8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series "first ladies: influence and image -- examining the public and private lives of the women from martha washington to michelle obama. sundays at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 3. and as a complement to the series c-span's new book "first ladies" on the lives of 45 iconic american women. it's available as a hard cover or an ebook through your favorite bookstore or online bookseller bookseller. each week american history tv's "reel america" brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. 45 years ago on april 11 1970 "apollo 13" blasted off in what was to be the third nasa mission to land men on the moon. next, a 1970 nasa documentary about the crisis which nearly left the three "apollo 13" astronauts stranded in space. >> this little tape recorder has been a big benefit to us in passing the time in our transit to the moon, and it's rather odd to see it floating like this in odyssey while it's playing the scene from 2001. >> april 13, 1970, the mood could only be described as relaxed. "apollo 13," man's fifth lunar mission, the third scheduled to land on the moon, continued its tranquil coast. >> this is the crew of "apollo 13." we're about ready to close out our inspection of aquarius and get back for a pleasant evening on odyssey. good night. >> the third day and we have one more item for you when you have a chance. we'd like to you stir up your cryo tanks. >> okay. stand by. okay . we have a problem here.houston. say again. >> houston, we have a problem. >> roger, interval. stand by 13. we're looking at it. >> and we had a pretty large bang associated with the caution and warning there. and as i recall "b" was the one that had a spike on it before. interim here we are starting to go ahead and button up the tunnel again. >> april 11 1970 launch day. the crew of "apollo 13," jim lovell, commander and veteran of three previous missions, he had orbited the moon christmas 1968 on "apollo 8." federal haise, his first time up lunar module pilot. jack swiggert command module pilot. three days ago he was on the backup crew. now he replaced ken mattingly. mattingly had been dropped from the mission because he had been exposed to german measles. he would watch the launch from houston's mission control. >> roger. booster. complete. >> roger. booster complete. we're on internal power and we're go. >> roger. how does it look? >> looks good. >> okay. recorder at flight speed. >> ignition flight. >> roger. >> system go all engines. >> roger. >> okay. >> looks good here flight. go to green. >> okay we go. okay, we're go at one. roger. booster, how do you look? >> we're good. >> we're go flight. looks good here. >> looks good flight. >> looks good flight. >> looks fine. >> go for staging. >> confirming. >> staging flight. >> roger. >> trajectory confirmed staging. >> roger. >> booster was way early. >> okay. >> flight confirmed number five engine down. >> you don't see any problem with that, though do you? >> negative. not right now flight. all the other engines are go. >> the next step in the routine of lunar flight was to burn out of earth's orbit to the moon. then pull free of the third stage and dock with the lunar module "aquarius." at the controls of the command module "odyssey" jack swaggart. they pulled aquarius away from the s4b. >> i can see the s4b at the hatch window. >> odyssey and aquarius moved away interest earth towards the moon. >> we have a problem here. >> you see an interval? >> negative. i believe the crew reported it. >> we may have had an instrumental problem, flight. >> we had a pretty large bang associated with the caution and warning there. >> i felt a vibration accompanying the bang, not a large vibration are or shudder. >> are there any kind of leads? we have a real problem or what? >> we're reading zero in fuel cell one and 13 psi on fuel cell three. >> what do you want to do? open circuit? >> i asked for rekonconfirmation. if you shut one down it can only be restarted by ground supported equipment. >> it looks to me looking out the hatch we are emitting something. we are venting something out into space. >> okay. let's everybody think of the kind of things we'd be vent inging. do you have anything abnormal in your system? >> negative. >> how about you? do you see anything with the instrumentation you've got that could be venting? >> let me look at the systems as far as the bang is concerned. >> okay. let's scan it. >> there is a bulletin from abc news. the "apollo 13" spacecraft has had a serious power supply malfunction that could cause the lunar landing mission to be terminated early. >> i assume you've called in your backup? >> again? >> you've called in your backup to see if we can get more power? >> they are trying to isolate their trouble. a late report says the spacecraft is operating on battery power alone all unnecessary equipment is being turned off. >> now let's everybody keep cool. we have the lens still attached. if we need to get back home we can do a good portion. let's make sure we don't do anything to blow our csm electrical power with the batteries or will cause us to lose the main or the fuel cell number two. we want to keep the 02 working. we have the command module system. let's solve the problem and not make it any worse by guessing. >> my concern is what this is going to do to the landing to i wonder if we can get back home again. >> the best thing we can do is power down. >> it was a question of time the command madual would be dead. >> let's make sure we don't blow the whole mission. >> the thing that concerns me is throwing equipment. we had a problem. we don't know the