Apollo 13

Apollo 13 (1995)

18 corrections since 14 Jan '18, 00:00

(12 votes)

Corrected entry: In the reentry scene in the Command Module, the astronauts are sitting with their backs are against the Earth and the CM is decelerating. The condensed water droplets should be dropping towards the Earth not the opposite. In the movie, the droplets fly away from the Earth. (02:06:00)

Correction: The drops are coming off the panel and dripping onto the astronauts, so toward the heat shield. This is the correct direction given the capsule is decelerating.

jimba

Corrected entry: As the Apollo 13 Command, Service and Lunar Modules near the Earth they make a comment about "shallowing" and this is due to a "couple hundred pounds of moon rocks" that the crew failed to collect. In reality, this configuration (CM, SM and LM) does not exist on return to the earth as the LM descent stage is left on the moon and the ascent stage is jettisoned after the crew returns from the moons surface. They may be shallowing but it's not due to moon rocks, it's due to the LM (5000-10000 lbs).

Correction: They've already accounted for the weight of the LEM. But they took the prescribed weight of the other modules for the return trip and forgot that they have previously included the weight of the rocks in that weight.

LorgSkyegon

Corrected entry: The small torch handed to Thomas K. Mattingly (played by Gary Sinise) as he first gets into simulator looks to be a modern Mini MagLite. They didn't come on sale until 1984.

stiiggy

Correction: We never actually see Ken being given the flashlight he'll be using in the simulations, only that he insists on being given precisely the same things the astronauts have aboard with them, and that is what he uses. That aside, what we see in the film are not Mini Maglites, though they are indeed miniature flashlights known as the Apollo astronaut penlight, model FA-5. Right after Jim tells Jack about the urine bags, there's a nice closeup of Fred holding one, with its distinctive bulb end casing.

Super Grover

I happily stand corrected. Thanks for improving my trivia :).

stiiggy

Corrected entry: When the crew are on their way back to Earth, Fido states "Flight. We're still shallowing up a bit in the re-entry corridor. It's almost like they're under weight." After some discussion in Mission Control, the crew is advised "We gotta get the weight right. We were expecting you to be toting a couple of hundred pounds of moonrocks." The amount of propellant in the LEM (since they didn't land, or return to lunar orbit) plus the fact that the LEM still had the descent stage attached, which, if they had landed would have been left on the moon would have more than made up for the weight of the rocks they were supposed to be carrying. But far, far worse than that is the fact that how much they weigh makes no difference at all, as Commander David Scott proved on Apollo 15 when he showed that a hammer and a feather dropped at the same time on the moon land at the same exact instant proving Galileo's law of gravity, that all objects fall at the same speed regardless of mass. (01:53:30)

Correction: That refers solely to things falling by means of gravity without air resistance. An object with a larger mass will require more force to move. Under the principle of F=M*A, it is also true that A=F/M.

LorgSkyegon

Corrected entry: Right before the command module begins reentry to Earth, a hurricane is on Earth. When the Apollo mission took place (April 11-17, 1970) there were no hurricanes, cyclones, or typhoons.

Correction: To quote Wikipedia: "On April 17, 1970, Apollo 13 was making its final descent over the splashdown zone when they spotted Cyclone Helen as they were re-entering the earths atmosphere. Mission control had been tracking the storm to make sure it did not interfere with the missions re-entry."

jimba

Correction: Jim Lovell says on the DVD commentary the typhoon warning really happened and was not added by the filmmakers.

Corrected entry: In the shot of Fred and Mary Haise at the Apollo 11 lunar landing party Mary is obviously pregnant. Apollo 11 was nine months before Apollo 13 and Mary is supposedly 8 months pregnant at the launch of Apollo 13. She does not have a baby during Apollo 13 and even if she was pregnant during Apollo 11 it would not have showed yet.

Correction: I disagree rather strongly with the statement "Mary is obviously pregnant" during the Apollo 11 lunar landing party at the Lovell house. We see Mary Haise in a few shots wearing her high-waisted white dress, and she does not look pregnant.

