"Failure is not an option" is a phrase associated with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Gene Kranz Eugene Francis Kranz (born August 17, 1933) is an American aerospace engineer who served as NASA's second Chief Flight Director, directing missions of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, including the first lunar landing mission, Apoll ...

and the

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo program, Apollo space program and would have been the third Moon landing. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the landing was abort ...

Moon landing mission. Although Kranz is often attributed with having spoken those words during the mission, he did not actually say the phrase. The origin of the phrase is from the preparation for the 1995 film ''

'' according to FIDO Flight Controller Jerry Bostick:

Film

''Failure is not an option'' is the tag line of the 1995 film ''

''. It is spoken in the film by

Ed Harris Edward Allen Harris (born November 28, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. His performances in '' Apollo 13'' (1995), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), '' Pollock'' (2000), and '' The Hours'' (2002) earned him critical acclaim and Academy Awa ...

, who portrayed Gene Kranz, and said

Gene Kranz autobiography

titled his 2000 memoir ''Failure Is Not An Option''. Kranz chose the line as the title because he liked the way it reflected the attitude of mission control. In the book, he states that it was

History Channel documentary

''Failure Is Not an Option'' is also a presentation on the

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

documenting the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

' space program with insights from the flight engineers, project managers, flight controllers, astronauts, and others involved inside the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the United States's civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. Established in 1958, it su ...

. Speakers include

Chris Kraft Christopher Columbus Kraft Jr. (February 28, 1924 – July 22, 2019) was an American aerospace and NASA engineer who was instrumental in establishing the agency's Mission Control Center and shaping its organization and culture. His protégé ...

Jim Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. ( ; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the fi ...

, Jerry Bostick, Ed Fendell,

Gene Cernan Eugene Andrew Cernan (; March 14, 1934 – January 16, 2017) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. Cernan traveled into space three times and to the Moon twice: as pilot ...

, John Llewellyn,

John Aaron John W. Aaron (born 1943) is a former NASA engineer and was a flight controller during the Apollo program. He is widely credited with saving the Apollo 12 mission when it was struck by lightning soon after launch, and also played an important r ...

Glynn Lunney Glynn Stephen Lunney (November 27, 1936 – March 19, 2021) was an American NASA engineer. An employee of NASA since its creation in 1958, Lunney was a flight controller, flight director during the Project Gemini, Gemini and Project Apollo, Apo ...

Wally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra Jr. ( ; March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator (United States), naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the Mercury Seven, original seven astronauts chosen for Pro ...

, and

Gerry Griffin Gerald D. Griffin (born December 25, 1934) is an American aeronautical engineer and former NASA official, who served as a Flight controller, flight director during the Apollo program and director of Johnson Space Center, succeeding Christopher ...

. It takes the viewer from the Launch of

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...

through the Moon missions. It was produced in 2003. From the History Channel website:
see full quote

References

Historical television series History (American TV channel) original programming Documentary films about outer space Apollo 13 {{sci-documentary-stub