cause of the problem. >> flight, i have a feeling we've lost two fuel cells. i hate to put it that way. i don't know why we've lost them. it doesn't add up. >> network from flight. >> flight network. >> bring me up another computer in the rtcc will you? >> we have one machine. >> i want people capable of running d-logs. >> though there has been some rotation or tumbling, the astronauts do not seem to be in any immediate danger. >> can you get somebody in the back room to figure out what the equivalent is we're getting to see if we can back track to see if we can figure out what's venting. >> we'll give it a try flight. >> when i looked up and saw both pressures one at zero and the other going down, it donned on me that we were indeed in serious trouble. the only way to survive the situation was to transfer. >> you'd better think about getting in the system. >> this is as serious a situation as we've ever had. if at any time the limb had separated and we had gotten ourselves into a rendezvous situation or what you state is absolutely true. it would be a fatal situation. >> go ahead, flight. >> i want to you figure out minimum power and staying alive. >> the accident occurred 200,000 miles from earth. lovell swigert and haise were attached to a lifeless command module. "apollo 13" had started as a mission of sign particular exploration. it was now a matter of survival. the guidance platform of aquarius designed to land on and take off from the moon would have to be used. >> the first mile stoep and i considered this after the accident more or less the survival now get alignment on the lm platform. without knowing exactly which way the altitude is, there's no way to tell how to burn or how to use the engines of the spacecraft to get the proper trajectory to come home. >> the position we are now we have to go around the moon to get back if we're going to use the engine. you would have had enough capability with the scs engine. of course we don't dare use that now. we have to go to the back side of the moon to get back. >> to get into the correct orbit, the crew burned out of a trajectory that would automatically bring them back to earth. they would have to get back on to a safe course toward earth. >> he needs to put his throttle to min, he's at 29% now. >> this maneuver again was completed on time and because it was a manual burn we had a three-man operation. jack would take care of the time, when to late off the engine, when to stop it. fred handled maneuver and i handled the roll maneuver and pushed the buttons to start and stop the engines. >> go for the burn. >> 3%. >> okay aquarius, you're looking good. >> auto shutdown. >> the first problem was solved. they were back on the math to earth. but there were many other problems to be solved. from a building at houston's manned spacecraft center systems experts coordinated the coast to coast effort to get the crew back. one of the big problems was consumeable consumables. in space there are other factors, oxygen to breathe electrical power to keep the spacecraft alive, water to cool the equipment and keep it operating. >> what we'll be doing until they get them back on the water is concentrating on everything that their lives are dependent upon at the moment rather than worrying about the accident. there's nothing we can do about that you now. it appears at the present time everything is under control and that we have a safe situation at the moment. >> i want to say you're doing good work. >> so are you guys, jack. >> we are about 70 hours from home and we think we have the situation in control. we projected the consumables as i've described and we have a plan for carrying out the rest of the mission but there is going to be no relaxation at all until splash. >> a key decision to be made before "apollo 13" went behind the moon. where to bring them down. their present course would take them to the indian ocean where recovery would be difficult. a burn to bring them home quick er would take them to the pacific ocean near the recovery forces. bringing them home even faster would place them in the south atlantic, again, away from recovery forces. it was decided to take them to the pacific. >> we've run simulators both here and at the cape and the contractors continuously ever since last night. we've tried to simulate virtually everything that we've had the crew do that was not normal that they've done and we've proven most everything that we've been able to run on the simulator prior it to passing it up. at least we've checked the feasibility and we'll continue to do that. >> they passed 137 miles from the moon. for lovell, it was the second time that he had seen the moon so near, but there was no time for contemplation. there was another kritcritical burn coming. >> okay, let's get the cameras put away. let's get on with the burn. >> and in houston the newsmen poured in to tell an anxious world the story. >> that was going -- >> shortly after "apollo 13" had separated from the saturn third stage, the stage had been sent on to a trajectory towards the moon. its impact would be recorded by apollo 12. >> aquarius we see the results now from 12's monitor. it looks like your booster just hit the moon and it's rocking it a little bit. over? >> well, at least something worked on this flight. >> i'm sure glad we didn't have a lm impact, too. >> jim, you are go for the burn. go for the burn. >> roger. go for the burn. >> guidance okay? >> we're good, flight. >> control okay? >> we're okay flight. >> we're go flight. >> we're good, flight. >> ground confirms ignition. >> we're burning 40%. >> houston, you're looking good. >> roger. shutdown. >> roger shutdown. >> i'd