Super Grover

Corrected entry: When the astronauts are too shallow for re-entry because they are too light, it is mentioned they should have been carrying 200lbs of moon rock. Yet the lander portion of the lunar module, which is supposed to be left on the moon, is still attached to the ship all the way to jettison before re-entry, weighing far more than 200lb.

Correction: Mission control likely took what would have been the normal reentry weight and added in the weight of the lander and things inside it. But they forgot to subtract the weight of the moon rocks.

Greg Dwyer

Correction: The weight of the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) would never play a part in NASA's calculations of reentry weight. NASA was only concerned with the exact weight of the Command Module as it entered Earth's upper atmosphere. The LEM was jettisoned long before the Command Module approached the reentry window and was never a weight consideration (they were only using the LEM and its oxygen supply as a "lifeboat"). And, besides, in micro-gravity the LEM and Command Modules were essentially weightless. As the Command Module reentered Earth's atmosphere, it was 200 lbs too light because it wasn't carrying the expected Moon rock samples. This lack of mass threatened to bounce the Command Module off the Earth's upper atmosphere, which would have been disastrous for the crew. If they had thought about it in advance, the crew should have cannibalized 200 lbs of equipment from the LEM before they jettisoned it, adding the necessary weight to the Command Module for reentry.

Corrected entry: In the scenes at the Lovell's home, as the crew nears re-entry, the priest, (who is wearing Catholic priest clothes), is wearing a wedding ring. (02:07:01)

Correction: Catholic priests do, in fact, wear wedding rings. They are 'married' to the Church. Nuns wear them as well - they are 'brides of Christ.' It serves the same purpose as someone who is married to another human wearing a wedding ring - it shows their commitment.

Kaite13

Correction: The real life priest was Episcopalian, Father Donald Raish, and the actual pictures from the time show him wearing similar clothes. Episcopalian priests appear to be allowed to marry.

Corrected entry: When Engine 5 of the S-II booster fails, as Lovell is waiting for word from Houston, he stares at the abort handle. However, at that point, the escape tower had already been jettisoned, so turning the abort handle would not have done anything.

Correction: The abort handle would jettison the command and service modules. Look under Mode II here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_abort_modes.

David George

Perhaps, but jettisoning the command module wouldn't have been of any use in a launch emergency. The purpose of the abort handle was to get the spacecraft away from an out-of-control booster that might crash, explode, or break apart (which was the fear with the center engine malfunction), so simply separating the CM wouldn't do any good without the rockets in the escape tower (which had already been jettisoned by that point) to propel the CM a safe distance away from the booster. In practical terms, the abort handle was no longer any use to the astronauts after jettisoning the tower, so Lovell fixating on it when he does in the movie is still a mistake.

As mentioned by David George please read the listed Wikipedia article. Quote: "With the LES jettisoned, the Command/Service Module (CSM) would separate as a whole from the rocket and use its large engine and RCS engines to move clear of the rocket and align itself. The CM would then separate from the SM and splash down." Source: 'https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_abort_modes' See: 'Mode II' So the movie does state a possible action for this moment and is not regarded as a factual mistake.

Continuity mistake: The direction of the spacecraft keeps changing. After the extraction of the LM (Lunar Module), the craft is travelling with the CSM (Command/Service Module) engine bell facing forward. After the explosion, it is shown with the LM facing forward. Going around the moon, and back to earth, the CSM is again facing forward.

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Suggested correction: The orientation of the spacecraft was not constant. There is no reason why it should be (and, indeed, good reason why it won't). Apollo 13 did indeed have the LM leading at some points and the CSM leading at others.

Peter Harrison

Corrected entry: When Marilyn is talking to NASA on the phone, the phone has a modular connector in the handset. This would be fairly impossible since AT&T did not start installing them in houses until 1976. Prior to that they would have been hardwired. (01:03:40)

Correction: From Wikipedia: The first types of small modular telephone connectors were created by AT&T in the mid-1960s for the plug-in handset.

Correction: A friend of mine had modular phone jacks in her house in the early 70s. I don't know if she had them as early as 1970 but definitely before 1976.

