Editing Apollo 13 (section)

== Public and media reaction ==
[[File:Jim Lovell newspaper.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|{{blockquote|text=Nobody believes me, but during this six-day odyssey, we had no idea what an impression Apollo{{nbsp}}13 made on the people of Earth. We never dreamed a billion people were following us on television and radio, and reading about us in banner headlines of every newspaper published. We still missed the point on board the carrier ''Iwo Jima'', which picked us up, because the sailors had been as remote from the media as we were. Only when we reached Honolulu did we comprehend our impact: there we found [[Richard Nixon|President Nixon]] and [NASA Administrator] [[Thomas O. Paine|Dr. Paine]] to meet us, along with my wife Marilyn, Fred's wife Mary (who, being pregnant, also had a doctor along just in case), and bachelor Jack's parents, in lieu of his usual airline stewardesses.|source = Jim Lovell{{sfn|Cortright|1975|pp=262–263}}|style=padding: 15px; margin: 0;text-align: justify;}}]]

Worldwide interest in the Apollo program was reawakened by the incident; television coverage was seen by millions. Four Soviet ships headed toward the landing area to assist if needed,{{sfn|NASA 1970|p=15}} and other nations offered assistance should the craft have to splash down elsewhere.{{sfn|Benson & Faherty|1979|pp=489–494}} President Nixon canceled appointments, phoned the astronauts' families, and drove to NASA's [[Goddard Space Flight Center]] in [[Greenbelt, Maryland]], where Apollo's tracking and communications were coordinated.{{sfn|NASA 1970|p=15}}

The rescue received more public attention than any spaceflight to that point, other than the first Moon landing on Apollo 11. There were worldwide headlines, and people surrounded television sets to get the latest developments, offered by networks who interrupted their regular programming for bulletins. [[Pope Paul VI]] led a congregation of 10,000 people in praying for the astronauts' safe return; ten times that number offered prayers at a religious festival in India.{{sfn|Chaikin|1995|p=316}} The [[United States Senate]] on April 14 passed a resolution urging businesses to pause at 9:00{{nbsp}}pm local time that evening to allow for employee prayer.{{sfn|NASA 1970|p=15}}

An estimated 40{{nbsp}}million Americans watched Apollo{{nbsp}}13's splashdown, carried live on all three networks, with another 30{{nbsp}}million watching some portion of the 6½ hour telecast. Even more outside the U.S. watched. [[Jack Gould]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated that Apollo{{nbsp}}13, "which came so close to tragic disaster, in all probability united the world in mutual concern more fully than another successful landing on the Moon would have".<ref>{{cite news|last=Gould|first=Jack|author-link=Jack Gould|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/18/archives/tv-millions-of-viewers-end-vigil-for-apollo-13-unusual-color.html|date=April 18, 1970|page=59|title=TV: Millions of viewers end vigil for Apollo 13|url-access=subscription}}</ref>