June 17: These dates are subject to change, and will be updated throughout the year as firmer dates arise. Please DO NOT schedule travel based on a date you see here. Launch dates collected from NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, Spaceflight Now and others.
Watch NASA webcasts and other live launch coverage on our "Watch Live" page, and see our night sky webcasts here. Find out what's up in the night sky this month with our visible planets guide and skywatching forecast.
Wondering what happened today in space history? Check out our "On This Day in Space" video show here!

June 

June 18: An Arianespace Vega rocket will launch on the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) proof-of-concept mission carrying 42 microsatellites, nanosatellites and cubesats. The rideshare mission will lift off from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana, at 9:51 p.m. EDT (0151 GMT on June 19). Watch it live.
June 19: The one-day-old moon will make a close approach to Venus in the evening sky. It will be in conjunction with Venus at 4:53 EDT (0853 GMT). Look for them above the eastern horizon just before sunrise.
June 20: Happy solstice! Today marks the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of Winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
June 21: An annular solar eclipse will be visible from parts of Africa and Asia.
June 23: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to launch the ninth batch of approximately 60 operational satellites for the company's Starlink broadband network, along with two Earth-observing satellites for BlackSky Global, in a mission designated Starlink 9. It will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at 5:58 p.m. EDT (2158 GMT). Watch it live.
June 26: NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken will take a 7-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station beginning at 7:35 a.m. EDT (1135 GMT). Watch it live.
June 30: Asteroid Day
June 30: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the U.S. Air Force's third third-generation navigation satellite, designated GPS 3 SV03, for the Global Positioning System. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, at 3:55-4:10 p.m. EDT (1955-2010 GMT). Watch it live.

July 

July 1: NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken will take a 7-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station beginning at 7:35 a.m. EDT (1135 GMT). Watch it live.
July 3: Rocket Lab will launch an Electron rocket on a rideshare mission from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The mission, which Rocket Lab has nicknamed "Pics Or It Didn't Happen," will launch the CE-SAT-IB Earth-imaging satellite for Canon Electronics, five SuperDove Earth observation cubesats for Planet, and the Faraday 1 cubesat for In-Space Missions.
July 4: Happy Aphelion Day! Earth is farthest from the sun today.
July 4-5: A penumbral lunar eclipse will be visible from the Americas and parts of Africa and Antarctica. The moon will begin passing through Earth's shadow on July 4 at 11:07 p.m. EST (0307 GMT on July 5), and the eclipse will last for 2 hours and 45 minutes.
July 5: The full moon of July, known as the Beaver Moon, occurs at 12:44 a.m EDT (0444 GMT). That same day, the moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter at 5:38 p.m. EDT (2138 GMT). The moon will also be in conjunction with Saturn on July 6 at 4:38 a.m. EDT (0838 GMT). The trio will form a small triangle in the night sky before fading into the dawn.
July 8: The "morning star" Venus is at its greatest brightness for the year, shining at magnitude -4.5 in the morning sky.
July 11: The waning, gibbous moon will make a close approach to the Red Planet in the early morning sky. It will be in conjunction with Mars at 3:38 p.m. EDT (1938 GMT).
July 14: The United Arab Emirates plans to launch its first Mars orbiter, the Hope Mars Mission. It will launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on a Japanese H-2A rocket, at 4:51 p.m. EDT (2051 GMT).
July 14: Jupiter reaches opposition, which means the planet will appear at its biggest and brightest. This happens about once a year, when Jupiter's position is almost directly opposite the sun in the sky. Around the same time, Jupiter will also make its closest approach to Earth.
July 15: The U.S. Air Force will use a Minotaur 4 rocket to launch a classified spy satellite cargo for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Dubbed NROL-129, the mission will lift off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
July 17: NASA's Mars 2020 rover launches to the Red Planet! It will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Watch it live.
July 17: The waning crescent moon will be in conjunction with Venus, the "morning star," at 3:27 a.m. EDT (0727 GMT). Look for the pair above the eastern horizon before dawn.
July 20: New moon
July 20: Saturn reaches opposition, which means the planet will appear at its biggest and brightest. This happens about once a year, when Saturn's position is almost directly opposite the sun in the sky. Around the same time, Saturn will also make its closest approach to Earth.
July 23: A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch the 76th Progress cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. It will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Watch it live.
July 30: A Russian Proton rocket will launch the Express 80 and Express 103 communications satellites for the Russian Satellite Communication Company. It will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Also scheduled to launch in July (from Spaceflight Now):

