Apollo 13
by Philip Chien
NASA’s most dynamic amazing feat was the rescue of Apollo 13. NASA launched seven Apollo missions to the moon with the intention of landing astronauts and returning moon rocks. Six of those missions were highly successful. But Apollo 13 became NASA's 'most glorious failure'. The astronauts did not land on the moon - but working with the flight controllers on the ground they successfully brought their crippled spacecraft back to Earth.
Director Ron Howard made a fictional version in the summer blockbuster “Apollo 13” in 1995. The movie is an action film, based on real life events. Howard emphasized, “This is a bona fide summertime movie - not a documentary.” “Apollo 13” takes some liberties with the facts, changing events and actions to fit within a two hour movie's limitations. But it's still an incredibly exciting story - without over sensationalism or hype.
The film stared Academy award winning actor Tom Hanks as Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, with Kevin Bacon as astronaut Jack Swigert, Bill Paxton as astronaut Fred Haise, Gary Sinise as astronaut Ken Mattingly, and Ed Harris as flight director Gene Kranz. The movie was based on the non-fictional book "Lost Moon" by astronaut Jim Lovell and science writer Jeffrey Kluger. Some of the technical advisors included Apollo 15 astronaut Dave Scott, flight director Gerry Griffin, and flight dynamics controller Jerry Bostick. Bostick's son Michael is a member of Imagine films, the Ron Howard - Brian Glazer production team, and was an influential person in the decision to make the film.
Astronaut Dave Scott said, "In my opinion the director and actornauts have been superb. They are intellectually honest, they work very hard in learning what they're supposed to do and I think it's rather remarkable that they've been able to portray Jim and Fred and Jack in a manner in which you will see in the film." Some of the actors interviewed the characters they played, getting to know the real person. Bill Paxton told Fred Haise that it was a unique opportunity for him as an actor, all of his previous roles had been historical figures or fictional characters.
Howard commented, "The more I learned about the story and the details of the story, the more I came to believe that it was fascinating and very entertaining and there was no reason to "Hollywoodize" the movie. I felt a part of the entertainment value was the reality - the authenticity of the piece. If we can really let people know what it was like to be on the mission, in the capsule, that would be an experience that would be new and fresh - something people don't get every day in the movies. I'm really pleased with the level of authenticity that we've been able to achieve. I don't think it compromises the entertainment value, I think it enhances it. It's one of those historical events that happens to lay out in terrific three-act form, and unlike some historical stories which tend to be episodic, this one has a very powerful driving and suspenseful quality."
The film compresses a week of history into two hours. Out of necessity some scenes were changed to make the film flow more smoothly or for dramatic reasons. But the compromises did not extend to the film's technical realism. Actual "NASAese" is used throughout the film, with much of the actual dialog from the Apollo 13 mission. No dialog was changed into non-technical language just to make the film easier to understand. Howard compared it with a medical drama, where a viewer might not understand the technical dialog in an operating room scene, but still appreciates the importance of saving the patient's life.
A non-technical viewer may be confused by Ken Mattingly in Florida for the launch and suddenly showing up in Houston a couple of scenes later, or why the Grumman representative is so concerned about all of the out-of-ordinary things which NASA wants to do to his lunar module. It's a suspenseful exciting film - even though you already know the astronauts will survive. For somebody who's followed the Apollo program it's an incredible view inside - showing behind the scenes and a realistic - even if fictional - account of NASA's most incredible feat - rescuing three astronauts stranded in deep space.
