"Failure is not an option" is a phrase associated with NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz and the Apollo 13 Moon landing mission. Although Kranz is often attributed with having spoken those words during the mission, he did not. The origin of the phrase is from the preparation for the 1995 film Apollo 13 according to FDO Flight Controller Jerry Bostick:
Film
Failure is not an option is the tag line of the 1995 film Apollo 13. It is spoken in the film by Ed Harris, who portrayed Gene Kranz, and said
Gene Kranz autobiography
Gene Kranz 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 documenting the United States' space program with insights from the flight engineers, project managers, flight controllers, astronauts, and others involved inside the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Speakers include Chris Kraft, Gene Kranz, Jim Lovell, Jerry Bostick, Ed Fendell, Gene Cernan, John Llewellyn, John Aaron, Glynn Lunney, Wally Schirra, and Gerry Griffin. It takes the viewer from the Launch of Sputnik through the Moon missions. It was produced in 2003.
From the History Channel website: