Apollo 13 is the most famous near miss in the history of space disasters. En route to the Moon, an oxygen tank exploded, forcing the crew, James Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert (all USA) to evacuate the command module and use the attached lunar module as a lifeboat. Apollo 13 used a ‘free return trajectory’ to return home, relying on the Moon’s gravity to slingshot the spacecraft around it and back to Earth. All three crewmembers survived their ordeal, which lasted just 5 days 22 hours.