During a routine liquid oxygen tank stir in transit to the Moon, a fire started

inside an oxygen tank. The most probable cause determined by NASA was damaged
electrical insulation on wiring that created a spark that started the fire.[92] A
problem with draining the tank had been reported before the mission, and Lovell had
approved the action taken to turn on the heaters to purge the oxygen rather than to
replace the faulty tank, which would have delayed the mission by a month. Neither
he nor the launch pad crew were aware that the tank contained the wrong thermostat
switch. The heaters were left on for eight hours, and while this successfully
purged the oxygen, it also removed teflon insulation from the copper electrical
wiring.[93] Liquid oxygen rapidly turned into a high-pressure gas, which burst the
tank and caused the leak of a second oxygen tank. In just over two hours, all
onboard oxygen was lost, disabling the hydrogen fuel cells that provided electrical
power to the Command/Service Module Odyssey.[94]

Lovell reads a newspaper account of Apollo 13's safe return aboard recovery vessel
USS Iwo Jima
Apollo 13 was the second mission not to use a free-return trajectory, so that they
could explore the western lunar regions.[95] Using the Apollo Lunar Module as a
"life boat" providing battery power, oxygen, and propulsion, Lovell and his crew
re-established the free return trajectory that they had left, and swung around the
Moon to return home.[96] Based on the flight controllers' calculations made on
Earth, Lovell had to adjust the course twice by manually controlling the Lunar
Module's thrusters and engine.[97]

Apollo 13 returned safely to Earth on April 17.[98] "I'm afraid", Lovell said,
"this is going to be the last lunar mission for a long time."[99] His comment was
rebutted by NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine, who hastened to reassure the public
that NASA would be mounting more missions to the Moon.[100] Nine months later,
Apollo 14 would make the voyage to Fra Mauro, with modified fuel tanks and an extra
battery for emergencies.[99]

Apollo 13's flight trajectory gave Lovell, Haise, and Swigert the record for the
farthest distance that humans have ever traveled from Earth.[14][101][102] Lovell
is one of only three men to travel to the Moon twice, but unlike the other two,
John Young and Gene Cernan, he never walked on it.[103] He accrued 715 hours and 5
minutes in space flights on his Gemini and Apollo flights, a personal record that
stood until the Skylab 3 mission in 1973.[104]