• China plans to launch an orbiter and a small rover to Mars. The mission, called Tianwen 1, will lift off on a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan, China. 
• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Anasis 2, or KMilSatCom 1, communications satellite for the South Korean military, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

August 

Aug. 1: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the SXM 7 satellite for SiriusXM. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 12:27 a.m. EDT (0427 GMT).
Aug. 1: The nearly-full moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter at 7:32 p.m. EDT (2332 GMT). The following morning (Aug. 2), it will be in conjunction with Saturn at 9:10 a.m. EDT (1310 GMT). Look for the trio in the evening sky.
Aug. 3: The full moon of August, known as the "Sturgeon Moon," occurs at 11:59 a.m. EDT (1559 GMT).
Aug. 9: The waning, gibbous moon will make a close approach to the Red Planet in the early morning sky. It will be in conjunction with Mars at 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT).
Aug. 11-12: The Perseid meteor shower peaks.
Aug. 14: Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket will launch the ELaNa-20 rideshare mission with 14 cubesats. A Boeing 747 named "Cosmic Girl" will air-launch the rocket over the Pacific Ocean after taking off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
Aug. 15: The waning crescent moon will be in conjunction with Venus, the "morning star," at 9:01 a.m. EDT (1301 GMT). Look for the pair above the eastern horizon before dawn.
Aug. 18: Black Moon: The third new moon in a season with four new moons is known as a "black moon." (A black moon can also be the second new moon in a single calendar month.)
Aug. 26: A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket will launch a classified spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The mission, titled NROL-44, will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Aug. 28/29: The waxing, gibbous moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter at 9:35 p.m. EDT (0235 GMT on Aug. 29). The following day, it will be in conjunction with Saturn at 12:32 p.m. EDT (1632 GMT). Look for the trio in the evening sky.
Aug. 30: SpaceX will launch its first operational Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker and Japan's Soichi Noguchi. The mission will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Also scheduled to launch in August (from Spaceflight Now):

• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the U.S. Air Force's fourth third-generation navigation satellite, designated GPS 3 SV04, for the Global Positioning System. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
• An Arianespace Vega rocket will launch the SEOSat-Ingenio Earth observation satellite and the Taranis scientific research satellite from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

September

Sept. 1: Asteroid 2011 ES4 will make a close flyby of Earth, passing by at a safe distance of 0.0005 AU, or 46,000 miles (75,000 kilometers).
Sept. 2: The full moon of September, known as the "Harvest Moon," occurs at 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT).
Sept. 6: The waning, gibbous moon will make a close approach to the Red Planet in the early morning sky. It will be in conjunction with Mars at 12:46 a.m. EDT (0446 GMT).
Sept. 7: Northrop Grumman's Cygnus NG-14 cargo spacecraft will launch to the International Space Station on an Antares rocket. It will lift off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Sept. 11: Neptune is at opposition. If you have the right equipment and a sky dark enough to see it, now is the best time all year to look!
Sept. 14: The waning crescent moon will be in conjunction with Venus, the "morning star," at 12:44 a.m. EDT (0444 GMT). Look for the pair above the eastern horizon before dawn.
Sept. 17: New moon
Sept. 22: Happy Equinox! At 9:15 a.m. EDT (1315 GMT), autumn arrives in the Northern Hemisphere while the Southern Hemisphere will have its first day of spring.
Sept. 25: The waxing, gibbous moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter at 2:48 a.m. EDT (0648 GMT). It will be in conjunction with Saturn at 4:38 p.m. EDT (2038 GMT). Look for the trio in the evening sky.
Also scheduled to launch in September (from Spaceflight Now):

• A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch a classified spacecraft payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The mission, NROL-101, will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
• An Arianespace Soyuz rocket will launch the Falcon Eye 2 Earth-imaging satellite for the United Arab Emirates. It will lift off from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.

