Apollo 13 Failure

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The film Apollo 13 is based on the true story of Nasa’s seventh manned mission in the Apollo Space Program, which was planned to be a lunar-landing mission. After astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert leave orbit, everything goes as intended for about two days until one of the oxygen tanks unexpectedly explodes when Jim stirs them. This causes the scheduled moon landing to be canceled and puts the safety of the crew on the line. From then on out, Mission Control back home must help the astronauts find a way to survive the horrendous circumstances and miraculously return home. Apollo 13 is a good representation of the five main components of an organization that went from good to great, according to Jim Collins’ book titled …show more content…

After Apollo 13’s oxygen tank fails, Nasa’s mission changes from sending astronauts on the moon to bringing the astronauts on the Apollo 13 mission home safely, meaning that the trip will no longer be as profitable. However, they were able to deliver on their new mission with what little resources they had. Due to this, the Apollo 13 mission is often referred to as "a successful failure”. Those involved with Apollo 13 didn't achieve their original goal but the fact that they accomplished their new goal is more important. Furthermore, Collins writes how a great performance depends on how effectively one delivers on their mission and makes a distinctive impact, relative to their resources. In their situation, Mission Control and the astronauts did an incredible job with the resources they had and their effort changed the outcome of the event. It resulted in exceeding expectations and achieving what seemed impossible. “A great organization is one that delivers superior performance [and shows lasting endurance]” (Collins, J. 2001) and Nasa proved itself to be one by bringing Jim, Fred, and Jack back home alive and well after facing numerous

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