How do we get our people home? They are here. Do we turn them around, straight back,...

Gene Kranz:
Gentlemen, at this moment, I want you all to forget the flight plan. From this moment on, we are improvising a new mission: How do we get our people home?
[Goes to the chalkboard, draws a big circle representing Earth, another smaller circle representing the moon, then draws a line from the Earth to just short of the moon]

Gene Kranz:
They are here. Do we turn them around, straight back, direct abort?
[NASA controllers instantly start arguing]

Jerry Bostick - FIDO White:
No, sir! No, sir! We get them on a free-return trajectory. It's the option with the fewest question marks for safety.
Gene Kranz:
I agree with Jerry. We use the moon's gravity, slingshot them around.
R.E.T.R.O. White:
No, the LEM will not support three guys for that amount of time. I mean, we've got to do a direct abort. We do an about-face, we bring the guys right home, right now.
Booster White:
Get them back soon, absolutely.
Jerry Bostick - FIDO White:
Look, we don't even know if the Odyssey's engine's even working. If there's been serious damage to this spacecraft...
GUIDO White:
They blow up and they die!
R.E.T.R.O. White:
That is not the argument! We're talking about time!
[Controllers argue again]

Gene Kranz:
Okay, hold it. Let's hold it down. The only engine we got with enough power for a direct abort is the SPS on the service module. From what Lovell has told us, that could have been damaged in an explosion, so let's consider that engine dead. We light that thing up, it could blow the whole works. It's just too risky. We're not going to take that chance. About the only thing the command module is good for is reentry, so that leaves us with the LEM, which means free-return trajectory. Once we get the guys around the moon, we'll fire the LEM engine, make a long burn, pick up some speed, and get them home as quickly as we can.