April 13, 1970: The Apollo 13 accident cut short the lifetime of Apollo. (Shown in the Lunar Module Aquarius, (left to right) Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise).

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It’s 10 p.m. EST, on April 13, 1970, and more than 200,000 miles from Earth, the Apollo program is about to have its string of lunar success dating back to Apollo 8 shattered.  The age of lunar hubris will end in ten minutes, causing NASA to deem the risk of lunar voyages not worth fighting to preserve, in effect truncating the program in favor of the “safer” Space Shuttle.  As of this moment, six Apollo landings remain on the book, despite cuts in the program initiated in January.  Apollos 13 and 14 are set to land on the moon in 1970.  Two more flights would occur in 1971, including the first extended “J” mission.  The program would be paused in 1972 for the Skylab program of three flights to the prototype space station launched on a Saturn V.  Since Saturn V production was shut down, that vehicle had to come from Apollo, forcing the cancellation of Apollo 20.  That still left two “J” missions in 1973 and a final one, the ninth landing on the moon, for 1974.

And why shouldn’t the flights be successful?  Apollo 13 aiming for the third lunar landing, seemed routine, even boring.  Even flight direction Gerald Griffin said this very day that it was “an easy flight so far.”

Concluding at evening TV broadcast minutes ago.  Mission Commander Jim Lovell looked positively serene as he said, “We’re just about ready to close out our inspection of Aquarius and get back for a pleasant evening in in Odyssey.”

Then at 10:08 .m., the spacecraft shuttered with a metallic groan.  The master alarm flashed and and sound the alert with a warbling wail.  Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert called to Houston, “Hey, we’ve had a problem here.”

The moon was lost to Apollo 13, and with it, Apollos 18 19.  Rumors of flight cancellations began in June and the two missions officially were canceled on Sept. 2, 1970.

Apollo 13’s successful return to Earth won by hard work was miraculous.  The fact that Apollos 16 and 17 were not cut also was a miracle.