FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Astronauts James Lovell, captain of the Apollo 13 moon mission; Fred Haise, the lunar module pilot; and Gene Kranz, their flight director at Mission Control in Houston, will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in Bud Walton Arena at the University of Arkansas.

Their talk, part of the-student sponsored Distinguished Lecture Series, comes 45 years and 10 days after a malfunction and explosion on Apollo 13 that left the spacecraft crippled 200,000 miles from Earth.

The astronauts faced a broken carbon dioxide removal system, limited power, loss of cabin heat, and a shortage of clean water. At Mission Control, Krantz and a team of NASA engineers and astronauts worked desperately to help the crew solve each life-threatening problem and return to Earth.

Lovell, Haise and Kranz will tell the story themselves – their experiences and the lessons of Apollo 13 – during their lecture.

The event is free and open to the public. No tickets are required. Everyone attending is asked to enter through the south doors of Walton Arena. The doors will open at 6 p.m.

Parking will be available in Lot 56.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.