The Apollo 13, the third mission intended to land on the Moon was launched on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded on the 13th, crippling the service module. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17. mission was called “a successful failure” by Lovell,[27] because of the successful safe return of the astronauts, but the failed lunar landing. Lead Flight Director Gene Kranz and Sy Liebergot, the first one to see the telemetry of the initial oxygen tank failure, both describe it decades later as “NASA’s finest hour”.[28][29] Nixon awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the crew and the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team for their actions during the mission on April 18, 1970