"Apollo 13: America's Finest Hour" Facebook Live Event Set for Friday April 17

Astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise and primary Flight Directors to tell inside stories about one of NASA's most famous and successful missions.

Apollo 13 is the most memorable deep space rescue mission in the storied annals of American manned spaceflight history.

San Diego, Calif. -- Apollo 13 is the most memorable deep space rescue mission in the storied annals of American manned spaceflight history. Clearly one of NASA’s finest moments, the rescue takes center stage during a once-in-a-lifetime Facebook Live event hosted by the San Diego Air & Space Museum this Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific time, the Museum announced today.

“Apollo 13: America’s Finest Hour” is being hosted on the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/SDASM, exactly 50 years to the day of the splash down by one of NASA’s most heralded missions. It’s the real life story about what it took to save the crew from certain death in deep space.

“Apollo 13 is THE American success story and is being chronicled by the men who were responsible for the rescue and who were actually there,” said Jim Kidrick, President & CEO of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. “This is an incredible opportunity to see and hear from the men who were the right team at the right time – and how people working together can overcome anything they set their minds to accomplish. With all that’s going on in the world today, it’s time to acknowledge our human abilities to conquer the unknown and unexpected. Taking on life’s challenges and winning is what we do as a species. Celebrating Apollo 13 is perfectly timed for what the world is experiencing right now.”

As of April 15, Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell, Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise, Lead Mission Flight Director Milt Windler, and Mission Flight Directors Gerry Griffin, Gene Kranz and Glynn Lunney have confirmed for the Facebook Live event, moderated by Jim Kidrick, President & CEO of the Museum, and Mark Larson, the Museum’s Chairman of the Board. The event is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience their live, candid comments, sharing the real-life story in their own words of the teamwork required to save the spacecraft and crew from certain death.

The Facebook Live event begins at 2 p.m. Pacific time this Friday, April 17 at www.Facebook.com/SDASM. Don’t miss it!

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The San Diego Air & Space Museum is California’s official air and space museum and education center. The Museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and was the first aero-themed Museum to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Now Open: “SPACE: Our Greatest Adventure,” an informative, educational, interactive -- and most of all FUN! -- experience for the whole family, with selfie stations on the Moon and Mars, and hands-on learning experiences for explorers of all ages. The Museum is located at 2001 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 92101. The Museum and gift store are open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with admissions until 4:30 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Museum has been temporarily closed to the public since March 16 in the interest of public health concerns.