Apollo 13: Australia's Untold Story

This view of the severely damaged Apollo 13 Service Module (SM) was photographed from the Lunar Module/Command Module (LM/CM) following SM jettisoning. An entire panel on the SM was blown away by the explosion of oxygen tank. Credit: NASA

From Cosmos:

MELBOURNE: Forty years ago, on 13 April 1970, NASA's worst nightmare became reality when there was an explosion aboard Apollo 13.

And in Australia, scientists and engineers at the Parkes radiotelescope - celebrated in the 2000 movie The Dish - had to find a way to stay in contact with the stranded astronauts.

"The expertise and skills of Australian scientists proved vital in the tracking of the spacecraft - without which the rescue would not have succeeded," said John Sarkissian, the operations scientist at Parkes.

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