Shortly after the space shuttle's cryogenic oxygen system failed, Apollo 13 Capt. James Lovell was preparing to transcribe a revised set of procedures from Mission Control that would abandon the shuttle's planned landing on the moon.

Glancing around to his crew members, who he expected to be focused on the daunting task, he found them armed with cameras and video recorders instead of paper and pens.

"They weren't paying any attention. They were looking at the moon," Lovell said, adding that his crew members planned to snap pictures of the moon that lay framed against the module's window.

"I said, 'If we don't get home, you'll never get them developed!' "

As part of the Distinguished Speaker Series, Lovell spoke about his personal experiences aboard the perilous 1970 voyage to a crowd of more than 1,500 in Eisenhower Auditorium last night.

"I'm 200,000 miles away from everything that I know, my family, my job, the earth itself; [everything] is behind my thumb," Lovell said as he raised his hand in front of his face, recreating a famous scene in the movie Apollo 13, which depicted the plight of the shuttle.

"We realize how insignificant we are," Lovell said.

Lovell said the film accurately illustrated the crew's predicament, and actor Tom Hanks went to great lengths to precisely depict the commander, including a weekend stay at the Lovell household.

During that visit, Lovell said he asked Hanks about recently wrapped projects.

"Tom Hanks proceeded to tell me the story of Forrest Gump, and I thought to myself, 'Houston, do we have another problem here?' " Lovell said, as the crowd erupted in laughter.

Narrating a set of authentic video clips of the Apollo 13 crew, Lovell spoke about the perseverance of those aboard the flight and those stationed in Mission Control.

"Why am I here? Here [we are] with loss of communication, loss of oxygen, loss of electricity," Lovell said. "It all happened because of a dedicated crew ... all working together as a team and coming together for this crisis we must face."

Receiving a standing ovation, Lovell concluded his speech with his advice for success.

"There are three types of people: people who make things happen, people who watch things happen and people who wondered what happened," Lovell said.

"Remember what [mission controller] Gene Krantz said: 'Failure is not an option,' " he said.

Ryan Fowler (sophomore-material and science engineering) said he was surprised by Lovell's lightheartedness.

"I thought it was going to be technical and boring, but I was surprised by his sense of humor," Fowler said.

Mark Salvatore said he attended the lecture because of his strong interest in the science field.

"It's one thing to see the movie," Salvatore (sophomore-geography) said. "It's another to hear it from the person himself."