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Apollo 13’s Safe Return – This Day in Pop Culture History (April 17)

An oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13 on April 13,1970, but the crew miraculously landed back on Earth on this day in pop culture history.

April 17, 2026

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Not every space mission from NASA ended safely. (According to Alien, in space, no one can hear you scream.) Fortunately, for Apollo 13, the men in mission control were on their game on April 17, 1970. Also, on this day, a former Beatle spared with a dinosaur and two pop culture singing icons switched places while hosting SNL.

1970: The Apollo 13 Spacecraft Returns to Earth

Men standing in Mission Control - Apollo 13 — Mission Control during Apollo 13 space mission *(Wikimedia Commons)*

The Apollo 13 mission was the seven in the American Apollo Space program and the third with an intention of landing on the Moon. James Lovell, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise launched into space from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 11, 1970. Two days later, an oxygen tank exploded which caused limited power, heat and potable water. Swigert calmly reported to the new, “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”

Much damage was made to the Service Module which meant that a safe lunar landing was impossible and so the mission was aborted, however, there was still the matter of getting back home. No words can effectively explain the stress the astronauts and ground crew faced while thinking on the fly a makeshift repair to the carbon dioxide removal system, but the Ron Howard 1995 film, Apollo 13, does a good job of making you feel as if you were there.

1982: Johnny/John

Johnny Cash hosted Saturday Night Live where in one segment, he traded places with musical guest Elton John.

1961: Threading the Needle

Construction began on the Space Needle in preparation for the 1964 World’s Fair in Seattle.

1970: Solo Paul

Paul McCartney released his first solo, McCartney sans Beatles.

1981: A ‘Caveman’ Love Story

A dinosaur liking his lips looking at a caveman played by Ringo Starr — Ringo Starr and friend in *Caveman (TVDB)*

Taking place in “One Zillion BC – October 9th, the long-forgotten film Caveman was a unique film. Almost all of the dialogue was spoken in “caveman” language except for the few times when English was incorporated as a joke.

The slapstick comedy was panned by critics even though it starred Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach, Dennis Quaid, Shelley Long, John Matuszak, Avery Schreiber, Jack Gilford and Richard Moll.

Caveman didn’t win any awards, but it did win a couple of hearts. It was on the set of the film where Starr and Bach first met. One year later, they were married and still are!