Apollo 13_ ‘Houston, We’ve Had a Problem’ | NASA

The famous phrase "Houston, we've had a problem" was actually slightly misquoted. During the Apollo 13 mission, which was the seventh crewed mission in NASA's Apollo space program and was intended to be the third mission to land on the Moon, an oxygen tank in the service module exploded, causing a critical situation for the astronauts.

The actual phrase, as spoken by astronaut John "Jack" Swigert on April 13, 1970, was:

"Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here."

This communication was an understated way of informing mission control in Houston, Texas, that the spacecraft was experiencing a life-threatening emergency. The problem turned out to be a severe loss of electrical power and a shortage of life support resources, which put the lives of the three astronauts on board—James Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise—in jeopardy.

The Apollo 13 mission became famous for the incredible efforts of NASA's ground control and the astronauts themselves to bring the crew safely back to Earth using the Lunar Module as a lifeboat. It was a remarkable demonstration of teamwork, problem-solving, and ingenuity under extreme pressure, and it was the subject of the 1995 film "Apollo 13," directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell. The actual quote from the film is "Houston, we have a problem," which is a slight variation on the real communication.