On April 13, 1970, Apollo 13's oxygen tank exploded, causing a drop in pressure in two of its three fuel cells. The astronauts were three-quarters of the way to the Moon and moving away from Earth at 2,000 mph. The only practical way for them to return was to go around the moon and rely on gravity to send them back like a slingshot, but that required more than their current supply of oxygen and electricity they had. Their chances of dying were greater than their chances of surviving, but all three astronauts returned to Earth safely. How did this happen? This happened thanks to the expert leadership and forward thinking of Gene Kranz, the flight director, and Jim Lovell, the ship's commander. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. Gene Kranz was the mastermind and stabilizing force behind the bailout. Without Gene Kranz, all three men would have died in space and the story would have ended very differently. Gene Kranz immediately calmed all his men when he heard the devastating news, displaying excellent leadership qualities and composure. Then he told them all to call their support teams and fix the problem instead of guessing, because he understood that accuracy was extremely important. His forward thinking allowed him to make the right decisions and the first major decision he made to save the men was to close the reaction valves of fuel cells 1 and 3 and move the astronauts to the limb . Then he immediately made a backup of all the computer's control data and moved it all to the limb before the command module died. Once he successfully moved the men there, he focused on the second part of his mission: getting people home using as little energy as possible. His second major decision was to use a free-return trajectory (the safest solution). Some of his men objected, saying it was designed to do more, but Kranz countered by saying it didn't matter what it was designed to do; what mattered was what he was supposed to do. This showed Kranz's penchant for precision; he always tried to remain cautious in emergency situations and be as accurate as possible when making decisions. He also asked his people to turn down the power supply to 12 amps (i.e. turn off the heat, computers, etc.) to give them enough time to reach Earth. To create enough options, Kranz ordered his men to create "reentry scenarios" while preaching to them that "failure was not an option." This demonstrates his confidence and determination to get the job done; By telling his men that failure was not allowed, Kranz forced them to think of a solution no matter what. After several hours of exhausting planning and experimentation, they finally found a solution and the men were saved. Jim Lovell, the ship's commander, also played an important role in saving the lives of his fellow astronauts. He demonstrated the same forward thinking as Kranz when he decided to leave Mattingly behind and replace him with Swigert to keep the crew safe. Mattingly never caught measles, but if he had, Lovell and his team would still have been safe. Lovell also tried to keep everyone calm during the tribulation - when Haise begins to blame the inexperience of. 1995.