Lovell says leadership key to Apollo 13 rescue

"I literally had to learn in a short period of time how to maneuver all over again — how when I put an input in, I would know what the output was going to be. But you'd be surprised when you're in a tight spot how quickly you learn that," Lovell said.

The crew overcame that obstacle as well as frigid conditions when the computer, navigation system, autopilot and other systems were shut down to conserve power. All that was left were the radio and a small fan.

"I shouldn't be here to talk to you, after losing all that, you know? Why am I here? I'm here because of the dedication of a group of people in the control center in Houston that used those qualities that I mentioned at the beginning of my talk, all put together to make what was almost a near-certain catastrophe ... a successful recovery," he said.

Lovell recalled hearing a description of the world having three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened.

"The control center in 1970," he said, "were people that made things happen."

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