In America this was their finest hour

[Webb]

Houston, we have a problem

[OldAirmail]

It was also the day that America held it's breath.

[ViperPilot]

Apollo 13 Flight Director's Loop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWfnY9cRXO4 (Part 1)

There are three more Audio loops in the set, each lasting about 1 hour and 30 minutes. They are fascinating to hear; Gene Kranz' growing surprise as Odyssey quickly loses power, and the realization that the Mission is in jeopardy.
Then, as Glynn Lunney takes over, you get drawn in as the COM starts to cut out, then is lost. Then comes the realization that Apollo 13 has to get back on a Free Return trajectory, before they can do anything else.

You hear the tension as Jack Swigert, Fred Haise and Jim Lovell try to transfer the Guidance information from the CSM to the LEM. The tension grows as Fred and Jim try to complete the 3 hour LEM Activation in one (1) hour, before they can do the Mid Course Correction for Free Return. Everything's being done on the fly, and literally by the seat of their pants.

You know the rest of the story...

[Webb]

From the movie:

Lovell: Freddo, how long does it take to power up the LEM?

Haise: Three hours by the checkbook.

Lovell: We don't have that much time.

[Webb]

The LEM descent engine was designed to fire one time. It fired three times.

[ViperPilot]

I once saw an interview with Fred Haise, where he talked about the Reactivation Checklist that was 'written' for the CSM as Odyssey & Aquarius made their way back home.

Under normal circumstances, the process of writing the Checklist, verifying its correctness, and certifying it as 'Flight Ready' went through several Evaluation Boards and Committees, and would have taken about six weeks.

The guys in Houston did all of that in less than three days, and every step of the Checklist ended up being spot on, without a single error.

[Webb]

The movie spent a lot of time detailing the command module startup. It was wet with condensation and had little battery power to work with. It's amazing that it powered up at all.