Comet Bennett is discovered by South African amateur astronomer John Bennett. The comet approaches Earth while the Apollo 13 mission is en route to the Moon. Just as the astronauts begin maneuvering to turn the Command Module toward the comet for a photo, the oxygen tank explodes (“Houston, we’ve had a problem”), causing the famous failure. (They say comets aren’t bad luck—but truth be told, they managed to re-enter, so they were lucky…)
