Watch Apollo 13 50th anniversary live
Daniel Johnston
Updated on April 06, 2026
The crew of Apollo 13 never made it to the moon, but their historic mission paved the way for decades of space travel to come.
It's been 50 years since Apollo 13 launched from the Kennedy Space Center on a course set for the moon.
The mission was called a "successful failure" because while the astronauts never actually reached the moon, the entire crew made it back to Earth safely after the oxygen tank on the service module exploded 55 hours into the mission.
Still, the trip gathered enough data to help NASA launch future missions.
Today you can watch Apollo 13 launch in real-time. The Kennedy Space Center is hosting a virtual watch party this afternoon, starting at the same time as the original launch back in 1970 at 2:13 p.m. EST. Plans for an in-person 50th-anniversary celebration were scrubbed due to COVID-19.
You can stream the launch on the Kennedy Space Center's Facebook or Instagram page, and follow along with the hashtag #Apollo13inquarantine on Twitter. Be sure to post pictures and videos of your watch party while we all stay at home to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
Right now NASA says it's still working on a project to get us back to the moon. Project Artemis is promising to land another man, and the first woman on the moon by 2024.