The zero-G scenes in the film look incredibly realistic because they were filmed in zero-G! NASA owned a modified KC-135 (the military version of the Boeing 707) for astronaut training. The plane flies parabolic path that subjects its occupants to periods of high gravity, with 20 second segments of low gravity. Universal Studios chartered the plane from NASA and the zero-G scenes in the movie were filmed, 20 seconds at a time, with crews of up to 50 actors, cameramen, directors, and production personnel on the plane. The KC-135 has the nickname the "Vomit Comet" and lives up to that nickname. Rapid changes from high to low gravity periods does make the stomach queasy. Howard commented, "Everybody got green [on the KC-135], but our gang hang together pretty well. One of our actors lost it, and one of our camera operators lost it all over Kevin Bacon on one shot we were doing. Kevin took it good naturedly, and we kept going. The crew adapted to it well and we had a ball." The 'actornauts' adapted well and became quite skilled at low gravity activities. Actor Tom Hanks flew over 700 parabolas - accumulating almost as much low gravity time as John Glenn did during his historic Mercury mission! The team set up a net in the back of the aircraft and personnel who were not needed for a particular scene relaxed with zero-G badminton!
Scores of scenes were shot in the plane and look incredibly realistic. Scott said, "They got very proficient [at filming short clips]. It's just hard to tell [how it was edited together]." Howard did not consider the 20 second low gravity period to be much of a limitation, comparing it with his earlier film "Splash", where scenes were limited by how long the actors could hold their breaths underwater.
Additional scenes were shot at the Kennedy Space Center, but most of the filming, including an accurate replica of Mission Control, took place at Universal Studios in California.
The command and lunar module interiors were built by the Kansas Cosmodrome's Space Works museum. Director Max Ary is a legend in the field of space museums. He's scrounged around the world to find spacecraft to display. Appropriately his team restored the actual Apollo 13 command module "Odyssey" back to its original condition. For the movie Ary’s team built two sets of command and lunar module sets. The displays are extremely accurate, with the correct layout and labels for each switch and dial. To accommodate the cameras the sets had to be built in pieces which could be disassembled for different camera angles. That resulted in the command module instrument panel being 30 cm. wider than the actual panel. The set makers spread out the additional space and it's indistinguishable from the actual spacecraft panel - at least on film. Some of the actual Apollo 13 components, including a computer display and storage boxes, were used for the film. In addition Ary's team made replicas of all of the crew equipment including cameras, sunglasses, pens, food, and even the zero-g urine bags! Their most challenging task had to be duplicates of the Apollo spacesuits, made from the same glass-fibre Beta cloth as the actual spacesuits. The suits were pressure tight and supply fresh air when the actors put on their helmets.
One of the biggest challenges during the actual mission was to figure out how to literally put a square peg into a round hole. The Command Module and Lunar Module both spacecraft used Lithium Hydroxide (LiOH – pronounced “Lie Hoe”) canisters to remove Carbon Dioxide. It’s a simple system – push stale air through a canister filled with LiOH crystals which absorb the Carbon Dioxide. But the spacecraft were built by separate contractors who used different approaches - the Command Module used square canisters while the Lunar Module used cylinders. The Lunar Module had to support three astronauts instead of two so Mission Control figured out how to adapt the square command module canisters to work with the Lunar Module’s system. The procedure, devised overnight for the Apollo 13 emergency, became a standard backup procedure for the remaining Apollo missions, just in case it would be needed again.
Regrettably the film left out three of the classic Apollo 13 anecdotes.
Astronaut Jack Swigert was originally supposed to be a backup until he was promoted to the flight crew less than a week before the mission. On the way to the moon he suddenly realized that he did not file his yearly income taxes in time! Flight controllers assured him that an extension would be arranged with the IRS since he was technically outside of the United States for the April 15th deadline. When the astronauts were safely back on Earth their recovery ship took them to American Samoa. The first thing Jack Swigert was presented by the governor was a blank 1040 form!
A bunch of Grumman engineers who were working on the Lunar Module systems jokingly made up a towing bill - for dragging the command module, built by competitor North American, a total of 400,000 miles! The bill included fees for charging the command module's batteries, oxygen, and sleeping accommodations for two (air conditioned room, no TV, radio, a view, modified American plan, extra guest in the room).
And during the actual Apollo 13 mission Australian television displayed updates on the rescue efforts over the TV series "Lost in Space" -- truth is really stranger than fiction!
