From the Auckland Star, 18 April 1970, page 1:

A Champagne Re-Entry for DC8 flight

Sixty passengers and the crew aboard an Air New Zealand DC8, flying from
Nandi to Auckland this morning had a grandstand view of Apollo 13, as it
re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

The whole spectacle lasted for about 14 minutes.

"A wonderful, never to be forgotten sight", was the reflection of crew and
passengers after they landed.

First to see Apollo 13 was the air steward, Mr. L.W. Smith. "It was directly ahead
like two headlights, at 5:55 a.m. travelling west to east. Then things
began to happen - there was an explosion... a reddish flash.. and sparks flew as
the modules separated, and things began to disintegrate."`

"Then the iridescent-coloured command module began to move across the sky
in front of us."

One of the captains aboard, Captain Ross McWilliams, of Takapuna, described it
as "very spectacular, the sight of a lifetime. It was right in front and above
us about 60,000 feet and about 190 miles away. The service module fell away
in a flash of bluey-white light. The command module had a long whitish tail,
which turned yellow as it neared the sun."

"A tremendous experience", said Mr. Peter Davidson, an Air New Zealand crew
member aboard the plane, who saw the re-entry from the flight deck. "It came
down like a Roman candle and moved quite quickly from west to east."

Mr. Ken Hickson, of the Air New Zealand information service, described the
separation as a "brilliant multicoloured flash, like a sparkler being lit."

Miss G. Hemp, of Auckland, a passenger: "A beautiful sight - so staggering I
couldn't believe it was happening. It just looked like a comet coming down."

There was terrific excitement aboard the aircraft. A lawyer, Mr. C.O. Holten,
of Minneapolis grabbed the stewardess and hugged her with joy. Passengers then 
ceebrated the event with champagne.

The Press Association reports from Dargaville that observers at widely separated
places on the Aupori peninsula, which stretches from Awanui to North Cape,
saw something whch was certainly either Apollo 13 or one of its jettisoned
components re-enter the atmosphere.

While the direct radio commentary was describing the period before the
splashdown a bright starlike object was seen travelling from west to north,
well above the horizon. It was white but did not twinkle. The colour later
changed to orange. The object travelled level with the horizon before it
appeared to arc down North Cape. It became brighter just before it disappeared,
after being visible for about a minute.

The light was reported by people 30 miles apart.



[The Auckland Star ceased daily publication in 1977. This text was taken from
a photocopy provided by Peter Gabelish. The front page was topped with a photo
of the re-entry, apparently taken by a staff photographer seated near him on
the DC-8; the photocopy is too contrasty for a useful scan of the picture.
A short note on the back page says that the DC-8 had to circle Auckland for
nearly an hour on arrval awaiting the lifting of a heavy fog.]