Corrected entry: The shuttles sling-shot around the moon to gain speed. This is a manoeuvre undertaken to save fuel. Nevertheless, we see the shuttles using full after burners on the ride around the moon.
Tailkinker
31st Dec 2008
Armageddon (1998)
30th Sep 2007
Armageddon (1998)
Corrected entry: If "NASA doubles up on everything.", why didn't the nuclear bomb on Independence go off when it crashed? Colonel Sharp stops Stamper from hitting their bomb with a wrench since it would set it off, so why didn't the one on Independence detonate?
Correction: A crash wouldn't set a nuclear bomb off; it takes a very precise set of events to occur for that to happen, which a crash couldn't possibly replicate. Nor, for that matter, would hitting one with a wrench, which Sharp undoubtedly knows, but with the fate of the Earth riding on that bomb, he can't risk Stamper damaging it. The easiest way to ensure that he doesn't do it again is to tell them that it might actually go off. It's not true, but Stamper and his men aren't going to know that.
A better question would be why they couldn't remote detonate the Independence nuke from the ground at the same time they try to activate the Freedom nuke.
Correction: As we see in the movie, a lot of equipment was tossed around and spilled out of the Independence when it was spiralling down. The nuke likely was sucked out of the ship.
Correction: They don't have time to waste simply allowing gravity to accelerate them, so they combine a gravitational slingshot course with the full acceleration from the engines. Allows them to get up to the required speed faster and using less fuel than using the engines alone, but, given the time pressures that they face, they can't afford to shut the engines down and coast on gravitational acceleration alone.
Tailkinker ★