The Earth Behind a Man’s Thumb

"And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering of the waters he called Seas; and God saw that it was good."

Lovell says when Apollo 8 returned safely to Earth three days later, the crew was inundated with messages from people around the world saying, "Thank you for saving 1968."

Two years later Jim Lovell assured himself a place forever in the dictionary of memorable quotations. As mission commander of the crew of Apollo 13, he expected to achieve his childhood dream and finally set foot on the lunar surface.

They were almost 200,000 miles from Cape Canaveral when a small explosion on board wrecked their chances of landing on the moon and possibly of even getting back to Earth.

Lovell's laconic test-pilot Right Stuff notification to NASA headquarters of trouble on board remains a classic:

"Houston, we have a problem."