October

Oct. 1: The full moon of October, known as the "Hunter's Moon," occurs at 5:05 p.m. EDT (2105 GMT).
Oct. 2: The waning, gibbous moon will make a close approach to the Red Planet in the early morning sky. It will be in conjunction with Mars at 11:25 a.m. EDT (0325 GMT).
Oct. 4-10: World Space Week
Oct. 7-8: The Draconid meteor shower peaks.
Oct. 13: Mars is at opposition, which means it's bigger and brighter than any other time of year. Look for the glowing Red Planet above the eastern horizon after sunset.
Oct. 14: A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch the crewed Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft to the International Space Station with members of the Expedition 65 crew: NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov. It will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Watch it live.
Oct. 16: New moon
Oct. 21-22: The Orionid meteor shower peaks.
Oct. 22: Just a day before reaching first quarter phase, the moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter at 1:12 p.m. EDT (1712 GMT). That same day, it will be in conjunction with Saturn at 11:42 p.m. EDT (0324 GMT on Oct. 23). Look for the trio in the evening sky.
Oct. 29: The waxing, gibbous moon will be in conjunction with Mars at 12:16 p.m. EDT (0325 GMT). Look for the pair above the eastern horizon after sunset.
Oct. 30: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Dragon cargo resupply mission (CRS-21) to the International Space Station. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Watch it live.
Oct. 31: Uranus is at opposition. This is the best time of year to view the planet, as it is at its biggest and brightest. If the sky is dark enough, you may be able to spot it with your bare eyes.
Oct. 31: This month has two full moons, which means we'll have a "Blue Moon" on Halloween. The moon reaches full phase at 10:49 a.m. EDT (1449 GMT).
Also scheduled to launch in October (from Spaceflight Now):

• An Arianespace Soyuz rocket will launch the second Composante Spatiale Optique (CSO-2) military reconnaissance satellite for the French space agency CNES and DGA, the French defense procurement agency. It will lift off from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.

November

Nov. 11-12: The Northern Taurid meteor shower peaks.
Nov. 12: The waning crescent moon will be in conjunction with Venus, the "morning star," at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT). Look for the pair above the eastern horizon before dawn.
Nov. 15: New moon
Nov. 16-17: The Leonid meteor shower peaks.
Nov. 19: The waxing crescent moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter at 3:57 a.m. EST (0857 GMT). Shortly afterward, it will be in conjunction with Saturn at 9:51 a.m. EST (1451 GMT). Look for the trio in the evening sky.
Nov. 25: The waxing, gibbous moon will be in conjunction with Mars at 2:46 p.m. EST (1946 GMT). Look for the pair above the eastern horizon after sunset.
Nov. 30: A penumbral lunar eclipse will be visible from the Americas, Australia and Asia. The moon will begin passing through Earth's shadow at 2:32 a.m. EST (0732 GMT), and the eclipse will last for 4 hours and 20 minutes.
Nov. 30: The full moon of November, known as the "Beaver Moon," occurs at 4:30 a.m. EST (0930 GMT).
Also scheduled to launch in November (from Spaceflight Now):

• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Sentinel 6A satellite (also known as Jason-CS A), a joint mission between the European Space Agency, NASA, NOAA, CNES and Eumetsat to continue recording sea level data that was previously collected by the Jason series of satellites. It will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

December

Dec. 13-14: The Geminid meteor shower peaks.
Dec. 14: The only total solar eclipse of 2020 will cross through the southern tip of South America. The moon's shadow will take a similar path to the one it did for the "Great South American Eclipse" of July 2, 2019.
Dec. 16/17: The waxing crescent moon will be in conjunction with Jupiter at 11:30 p.m. EST (0430 GMT on Dec. 17). A few hours later on Dec. 17, it will be in conjunction with Saturn at 12:20 a.m. EST (0520 GMT). Look for the trio near the southwestern horizon just after sunset. .
Dec. 21: The solstice arrives at 4:47 a.m. EST (0947 GMT), marking the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Dec. 21: Jupiter and Saturn will make a close approach in the evening sky. The pair will be in conjunction at 8:24 a.m. EST (1324 GMT).
Dec. 21-22: The Ursid meteor shower peaks.
Dec. 23: The waxing, gibbous moon will be in conjunction with Mars at 1:31 p.m. EST (1831 GMT). Look for the pair above the eastern horizon after sunset.
Dec. 29: The full moon of December, also known as the Cold Moon, occurs at 10:28 p.m. EST (0328 GMT).
Also scheduled to launch in December (from Spaceflight Now):

• A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch the 77th Progress cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. It will lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
• An Arianespace Vega C rocket will launch on its inaugural flight, carrying the Italian space agency's LARES 2 satellite into orbit. It will lift off from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana.

More coming in 2020...

