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The "bleacher report" next. so not everyone can afford to retire in vail colorado one retired navy s.e.a.l. found a way and a second career. >> i was a member of underwater demolition team 12 and part of the apollo 16 recovery team. a command module popped up. i came out. got the door open the astronaut looks out. it was phenomenal. one of the defining moments as a team guy. my name is larry, i'm a retired navy s.e.a.l. and now i'm run a snowcap in colorado. one of the things i love about driving a snowcap, is coming up

>> a lot of people said, you didn't understand the situation. >> reporter: another crisis. carbon dioxide levels were getting dangerously high. ground control fixed that by instructing the crew to build a make-shift rig they called the mailbox, to purge the deadly gas from the craft and keep oxygen levels safe. the crew were running low on water and food. >> you lost 14 pounds? >> i didn't realize i'd lost 14 pounds. i guess i -- i was all charged up. >> reporter: they were sick freezing and tired, but safe for now. mission control's next chance was to get the broken-down craft out of the luna...

The next leg of the space race was a series of sprints. >> we launched the saturn 5 essentially every two months. >> reporter: each mission got the astronauts a little closer to their ultimate goal. apollo 9 launching march 3rd, 1969 with three astronauts the first test of a lunar module in space. apollo 10 in 1969 moved within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface. that would be a dress rehearsal for apollo 11 commanded by neil armstrong. >> what will your plans be in the unlikely event that the module does not come up to the surface? >> we've chosen not to think about that at the present time. >>...

Spacecraft, to get them home. >> we're trying to come up with some good ideas here for you. >> reporter: one was to shut down the command module to conserve its remaining energy. use the lunar module as a sort of lifeline. >> we knew we had the lunar module. it had power, and batteries and oxygen. >> but not enough. >> no. but if we could use it to get us back home again but if not, we were going to transmit as long as we could so that the people would have some idea of what to do to correct for future flights. >> i want to say, you guys are doing real good work. >> so are you guys, jack. >> y...

They were 200,000 miles from earth. and going in the wrong direction. did you ever actually think, "i might die"? >> well, we thought our chances were about 10%. >> did you really? >> oh, yeah, when we realized after we saw the oxygen escaping that things could be, you know, really bad. >> we have broken out into space. >> as the world watched, ground control in houston faced a formidable task. think of a way for the crew to fix their spaceship, test it, and then write up step-by-step procedures for the astronauts to follow just to get home. >> we immediately went to the simulators to try to d...