| Origin | Apollo 13 (mission) |
|---|---|
| Original form | "Okay, Houston ... we've had a problem here"[1] |
| Coined by | Jack Swigert (April 14, 1970) |
"Houston, we have a problem" is a popular misquote of a phrase spoken duringApollo 13, aNASA mission in theApollo space program and the third mission intended toland on the Moon. After an explosion occurred on board the spacecraft en route to the Moon around 56 hours into the mission,[3]Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, reported toMission Control Center inHouston, Texas: "Okay, Houston ... we've had a problem here."[4] After Swigert was prompted to repeat his words byJack R. Lousma, thecapsule communicator at Mission Control,Jim Lovell, the mission commander, responded: "Ah, Houston, we've had a problem."[1]
The 1995 filmApollo 13 used the slight misquotation "Houston, we have a problem" in its dramatization of the mission, since it had become the popularly expected phrase.[1] The phrase has been informally used to describe the emergence of an unforeseen problem, often with a sense of ironicunderstatement.[5][6]
The Apollo 13 Flight Journal lists the timestamps and dialogue between the astronauts and Mission Control.[1]
055:55:19Swigert: Okay, Houston ...
055:55:19Lovell: ... Houston...
055:55:20 Swigert: ... we've had a problem here. [Pause.]
055:55:28Lousma: This is Houston. Say again, please.
055:55:35 Lovell: [Garble.] Ah, Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a Main B Bus Undervolt.
In Chapter 13 ofApollo Expeditions to the Moon (1975), Jim Lovell recalls the event: "Jack Swigert saw a warning light that accompanied the bang, and said, 'Houston, we've had a problem here.' I came on and told the ground that it was a main B bus undervolt. The time was 21:08 hours on April 13."[7]
| Houston, we have a problem | |
|---|---|
| Character | Jim Lovell |
| Actor | Tom Hanks |
| Written by | William Broyles Jr. Al Reinert |
| First used in | Apollo 13 |
| Voted #50 inAFI's 100 Movie Quotes poll | |
In the 1995 filmApollo 13, the actual quote was shortened to "Houston, we have a problem". ScreenwriterWilliam Broyles Jr. explained that the verb tense actually used "wasn't as dramatic". Broyles and linguistNaomi S. Baron noted that the actual line spoken would not work well in asuspense movie. Movie viewers already knew what had happened, while Mission Control did not at the time.[8] The quote ranked at No. 50 onAFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes in June 2005.[9]
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