• China will launch the Chang'e 5 mission to return samples from the moon. It will be the first lunar sample return mission attempted since 1976.
• A Chinese Long March 5B rocket will launch on a test flight with an unpiloted prototype for China's new human-rated crew capsule, which is designed for future human missions to the moon. This will be the first flight of a Long March 5B rocket. It will lift off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan, China.
• India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk. 2 (GSLV Mk.2) will launch the county's first GEO Imaging Satellite, or GISAT 1. It is scheduled to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India. The launch was postponed from March 6 due to technical problems with the rocket.
• India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) will launch on its first orbital test flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India. 
• India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) will launch on its first commercial mission with four Earth observation satellites for BlackSky Global. It will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India.
• India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will launch the RISAT 2BR2 radar Earth observation satellite for the Indian Space Research Organization. It will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India.
• Starliner Orbital Flight Test 2: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on its second uncrewed mission to the International Space Station, following a partial failure in December. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
• A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch on its first mission from a new launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. It will launch an experimental mission for the U.S. Air Force's Space Test Program called Monolith, which carries a space weather instrument.
• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the SAOCOM 1B Earth observation satellite for Argentina. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
• A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the AFSPC-44 mission for the U.S. Air Force. The mission will lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is expected to deploy two undisclosed payloads into geosynchronous orbit. 
• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Turksat 5A communications satellite for the Turkish satellite operator Turksat. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
• A Russian Angara-A5 rocket will launch on its second orbital test flight from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. 
• A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch approximately 36 satellites into orbit for the OneWeb constellation of communications satellites. The mission, titled OneWeb 4, will launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia.
• A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch the AFSPC-8 mission for the Space Force's Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP). It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
• A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket will launch a classified spy satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The mission, titled NROL-82, will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
• A U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman Minotaur 1 rocket will launch a classified spy satellite cargo for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. The mission, NROL-111, will lift off from Wallops Island, Virginia.

Mars rock layers swirl in gorgeous crater photo

A southern portion of Mars' Holden Crater, as imaged by the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

A sliver of Martian geological history takes center stage in a striking photo of a Red Planet crater.

The image, captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), shows dramatically swirling layers of rock in the 87-mile-wide (140 kilometers) Holden Crater.

"Much of Mars is covered by sand and dust, but in some places stacks of sedimentary layers are visible," NASA officials wrote Monday (June 8) in a description of the photo. 

"In this image, exquisite layering is revealed emerging from the sand in southern Holden Crater," they added. "Sequences like these offer a window into Mars' complicated geologic history."

That history includes a stretch long ago when the planet's surface was likely capable of supporting Earth-like life. As work by robotic explorers such as MRO and NASA's Curiosity rover has shown, ancient Mars sported rivers, lakes and, some scientists believe, a huge ocean that covered most of the planet's northern hemisphere.

Everything changed about 4 billion years ago, when Mars lost its global magnetic field. The planet's once-thick atmosphere was then exposed to stripping by the charged particles of the solar wind, and Mars was transformed into the cold, dry world we know today. 

Holden Crater was once a potential landing site for Curiosity, by the way. But NASA ultimately selected the 96-mile-wide (154 km) Gale Crater for the six-wheeled robot's rovings.

Holden Crater lies about 26 degrees south of the Martian equator, whereas Gale Crater is at just 5 degrees south.

Apollo 13: Enhanced photos show ill-fated moon mission in unprecedented detail

On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13, which was the third moon-landing mission of NASA, launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, U.S. It was supported by astronauts Jim Lovell (R), Jack Swigert (C) and Fred Haise (L). However, things took an unfortunate turn and the mission was aborted due to a rupture and later explosion of an oxygen tank. The Apollo aircraft circled the moon without landing, and returned on Earth safely on April 17.

Lovell practices flag deployment on Feb. 4.

The Apollo 13 crew travel from the suiting station to a van that will transport them to the rocket site on April 11.

The severely damaged Apollo 13 Service Module (SM) is photographed from the lunar module. An entire panel on the SM was blown away by the explosion of an oxygen tank.

A view of the NASA control room during the return of Apollo 13.

A Navy helicopter hovers over the Apollo 13 capsule in the Pacific Ocean as frogmen release the astronauts. The USS Iwo Jima recovery vessel waits nearby.

The three astronauts are seen after their rescue.

Life aboard Nasa’s ill-fated Apollo 13 mission has been revealed in unprecedented detail thanks to a series of enhanced images originally taken 50 years ago.

The spacecraft was supposed to become Nasa’s third to land on the moon in 1970 before an explosion jeopardised the lives of the three astronauts on board and forced them to make a dramatic journey home.

