2:06:03
This is Apollo 13 signing off.
2:06:05
Good job.
2:06:55
Our mission was called
a successful failure,
2:06:58
in that we returned safely,
but never made it to the moon.
2:07:02
In the following months,
it was determined...
2:07:05
that a damaged coil built
inside the oxygen tank...
2:07:08
sparked during our cryo stir and caused
the explosion that crippled the Odyssey.
2:07:13
It was a minor defect
that occurred two years...
2:07:15
before I was named
the flight's commander.
2:07:18
Fred Haise was going back
to the moon on Apollo 18,
2:07:21
but his mission was canceled
because of budget cuts.
2:07:24
He never flew in space again.
2:07:26
Nor did Jack Swigert,
who left the astronaut corps...
2:07:29
and was elected to Congress
from the state of Colorado.
2:07:32
But he died of cancer before
he was able to take office.
2:07:36
Ken Mattingly orbited the moon
as command module pilot of Apollo 16...
2:07:40
and flew the space shuttle,
having never gotten the measles.
2:07:44
Gene Kranz retired as Director
of Flight Operations just not long ago.
2:07:49
And many other members of Mission
Control have gone on to other things,
2:07:52
but some are still there.
2:07:54
And as for me...
2:07:56
the seven extraordinary days
of Apollo 13 were my last in space.