: The story begins on July 20, 1969, when
Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the
Moon. Astronaut Jim Lovell is sitting at home with his
family watching. His five-year-old son, Jeffrey, asks him
if he is really going to the Moon. Jim reminds him that
he had been around the Moon on Apollo 8 and that he
will be going to the Moon on Apollo 14. In Chapter 2,
the initial plan changes when astronaut Alan Shepard
develops an ear infection and Jim Lovell is asked to go in
his place on Apollo 13, together with Fred Haise and Ken
Mattingly. The three astronauts get inside the module
simulator and they go over the procedures that will
take place in both the lunar module, Aquarius, and the
command module, Odyssey, for the moonlanding. Jeffrey
wants his father to bring back a Moon rock for him, and
Jim promises to try. In Chapter 3, just two days before the
scheduled lift-off, one of the controllers, Ken Mattingly,
falls ill with the measles. He is taken off the mission. Jack
Swigert replaces Mattingly. Jim Lovell is not happy about
this, since he knows Jack has no experience on spacecraft.
After long hours in the simulator, the
astronauts are ready for their launch. Everybody at
Mission Control in Houston is excited as Apollo 13
successfully skyrockets. Yet, once in space, the astronauts
notice that one of the engines is failing. Mission Control
tells Apollo 13 that the other engines are working properly
and that they can continue with their trip to the Moon
as planned. The astronauts achieve docking Odyssey with
Aquarius and they move forward.