Apollo 13: Ron Howard's Lost Moon

Apollo 13

The 1995 film Apollo 13, directly based on the novel Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, was directed by Ron Howard and produced by Brian grazer. In this historical docudrama film based on the Apollo 13 mission events on, known as the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program, actors Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton who played the roles of Jim Lovell (Hanks), Jack Swigert (Bacon), Fred Haise (Paxton), the mission crew. With intent to land on the moon, the craft launched April 11, 1970 with its three passengers aboard. April 15, 1970, the craft went into orbit with the moon. Their mission was to collect soil samples as well as run experiments, and their scheduled return to Earth was set for April

21, but little did they know, something terribly wrong would occur which would jeopardize the lives of those of the astronauts as well as the space program’s reputation. The 1995 film accurately mimics and depicts the real life scenario of the misfortune that occurred in 1970 with the themes displayed, as well as its highlights on crucial significances the correctly go along with historical mission.
Apollo 13 was made to be as realistic as the historical event taken place in 1970. The director made his best attempts in trying to assimilate the exact procedures and reactions on board the Apollo mission as possible, and even sought out to duplicate the “zero- gravity” experience as it was depicted to be like in space. Actors Hanks, Bacon, and Paxton were all very dedicated to their important roles, and even became familiar with procedures and protocols of real life space simulation. Their scripted reactions were on point in comparison to the news event that occurred early 1970. Equally at the same time, reactions at home were very realistic in the film as well. With an uproar of attention with the sudden crisis, the world all had an eye on the issue that once did not concern them. However, not only was the significance of the calm, cool, and collected behavior needed to maintain a level head in the crisis that occurred depicted by solely the astronauts, but people back on earth as well. The film accurately displays the urgency to remain calm, both on earth and in space, when such a set of events takes place. As for the Mission Control Flight controllers, there was to be "great risks and little margin for error." The movie does this real life scenario it’s justice in its accurate attempts of retelling this story as it happened in 1970.
April 13, 1970, 200,000 miles away from earth, an oxygen tank exploded located in the service module.

The crew on board, consisting of Lovell, Swigert, and Haise, were immediately forced to seek refuge in Aquarius in order to survive as this explosion triggered a multiple systems failure. Many attempts were made to reduce oxygen and power loss, but most seemed unfit to cease the crisis on board the Apollo 13 craft. The film was incredibly accurate in its attempts to duplicate the mission, with its efforts in displaying the crucial significance of the situation on board as well as the drama stirred up back home. The film affectively conveyed the theme of adventure and new findings at the beginning of the movie with the overall upbeat and excited plot entry. Everything was fine, discoveries were being made, and the world was moving forward, just as it was thought to be in 1970 before disaster struck. With the sudden turn of moods, the theme made a dramatic shift to a sense of urgency just as the crisis began, which was displayed in both scenarios, fictitious and real. With knowledge of the exact reason for the failure lacking, the space program was quick to pinpoint the system failure, when in reality the explosion was most referred to as an anomaly. Communication to the astronauts as well as the public was

crucial.
Communication during this event was crucial for everyone, for the pilots as well as the rest of the world. Another aspect of this mission was accurately depicted in the 1995 film, with its sense of emergency with communications, just as it was in 1970. According to Kauffman, “Poor handling of a crisis can ruin the credibility of an organization and ruin the public confidence and trust an organization had worked years to create”. This was displayed in real events, as well as the film, with its emphasis on the importance of communicating to one another. Although the importance was evident, the effects on communications at home were much more traumatic during the actual event than what the movie depicted, but instead focused more attention on the situation on board the craft. However, this is no way inaccuracy made by the directors, but seemingly an attempt to give all aspects of the story within the small amount of allotted time.
Another example of this films accuracy to its primary base of the historical event occurring in April of 1970 would be the last minute command module pilot switch of Kim Mattingly for replacement Swigert due to a sudden illness contracted by Mattingly, known as the German measles. This important detail was retold and depicted in the film as Kevin Bacon played the role of the replacement pilot, following alongside the details of the real life event. Another mishap occurred, with the shut down of the Saturn V rocket engines prior to the craft’s launch. However, in both the news event and the 1995 film, no foreshadowing of potential disaster was displayed by these mishaps, all the more making this film accurate to its history.
The 1995 historical docudrama film, Apollo 13, has proved its self to be accurate in comparison to the events occurring with the third manned mission launched April 11, 1970 known as Apollo 13, all the way through its journey to reach the moon, as well as the road (or flight) to survival of both the crew’s lives and stakes at hand in matters of reputation back on earth as disaster struck aboard the craft April 13, 1970, just two days after the launch.

A large amount of the crucial details, significances, and effects of this disaster were all depicted in the modern film that lasted just 140 minutes. The event that seemed to have occurred so abruptly and unexpectedly during such an ordinary mission, also occurred in the re-telling of the news event with aspects of the situation both being viewed from the eyes of those lives at stake, as well as from those whose reputation was at stake. The film affectively portrayed the drastic change of themes from a sense of discovery and optimism for the future of knowledge, to a theme of a state of emergency and urgency with the sudden disaster that struck the craft, just as it was during the depicted era. This historic failure in our history has been deemed unforgettable, and according to Opt, by this (alone) “it is unlikely a major motion picture would have been made or been successful” based on the unfortunate set of events and back tracks of our history. However, by shining a light on this event and accepting it in its entirety in

turn changes it from being known as a failure, to what has been characterized to be “NASA’s finest hour” when considering the massive efforts in its attempts and cooperation made in order to rescue those who lives were at stack as well as keeping the public informed. Apollo 13 does this landmark in history justice with its accuracy, and will always be considered an affective re-telling of the historical events of the unforgettable Apollo 13 mission.