James Arthur Lovell Jr. (born March 25, 1928) is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission control.
Apollo 13 spent the entire trip back to Earth in space after suffering a critical failure on it's way to the moon. 
Going through space is the only way they could get back to earth.  Of course that's where they were.  