Corrected entry: When Sandra Bullock is trying to get to the station, she is very low on O2 which George Clooney knows, yet he keeps her talking, using up much more O2 than keeping quiet.
Corrected entry: Sandra Bullock loosens screws to check the panel by turning them clockwise - should turn them the other way. (00:04:50)
Correction: That's because she isn't loosening screws. She is using a device to pull the panel out. Tightening the screws extends the legs of the device which push against the frame in which the panel is mounted, thereby pulling the panel out. She is turning the screws the correct way to operate the device.
Corrected entry: Space debris from an exploded satellite orbiting the earth catches up with Ryan every 90 minutes (as she goes from the Explorer to the ISS to the Chinese space station, all roughly at the same altitude). This is physically impossible. To do this, the debris would have to be traveling fast enough to catch up with the orbiting space stations every 90 minutes. However, objects orbiting at different speeds must travel at different altitudes. The faster the orbit, the lower the altitude. So it would be impossible for the debris to "catch up" with the space stations three times. Even if the two were moving in opposite directions, they would collide once every 45 minutes, as the ISS' orbit period is 90 minutes. (00:11:35 - 00:51:35)
Correction: You are assuming that the orbits are both circular and at the same inclination to the equator. If the debris is in a slightly elliptical orbit and at a different inclination it is perfectly possible for it to intersect the astronauts every 90 minutes. There are other ways a meeting every 90 minutes can happen but I don't want to write an essay on orbital dynamics.
Corrected entry: Following Matt and Ryan's bumpy arrival at, and near departure from the ISS, the parachute lines holding Ryan attached to the station are visible around her leg. A moment later however, when Matt releases the tether between them, she springs back toward the station and the lines have completely disappeared.
Correction: The line moves down around her ankle because she is being pulled away, this makes it harder to see but it is there.
Corrected entry: When Ryan mentions her daughter, and Matt turns off his music, he hold up his right arm and looks in the mirror, but the shot of the mirror itself is on his left hand. (00:26:55)
Correction: It is his left hand all along. He's upside down, which may confuse the angle.
Corrected entry: When Sandra reaches the Soyuz space capsule she turns the oxygen 'on' by turning the red knobs counter-clockwise. When she turns the oxygen off she turned the knobs clockwise. But when she turns the oxygen back on she turns the knobs clockwise again. (01:01:50 - 01:06:20)
Correction: First, Ryan never turned the oxygen on at any point before she went to turn the oxygen off. Also, I watched this scene and she definitely turned the knobs counter-clockwise when she went to turn the oxygen off. She then turns the knobs clockwise to turn the oxygen back on, which makes sense.
Corrected entry: Outside on her spacewalk Bullock has a watch over her suit. Inside after she removes the spacesuit, she is watchless while moving through the ISS (wearing the T-shirt and shorts) then suddenly it appears on her wrist again.
Correction: She had the watch in her hand (looped around her hand) when she moved through the ISS.
Corrected entry: There are several scenes which depict space debris reaching the astronauts' location, with catastrophic results. While the impact of these collisions are probably realistic, it's highly improbable that this debris would be visible (you can spot many objects approaching, missing or hitting Sandra and George's location) mainly because of their ultra high speed relative to the astronauts' area. Remember, we are talking about orbits with speeds in the order of several 10k's of km/h. (00:11:35 - 00:51:35)
Correction: But the astronauts are not stationary. Astronauts and debris are both orbiting west to east around the earth, and their orbits intersect at one point, at an angle probably less than 30°. The closing speed between them (their relative velocity along the line joining them) is therefore less than their orbital speed - very much less if their orbits intersect at an angle of just a few degrees.
Unless the debris is traveling at a certain speed, and there is air in space, the astronauts don't have to be stationary for the debris to invisible at high speeds, and it doesn't matter what angle your traveling at in orbit. Also in a vacuum debris thrown by an explosion would be traveling at a ultra high speed, ten times faster than a speeding bullet, so in order to make the debris visible the astronauts would have in the same direction as the debris to travel at a speed where they would not reach the station.
What you are saying would not make the debris visible. The thing is there has to be enough air to reflect enough light to make the debris visible. Without air not enough light would be reflected for what your correction is saying to make the debris visible, so the debris should have been invisible.
Air does not reflect light. The debris are illuminated by the unfiltered sun and the reflected light from the Earth.
The fact the astronauts aren't stationary relative to the Earth is irrelevant because the debris is supposedly intersecting with their position every 90 minutes, which means the speed of the debris relative to the astronauts is tens of kilometres per second - i.e. a piece of debris, which reaches their position was several kilometres from them barely a 0.1 second ago - thus it would be impossible to see it and the visual representation of the speed of the debris in the movie is completely unrealistic.
Actually, the debris are moving East to West.
Corrected entry: When Stone makes it to the Chinese station, it is experiencing reentry. This is nothing but a drama-making mistake, as the station would have needed to have been actively boosted down/slowed down for it to have been a deliberate deorbit, or have had its navigation completely neglected for months or years for its orbit to decay to that point. In either of these two cases, it could not have been orbiting at a fixed position with the otherwise-stable ISS. (01:11:10)
Correction: The Chinese station has been hit, damage is visible. This could have knocked it into a lower orbit sufficient for atmospheric drag to cause it to re-enter the atmosphere.
Yes it could cause the station to re-enter the atmosphere but not to the point where it makes it through the atmosphere, and into earth's sky, and onto earth's surface. The station would get burned up if what your saying really did cause it to re-enter the atmosphere.
It did break into pieces and burn up.
Corrected entry: When Ryan is in the Soyuz capsule, several items are seen inside the capsule. For example, sticky notes, pens, guides to using the capsule, fire extinguisher, etc. When Ryan discovers she needs to get rid of the parachute in order for the Soyuz capsule to leave, Ryan puts on a space suit, opens the airlock and removes the ropes connecting to the parachute. After the debris storm, Ryan returns to the Soyuz capsule and it can be noticed all of the items are still there inside the capsule. Wouldn't these items have been sucked into the vacuum of space when Ryan released the airlock earlier on? After all, there is nothing restraining them. (00:53:30)
Correction: No, because she could not just open the hatch without equalizing the pressure first. Other wise it would have been very dangerous and sucked her out, potentially damaging her suit in the process and having her lose control and be sucked out into space. Before opening the hatch, she had to either compress the air in the capsule back into the ship air storage, or have the air pumped out into space slowly to not affect the inside of the ship. Thus when she opens the hatch, the pressure was equal to zero, with no air to rush out, taking any items with it.
Actually yes, if the door was open air would rush out. Pressure being equal to zero doesn't create a wall, or barrier of any kind that keeps the air from rushing, and taking items with it.
If pressure is zero then there is no air that would rush out.
Correction: By forcing her to remain talking, he is forcing her mind to remain active, thus helping her to remain conscious a little longer through her hypoxia. Second: By forcing her to vocalize, he is forcing her to modulate her breathing, thus consuming less oxygen than panicked gasping. Third: whispering, talking or shouting out loud consume only a tiny amount more than just breathing.
The Nachoman