say that was a goodburn. >> roger, now we want to power down as soon as possible. >> i understand. >> to conserve the electric power and cooling water, the crews shut down all but the vital life sustaining systems. >> i think the lens spacecraft is in excellent shape and it's fully capable of getting the crew back. i think as we have found before every time we put the lm spacecraft to a test it's always done much more than it was guaranteed to do. i think this is a good case in point. >> cooling water electric power. >> the lm water then was leaking. a quart of water i would estimate. it took me about two days to get my feet dry. i think you are all aware the temperatures were going down in both vehicles and made for chilly feet for a couple of days. >> lord, your astronauts will come back safe. >> if i may be serious for one moment and ask the entire audience for a moment of prayer for the crewmen of the "apollo 13" 13". we'll have silence for a moment, please. rcsa stands at 6.2% and "b" at 6.2%. >> we've gone a hell of a long time without sleep. thinking about going back to sleep again because i didn't get hardly any sleep last night at all. >> command module slowly kept going down in temperature until i think prior to re-entry it was down to about 38 degrees. and along with that, it was a chilling coldness. the walls were perspiring, the windows were completely wet, and it wasn't too healthy. i recall that we went in to get hot dogs one day and it was like reaching into the freezer for the food. >> if you want my opinion on how to handle the situation when it happened handled it like we'd expect them to. they were about as on top of it knowing what we knew which isn't very much, i'll have to admit. i think they did everything right within the knowledge that was available to us in a timely fashion which is what we expected of them. they did a beautiful job of it. >> we actual lyly had a third sleep restraint, put on and got a little bit warm. >> the astronauts faced another problem, their own exhaled breath. the lithium hydroxide chemical to take carbon dioxide out of the air was not sufficient in the lunar module. they would have to adapt from the command module to fit the hoses in the lm. on the ground an adapter was fashioned from materials the crew had, cardboard, plastic bags and tape. after check-out in an environmental chamber the directions for construction were sent up to aquarius. >> at this point in time i take the partial pressure was reading about 15 millimeters and we constructed two of these things and put them on line and i think within an hour the partial pressure of co2 was down to 0.2. so you see that survival now became one of initiatives and ingenuity and it was one which the ground continually helped us along. we had all kinds of people on the ground trying to think of ways of extending our lifetime. >> there would be still another burn, a mid course correction to get "apollo 13" into the narrow corridor through the atmosphere for a safe return to earth. >> flight? >> ignition. thrust looks good. good shutdown. >> hang in there. it won't be long. >> there were moments i didn't know how much consumables we had, whether we could make it back or not. in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do. you just keep going. and you just keep thinking where you get more consumables so that's exactly what we did. >> on april 17 they prepared for re-entry. after a small course correction burn they jettisoned the module. >> copy that. >> there's one whole side. >> is that right? >> the whole panel is brought out. >> it's really a mess. that's unbelievable. >> next they got back into odyssey to jettison aquarius prior to getting into the atmosphere. >> okay. copy that. farewell aquarius and we thank you. okay, los in a minute or a minute and a half. entry attitude we'd like on charlie and welcome home. >> thank you. odyssey, houston standing by. over. >> okay. >> odyssey houston, we show you on the main. really looks great. >> "apollo 13." "apollo 13," this is recovery over. wonderful, 13. this is recovery and your chutes look good. >> hello, 13. this is recovery, rcs burn, over over. >> the recovery of "apollo 13." this is recovery, over. >> the three chutes are in the water. >> command module is stable at this time. they are approximately 15 degrees. >> i recall, >> captain, when i spoke to you on the phone, you were able to complete your mission this was a successful mission from the start, the exploration of stasis has been hazardous adventure. the voyage dramatized its risks. the men of apollo 13 by their poise and skill under the most intense kind of pressure epitomized the character that accepts danger and surmounts it. there is the spirit that filled america. your mission serves your country. it serves to remind us all of our proud heritage of a nation to remind us that in this age of technicians and scientific marvels, that the individual still counts, that in a crisis, the character of a man or of men will make the difference. >> procedures, go. afd, go. network, go. >> computer? >> no. >> that work, give me -- rtc, on conference? >> rtc is on the conference. >> all right. let's play it cool. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ you're watching american history tv on c-span3. follow us on twitter twitter @cspanhistory for our programs and latest history news. there's more on american history tv's facebook page including video of recent programs and viewer comments that's at facebook.com/cspanhistory. >> this summer,booktv covers book festivals from around the country and this weekend, we're live at book expo america in new york city for the publishing