Fifty years on from the mission, imaging specialist Andy Saunders has managed to produce the clearest pictures yet from the craft, using low-quality 16mm film shot by the crew.

Mr Saunders used a technique called “stacking” to bring together multiple frames on top of each other to improve the detail of the images.

In one picture, Commander Jim Lovell can be seen selecting some music on a tape player as the crew prepares for their return to Earth.

Mr Saunders said it was striking in the footage how calm the crew appeared, even though they faced an extremely challenging journey home.

“This perhaps belies their true feelings as we know that, in reality, the crew doubted if they would make it home alive,” he told the BBC

The enhanced images were released as two of the astronauts involved in the near-disastrous mission said they still viewed the aborted trip as a success.

Mr Lovell described Apollo 13’s return to Earth as a “miraculous recovery”, while Fred Haise said it was a “great mission” despite its difficulties.

Mr Haise said the journey showed “what can be done if people use their minds and a little ingenuity”.

The astronauts also insisted they were not superstitious about the trip and said they both used the number 13 in their email addresses.

Jack Swigert, the craft’s third crew member, died in 1982 after being diagnosed with cancer.

Apollo 13 astronaut hails ‘miraculous recovery’ 50 years after rescue

The severely damaged Apollo 13 service module after separation from the lunar module/command module

Two of the astronauts who successfully returned to Earth after a near-disastrous Apollo 13 mission still consider the aborted trip a success 50 years after the world watched their ordeal with bated breath on television.

Jim Lovell and Fred Haise are still able to talk about the drama which spawned a Hollywood movie although the third crew member, Jack Swigert, died in 1982.

Although they never made it to the moon after their oxygen tank ruptured on April 13, Mr Lovell and Mr Haise insist they are not superstitious and both use 13 in their email addresses.

“I’m still alive. As long as I can keep breathing, I’m good,” mission commander Mr Lovell, now 92, said from his Lake Forest, Illinois, home.

A half-century later, Apollo 13 is still considered Mission Control’s finest hour.

Mr Lovell calls it “a miraculous recovery.”

Gene Kranz never said “failure is not an option”

Mr Haise, like so many others, regards it as Nasa’s most successful failure.

“It was a great mission,” Mr Haise, 86, said.

It showed “what can be done if people use their minds and a little ingenuity”.

As the lunar module pilot, Mr Haise would have become the sixth man to walk on the moon, following Mr Lovell onto the dusty grey surface.

The oxygen tank explosion robbed them of the moon landing, which would have been Nasa’s third, nine months after Apollo 11′s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took humanity’s first footsteps on the moon.

Now the Covid-19 pandemic has robbed them of their anniversary celebrations.

Festivities are on hold, including at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, where the mission began on April 11, 1970, a Saturday just like this year.

Apollo 13 commander James A. Lovell Jr., left, opens the astronauts televised news conference at the Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, by saying “I’m not a superstitious man” alluding to the number 13 and the trouble that befell the flight. With Lovell are his fellow crew members, command module pilot John Swigert, centre, and lunar module pilot Fred Haise

That will not stop Mr Haise, who still lives in Houston, from marking what he calls “boom day” next Monday, as he does every April 13.

Mr Lovell, Mr Haise and Mr Swigert, a last-minute replacement, were almost to the moon when they heard a bang and felt a shudder.

One of two oxygen tanks had burst in the spacecraft’s service module.

The tense words that followed are the stuff of space, and movie, fame.

“OK, Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” radioed Mr Swigert, the command module pilot.

“This is Houston. Say again, please.”

“Houston, we’ve had a problem,” Mr Lovell cut in.

Mr Lovell reported a sudden voltage drop in one of the two main electrical circuits.

Within seconds, Houston’s Mission Control saw pressure readings for the damaged oxygen tank plunge to zero.

The blast also knocked out two electrical power-generating fuel cells and damaged the third.

As Mr Lovell peered out the window and saw oxygen escaping into the black void, he knew his moon landing was also slipping away.

Safety at last as the command module carrying the Apollo 13 crew parachutes to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean

He shoved all emotions aside.

“Not landing on the moon or dying in space are two different things,” Mr Lovell explained, “and so we forgot about landing on the moon.

“This was one of survival. How do we get home?”

The astronauts were 200,000 miles from Earth.

Getting back alive would require calm, skill and, yes, luck.

“The explosion could not have happened at a better time,” Mr Lovell said.