Corrected entry: Near the end of the movie, when the Apollo 13 is about to return to Earth, a lady goes to collect the Lovells' eldest daughter from her bedroom to join the rest of her waiting family by the television. She appears to calls her Mary, the actresses real name, not Barbara the name of the daughter in real life.

Correction: She isn't Barbara Lovell, she was Fred Haise's wife Mary.

David George

Factual error: When they're flying around the backside of the moon, they mention the Tsiolkovskiy crater on the lunar farside, then mention they can see Mare Tranquillitatis and Fra Mauro - which are on opposite sides of the moon.

Fliteman

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Suggested correction: The moon is a globe, not a disk. If you are in orbit around it, you will see features on both "sides" of the moon at the same time. You won't suddenly go from seeing only features on the far side of the moon to seeing only features on the near side of the moon.

Factual error: On several occasions the astronauts address the Capcom as "Andy." None of the Apollo 13 Capcoms were named Andy. Their names were Jack Lousma, Joe Kerwin, John Young and Vance Brand.

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Suggested correction: While that is technically correct, many characters were condensed or changed to suit the movie. It's not a documentary, after all, it's a movie based on true events.

stiiggy

No, it's not a documentary, but all of the other characters have their "real life" names. Why change this one?

wizard_of_gore

"Andy" was used to avoid viewer confusion between Jack Swigert and CAPCOM Jack Lousma.

They changed and condensed many items in the movie. "I vunder where Gunther Vent" quote was from Apollo 7, not 13. The EECOM John Aaron was given another name, and the "steely eyed missile man" quote was from Apollo 12. Marilyn Lovell didn't lose her wedding ring in the shower, she found it.

stiiggy

No, they used John Aaron's real first name, which did clash with John Young (played by Ben Marley) when they were in the simulator scene together.

Corrected entry: In the television interview, when the expert is describing the tolerance requirements for re-entry angle, he asks the reader to imagine that the earth is a basketball and the moon is a softball, and that the two balls are 14 feet apart, which is about 16.8 times the diameter of a basketball. The distance from the earth to the moon is about 30.14 times the diameter of the earth. This means that the 14 feet should really have been about 25 feet. Finally, the expert says that the re-entry angle has to be accurate to within 2.5 degrees, which he says is like aiming for a target the thickness of a sheet of paper. 2.5 degrees at 30 feet is actually about 13.14 inches thick (even at 14 feet, 2.5 degrees is about 7.34 inches).

qwer5r

Correction: Re-entry angle refers to the angle at which the spacecraft will re-enter the atmosphere, presumably with respect to the earth's surface. That angle would have to be correct within 2.5°. This post seems to refer to an angle of trajectory between the moon and earth, which would not have been the concern in preparing for re-entry.

Correction: The correction to the correction is wrong and makes the same mistake as the original entry. The expert isn't talking about a 2.5 degree error in the trajectory from the moon to the earth. He is talking about a 2.5 degree error in the angle of re-entry. A 2.5 degree error in the trajectory would give a much bigger error in the angle of re-entry.

Peter Harrison

Correction: I noted the same thing and it bothered me. It doesn't matter if the angle is with respect to to the moon or the earth. The expert's opinion was 2.5° based on 14 feet. That is 7." A far cry from the thickness of paper. Either the writers took extreme literary license for drama or the 'expert', (if actual testimony), was incorrect. It's simple math, not rocket science.

Correction: Yes, if you are out by 2.5° at the moon, you are going to be 13.14 inches out at the earth if the distance is 30 feet. But that is not what we are talking about. If you are 2.5° out at the moon, you will miss the earth completely. The question is, from the point where we leave moon orbit, how much tolerance is there to get a re-entry angle into the earth's atmosphere within 2.5°. The answer is not much.

Peter Harrison

Corrected entry: In the shot where Jim is with Marilyn, outside of their house right after the Apollo 11 landing, he blocks out the moon with his thumb. In the final shot, where he puts his finger in front of his face to hide out the moon again, you can see the shadow below his chest. It should be on his eye.

Correction: This is one of the most frequently quoted "non-mistakes" of Apollo 13. It is valid only if the moon was the ONLY light source in the scene, and it is not. There are three or four strong porch light to screen right. Moonlight is pretty feeble and the lights cast the far stronger shadow.

