Factual error: The surviving space shuttle takes off from the asteroid horizontally, like an airliner taking off from a runway. This is absurd. There is no air to provide lift for the wings, so the shuttle - with its engines providing thrust straight back - would simply trundle along the ground like a car. It doesn't use its maneuvering jets at any time, and they are far too feeble to lift the weight of the shuttle anyway. Nor do they gimbal the main engine, which would lift the shuttle vertically on an axis through the centre of the engine - they swoop gracefully into the air after a long take off. Second, they'd have to count on finding a clear length of ground on a debris strewn asteroid. Vertical takeoff, anyone?
Armageddon (1998)
Plot summary
Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Peter Stormare, Michael Clarke Duncan, William Fichtner
When NASA's executive director, Dan Truman, realizes the Earth has 18 days before it is obliterated by a meteor the size of Texas, he has only one option - land a ragtag team of roughneck oil drillers on the asteroid and drop a nuclear warhead into its core.
More mistakes in Armageddon
General Kimsey: We spend $250 billion a year on defence, and here we are! The fate of the planet is in the hands of a bunch of ret*rds I wouldn't trust with a potato gun!
Trivia: Armageddon was released on Liv Tyler's (Grace Stamper) 21st birthday.
Question: Would someone please explain why they need a huge Gatling gun on the asteroid? Are they scared of aliens or what?
Answer: If you look at the deleted scenes on the special edition DVD, you will see a deleted scene in which A.J. asks what they needed a gun for, and Max explains that it's for debris elimination, in order to take out small rocks in the way.