Much earlier, he said, and the astronauts wouldn’t have had enough electrical power to make it around the moon and slingshot back to Earth for a splashdown.

Crowds watch a television screen in New York’s Grand Central Station waiting for the safe arrival of the Apollo 13 astronauts in the Pacific Ocean

A blast in lunar orbit or, worse still, while Mr Lovell and Mr Haise were on the surface, “that would be the end of it”.

“I think we had some divine help in this flight,” Mr Lovell said.

The aborted mission went from being so humdrum that none of the major TV networks broadcast the astronauts’ show-and-tell minutes before the explosion, to a life-and-death drama gripping the entire world.

As flight director Gene Kranz and his team in Houston raced to come up with a rescue plan, the astronauts kept their cool.

It was Mr Lovell’s fourth spaceflight, his second towards the moon, and the first and only one for Mr Haise and Mr Swigert.

Dark thoughts “always raced through our minds, but silently. We didn’t talk about that”, Mr Lovell said.

Added Mr Haise: “We never hit the point where there was nothing left to do. So, no, we never got to a point where we said, ‘Well, we’re going to die.’”

The White House, less confident, demanded odds.

Jim Lovell and Fred Haise never made it to the moon

Mr Kranz refused, leaving it to others to put the crew’s chances at 50-50.

In his mind, there was no doubt, no room for failure — only success.

“Basically that was the name of the game: I’m going to get them home. My team’s going to get them home. We will get them home,” Mr Kranz recalled.

For the record, Mr Kranz never uttered “failure is not an option”.

The line is pure Hollywood, created for the 1995 movie Apollo 13 starring Ed Harris as Mr Kranz and Tom Hanks as Mr Lovell.

The flight controllers went into crisis mode.

They immediately ordered the command module Odyssey shut down to conserve what little power remained, and the astronauts to move into the lunar module Aquarius, now a lifeboat.

The interior of the Apollo 13 lunar module with the “mail box”, an ad hoc device which the crew assembled while in space to remove carbon dioxide from the air

One of the low points, Mr Lovell said, was realising they would be cramped together in the lander.

“It was designed for two people for two days. We were three people for four days.”

The carbon dioxide overload, from breathing, threatened to kill them.

Engineers scrambled to figure out how to convert the square air-purifying canisters in the dead capsule into round ones that would fit in their temporary home.

Their outside-the-box, seat-of-the-pants solution, using spacecraft scraps, worked.

But it was so damp and cold that the astronauts could not sleep.

The Apollo 13 lunar module photographed from the command module just after the lunar module was jettisoned, about an hour before splashdown

Condensation covered the walls and windows, and the temperature was close to freezing.

Dehydrated and feverish, Mr Haise had the roughest time during the six-day ordeal.

Despite the sky-high stress, Mr Haise recalls no cross words among the three test pilots.

Even Mr Swigert fit in, despite joining the crew a scant three days before liftoff.

He replaced command module pilot Ken Mattingly, who with his crewmates had been exposed to German measles, but unlike them did not have immunity.

Rumours swirled that the astronauts had poison pills tucked away in case of a hopeless situation.

Astronaut Jim Lovell, inside the Apollo 13 lunar module

Mr Lovell dispelled that notion on page one of his 1994 autobiography, Lost Moon, the basis for the Apollo 13 film.

Splashdown day finally arrived April 17 1970 — with no guarantees.

The astronauts managed to power up their command module, avoiding short circuits but creating a rainfall inside as the spacecraft decelerated in the atmosphere.

The communication blackout lasted 1 1/2 minutes longer than normal. Controllers grew alarmed.

Finally, three billowing parachutes appeared above the Pacific.

It was only then, Mr Lovell said, that “we knew that we had it made.”

The astronauts had no idea how much their cosmic cliffhanger impacted the world until they reached Honolulu.

President Richard Nixon was there to greet them.

“We never dreamed a billion people were following us on television and radio, and reading about us in banner headlines of every newspaper published,” Mr Lovell noted in a Nasa history.

The tank explosion later was linked to damage caused by electrical overheating in ground tests.

Apollo 13 “showed teamwork, camaraderie and what Nasa was really made of”, said Columbia University’s Mike Massimino, a former shuttle astronaut.

In the decades since, Mr Lovell and his wife, Marilyn, of nearly 68 years have discussed the what-ifs and might-have-beens.

“The outcome of everything is, naturally, that he’s alive,” she said, “and that we’ve had all these years”.