Correction: The only porch lights visible in the scene appear to be behind the actors and were a yellowish color. The light on both characters faces is white and intended to portray the moonlight. Even if the 2nd source of light was shining right on Lovell's face, the white light of the moon would have cast some kind of shadow from his thumb over his eye, particularly at the start of the scene while he was standing up. During that sequence, no shadow of his thumb could be seen anywhere, not even on his chest.

jds122567

Corrected entry: As the spacecraft nears Earth the men in Mission Control remark that its angle of approach continues to wander away from plan. They figure out that it's due to the absence of the originally planned mass of moon rocks. This is wrong in several ways. First, it could not wander off course while coasting due only to the vehicle mass. From the time of Galileo it's been known that objects fall with equal acceleration (at a given distance) regardless of mass. Indeed, if that were the reason then the mass difference would not just be a lack of moon rocks, but also the extra unplanned mass of the entire lunar module. The actual reason was simply the slow leaking of gases from the damaged vehicle, acting as a low thrust rocket motor pushing it sideways. (01:53:20)

Correction: As the men at mission control assumed it was due to moon rocks at the time, the film was just repeating what they said on the transcripts. So it is not a factual error.

Correction: Actually it wasn't a leak due to damage, but due to the LM's steam sublimator (cooling system) giving a tiny thrust.

Corrected entry: During liftoff, one of the five second stage engines fails. This is indicated by a shot of the control panel, and one of the five indicator lights is flashing with a buzzer going off loudly in time with the flashing light. In fact engine failures were indicated by having a light simply go out, and there was no buzzer. Director Ron Howard originally shot the scene accurately, having a light just turn off was visually uninteresting and did not convey the drama of an engine failure. After getting the OK from Astronaut and technical advisor Dave Scott, the more dramatic indication was used.

Correction: Artistic decision to convey the drama and assist the audience, not really a movie mistake. A typical embellishment which is quite permissible in movie world.

tw_stuart

Correction: Actually the indicator lit up if an engine was generating less than optimal thrust (ie a shutdown) While you are correct it did not flash or set off a caution/warning tone, all lights would have been extinguished and 5 would be lit with a solid light.

Factual error: When Lovell's daughter is complaining that the Beatles have broken up, she slams the album Let It Be into her rack. The scene takes place on the day of the initial explosion aboard Apollo 13, April 13 1970 - immediately prior to the Lovell family attending the screening of a television broadcast from the spacecraft. Let It Be was not released as an album until May 9th, 1970. In April Ringo was still recording drum tracks, not even possible for an advance copy to get out.

More mistakes in Apollo 13

Marilyn Lovell: Naturally, it's 13. Why 13?
Jim Lovell: It comes after 12, hon.

More quotes from Apollo 13

Trivia: The Apollo 13 mission set a record for the greatest distance from Earth ever achieved by mankind. This occurred because unlike the other Apollos, Apollo 13 did not make a burn behind the moon to drop into lunar orbit. The free-return trajectory the mission followed took the spacecraft farther behind the moon than any other mission.

More trivia for Apollo 13

Question: Why did the Apollo 13 spacecraft need a parachute? They were landing on water not solid ground. It's easier to survive a fall when landing on water, so why would they need a parachute if they were landing on water?

Answer: Spacecraft re-enter Earth's atmosphere at extremely high velocity (thousands of miles per hour). Atmospheric friction slows the spacecraft descent somewhat; but, without parachutes, the Apollo spacecraft would still reach the surface traveling at hundreds of miles per hour. Landing in water at such high speed would be like hitting concrete, which would of course be instantly fatal. Hence the necessity of multiple parachutes. The Apollo program (and all early U.S. manned space programs) chose to land in the ocean for two reasons: 1) It was easier to track spacecraft re-entry from horizon-to-horizon at sea without visual and radar obstacles, and; 2) It was faster and easier to position several Navy vessels in the general splashdown location, then deploy helicopters to rapidly retrieve the astronauts and their spacecraft.

Charles Austin Miller

More questions & answers from Apollo 13

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