Power Teams Beyond Borders

These words launched one of history’s greatest virtual-team triumphs: “Houston, we have a problem.”

On April 13, 1970, NASA’s Apollo 13 space mission was headed for the moon with three astronauts aboard. They sent a now-famous emergency message to NASA ground operations: “Houston, we have a problem.”

Two of Apollo 13’s oxygen tanks had exploded. The space mission’s vital oxygen was spewing in a white plume out into space. The engineers at NASA hadn’t planned for this emergency. Panic set in among the professionals in Houston. Apollo 13 and its crew might never make it safely back to Earth. 

Gene Kranz, NASA’s Mission Control chief, was responsible for figuring out a solution – and quickly. He knew getting the astronauts safely back to Earth would come down to the available energy on board the damaged space vessel.

Without the proper amount of energy, spaceships can’t go anywhere. Navigation is impossible. Astronauts can’t communicate with Mission Control. Without energy, people can’t survive in a spaceship’s artificial environment. As Apollo 13...