Due to cutbacks in the Apollo program and early delays to the shuttle program none of the three Apollo 13 astronauts ever flew in space again. Jim Lovell chose to retire from NASA after the completion of his fourth spaceflight. Jack Swigert retired from NASA between the Apollo and shuttle programs. He was elected to Congress, but lost a battle with cancer and died shortly before his term was supposed to start. Fred Haise was assigned to command the Apollo 19 moon mission before it was canceled and flew the shuttle prototype "Enterprise" in the Approach and Landing Tests. After retiring from NASA he became the president of Grumman Technical Services, one of NASA’s sub-contractors at the Kennedy Space Center.
And Ken Mattingly - the astronaut who was removed from the crew because he was exposed to German measles? He flew to the moon on the Apollo 16 mission, and commanded the STS-4 and 51-C space shuttle missions. After retiring from NASA and the Navy he became a high level executive with General Dynamics, launching their Atlas rockets. He never did get German measles ...
Unlike most space films which portray the astronauts as the superheroes who do everything "Apollo 13" concentrated as much on the mission control team on the ground which figured out how to get them back to Earth alive and in one piece. And while other space movies have spacesuits with wide view interior-lit helmets to show off the actors's faces better, The spacesuits in "Apollo 13" are incredibly accurate - even if they don't show off the actors's faces as well.
Most of the real people portrayed in "Apollo 13" appreciated the effort to make the movie as accurate as possible. But there were some unusual comments. Astronaut John Young said that the character 'John Young' had to be the bravest person in the movie because anybody who tried to wake Ken Mattingly after he had been drinking certainly put his own life at risk! Young was joking about Mattingly’s behavior after a drinking binge – Mattingly was a non-drinker!
As a space fanatic I could only find one glaring technical mistake. The mission control team realizes that the weight of the spacecraft is wrong because they didn't land on the moon and pick up moon rocks, so they move extra 'ballast' to the command module by transferring over loose materials from the lunar module. Quite obviously there were many other mass differences on the actual Apollo 13 mission - most significantly the entire weight of the lunar module! The actual reason 'ballast' was transferred to the command module was to keep its center of gravity correct while it reentered the atmosphere after the lunar module and service module were jettisoned. There are a couple of other minor technical mistakes, but overall the film is incredibly accurate - and actually more accurate than some of the NASA-produced documentary films shown at NASA's visitor centers!
The Apollo 13 mission showed NASA at its best. While the moon landing objectives were a failure, the mission showed how NASA combined its resources and most talented people to save the astronauts's lives. The non-fictional book "Lost Moon" is Jim Lovell and science writer Jeffrey Kluger's account of the mission. "Apollo 13" the movie is an excellent retelling of the story as an exciting adventure film.
Publicity photos copyright 1995 Universal Pictures, used with permission. Photo of Ron Howard and Jim Lovell, photo of LiOH canister props, and others copyright 1995 Philip Chien. Historic photos from NASA.
Links
Apollo 13 - Movie vs. History, a look at where the moviemakers got their facts wrong and right.
Order the non-fictional book, Apollo 13 a/k/a Lost Moon
, which the movie was based on from Amazon.com.
Order Apollo 13 (15th Anniversary Edition)
on Blu-Ray from Amazon.com.
Order Apollo 13 (Widescreen 2-Disc Anniversary Edition)
on DVD from Amazon.com.
Order Apollo 13: Music From The Motion Picture
soundtrack from Amazon.com.
The Apollo 13 press kit .
The Apollo 13 timeline.
The Apollo 13 Air-to-Ground Transcript.
The Apollo 13 Spacecraft Incident Investigation.
A NASA documentary movie Houston, We've Got a Problem.
Order Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed
, an excellent non-fiction book chronicling the mission from Amazon.com.
About the author
Philip Chien is a regular contributor to neatinformation.com and a big Ron Howard fan.
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