Apollo 1. 3: Photos of the Lovell Family During NASA's Finest Hour. The story of NASA's Apollo 1.

Large selection of multimedia from the Apollo missions. "There's a reason we've never gone back to the moon." Apollo 18 is as dull a "found footage" movie as I have ever seen, which is sad because the premise is one that. Watch Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks in this History on DIRECTV. It's available to watch on TV, online, tablets, phone.

From Ron Howard's rousing 1. Apollo 1. 3, by TIME's Jeff Kluger and Apollo 1. Jim Lovell) to documentaries, oral histories and countless other accounts, the mission that many characterize as NASA's "finest hour" has assumed a near- mythic resonance in the national consciousness — a resonance that endures, in large part, precisely because the stranger- than- fiction tale is true. Here, in tribute to Apollo 1. Lovell, Command Module pilot Jack Swigert and Lunar Module pilot Fred Haise — LIFE.

Lovells' Texas home, in the very midst of the crisis, by LIFE magazine's Bill Eppridge. In a recent talk with LIFE. Commander Lovell expressed surprise (a surprise, it should be noted, that's not shared by many outside of NASA) that the remarkable story of Apollo 1. Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images. More than four decades on, Lovell acknowledges the drama inherent in the effort to make it back to Earth after an oxygen- tank rupture scuttled the crew's journey to the moon, but the one aspect of the endeavor that he believes truly defined — and saved — the mission was the phenomenal and tenacious teamwork that NASA brought to bear on the crisis."I still have mixed emotions about it all, of course," the 8. Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree told LIFE. We were all deeply disappointed about not getting a chance to land on the moon — to fulfill our mission.

But to this day, I still give talks to groups about what we went through, and what NASA learned all those years ago. And the one point I often stress is that it was teamwork — between the three of us in the lunar module and, later, in the command module and so many other people on the ground, at Mission Control — it was teamwork that got us home."Home, meanwhile, is where LIFE's Eppridge spent several days, photographing Lovell's wife, Marilyn, and several of their children as Lovell, Swigert and Haise fought to complete a mission that, by then, was wholly, radically different than the one they'd originally embarked upon."We had a 'squawk box' in the home," Lovell recalls, "and Marilyn and the kids could use it to hear all of the communications between the crew and Mission Control. See slide #7 in this gallery.] It was tough for them, obviously — they could listen to everything that was being said, but they could not talk to us. I know that there were times when Marilyn couldn't help but be upset — times when maybe the voices of the crew and the voices at Mission Control were raised a little louder than usual. Not knowing if that meant something was really wrong, or if we were suddenly in real danger . I know that was hard for all of them."One aspect of the entire situation that was a help for Lovell's family, however, was being surrounded by friends and colleagues — including fellow astronauts like Pete Conrad (Gemini 5 and 1. Apollo 1. 2), Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 1.

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13.

Rusty Schweickart and Dave Scott (Apollo 9) — who were able to not only walk the family through exactly what was going on in space and at Mission Control, but could also run interference, in a sense, when the family needed peace and quiet, or just a bit of rare and much- needed privacy during those fraught days and nights.(Stressing how accurate the Apollo 1. Lovell notes that one of the film's most memorable lines — spoken when his mother in the film, played by Ron Howard's real- life mom, asks Armstrong and Aldrin, "Are you boys in the space program, too?" — was not a Hollywood fabrication. It might sound too good to be true; it might sound like something a scriptwriter would dream up; but how it happened onscreen is exactly how it happened in real life, Lovell says: a reminder of the deep, informal support system that was in place, and remains in place, throughout NASA's extended family.)Today, in the post- Space Shuttle era, when mind- bendingly complex hi- tech rovers and robots have become, at least for now, the new "faces" of American space exploration, the scope of Apollo 1. Need a reminder of just how humbling, how thrilling, how improbable it all really was?

Fearful that the Russians would continue their lead in the space race and be the first to put a man on the moon, NASA felt an enormous pressure to push the Apollo.

Go ahead. Look closely at the photos in this gallery. Study the faces, the postures, the gestures of the brave ones who stayed behind — the family and friends: waiting, watching, praying and somehow, despite everything, never despairing. Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE. Follow her on Twitter at @Lizabeth.

Apollo 1. 3’ Filmmakers Reunite For Neal Stephenson Sci- Fi Novel ‘Seveneves’EXCLUSIVE: Skydance has set the Apollo 1. Bill Broyles, director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer for an adaptation of bestselling author Neal Stephenson’s sci- fi novel Seveneves.

Grazer and Howard’s Imagine Entertainment is producing the ambitious adaptation. Skydance Media. The 2.

Earth a ticking time bomb, and nations band together to devise a plan to ensure the survival of humanity in outer space. Five thousand years later, their progeny — seven races now 3 billion strong — embark on another audacious journey to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth. Skydance’s David Ellison, a big Stephenson fan I’m told, is also producing this with Dana Goldberg and Imagine’s Erica Huggins. It’s the latest big swing for his company, which is reshaping after raising $7.

March (that included $2. J. P. Morgan Chase). The new emphasis is away from co- financing and more toward funding projects generated internally — and not just at Paramount. Sony Pictures stepped up to co- finance Skydance’s Mars mission film Life, which Daniel Espinosa will direct with Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal and Rebecca Ferguson.

Ellison did the Dean Devlin- directed Geostorm with Warner Bros. Next up for Skydance is the July 2. Star Trek Beyond and October 2.

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, with Paramount. Geostorm will be released January 1. Life is due on March 2. Howard and Grazer’s Imagine just teamed with National Geographic Channel for the channel’s first scripted series Genius. The anthology drama — telling the stories of the world’s most brilliant innovators — is from Imagine TV, Fox 2.

TV Studios, Odd. Lot Entertainment and EUE/Sokolow, and Howard is set to direct the first episode on Albert Einstein. Broyles most recently created the upcoming History series Six. Watch Bad Night Putlocker more. Neal is repped by Darhansoff & Verrill Agency and ICM Partners, latter of which brokered the deal.