Eagle eyed readers may have noticed that in the comments section of my post on the casting of the Apollo 13 movie, I mentioned I was planning to assemble a post on the “mistakes” within the film. So, here we are.

It became apparent early on with this post that it was going to be something of a monster, so I have reduced it down in to various sections. The first focuses on so-called “deliberate mistakes” – those made knowingly and deliberately, in order to make the film more enjoyable to watch.

I consider these changes largely unimportant, and of mere interest to Apollo obsessives. Whether they even come under the category of “mistake” is questionable, as they are intentional. Nevertheless, worth mentioning…

(Please note the quality on some of the below images is not fantastic. For the purpose of this post, I watched the movie online and screen-capped as best as possible to actually show the mistakes – while the overall purpose is usually clear, sometimes the quality is… not.)

Artistic Licence “Mistakes”

1. “Houston, We Have A Problem”

Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell.

Perhaps the most notable factual error in the movie is the infamous quote. In the film, Tom Hanks (as Jim Lovell) messages Mission Control with: “Houston, we have a problem”.

During the mission, Lovell did not actually say this.

The moment following the "problem".

As you can see (images taken from the mission transcript, which is a .PDF file), Jim Lovell (the Commander = CDR) actually says “we’ve had a problem”.

This was a deliberate change by the film makers, as Lovell’s actual words are in the past tense – making it sound like the problem had been dealt with, rather than an ongoing (and actually, just emerging) situation.

This is not the only such change of dialogue for dramatic or storytelling effect. For example, while looking for the above snippet, I came across this:

Fred Haise double-checking.

Having seen the film several thousand times (or so it feels), I know the dialogue backwards – in the film, Tom Hanks as Lovell says “did I hear you right?” in response to being asked to close the valves on the fuel cells. In the actual transcript, the words are attributed to the LMP, Fred Haise.

(It should be noted that the above is a pasted together section of transcript rather than a direct copy, as Haise’s actual words spread across two pages and are thus divided by Adobe Reader).

2. Mattingly Watches The Launch

Ken Mattingly did not watch the launch of Apollo 13, the flight he should have been on, from the Cape. In the film, he is depicted as having parked his car somewhere near the launch site, willing the Saturn V on. In reality, Mattingly watched the launch from Mission Control.

Again, this can be put down to a switch for artistic effect. Mattingly’s role in the film overall is altered (as discussed in my previous post) and having the man left behind watch the launch, willing it on nevertheless, a solitary figure… well, it’s a cute bit of film making.

Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise) watches the launch.

It is also worth noting that Mattingly seems to be too close for safety to the launch. The Saturn V was a ridiculously powerful rocket and the zone around the launch site was strictly enclosed during launches. However, it is impossible whether to say this is an actual verifiable “mistake” as we do not know how close Mattingly actually is.

3. The Final Goodbyes

The night before the launch, the astronauts say farewell to their families from opposite sides of a road. In actuality, this infection-precaution was not introduced until the post-Apollo era of NASA.

The "farewell" scene from the movie.

4. LEM Extraction

Around 40 minutes into the movie, the time comes for the lunar module extraction – whereby the Command Module Pilot, Jack Swigert, is required to “pick up” the lunar module by docking the two vehicles together.

The scene is a fraught one, with pressure applied seemingly from all corners on Swigert – the man who has only been on the prime crew for two days. Deke Slayton, in Mission Control, says: “come on rookie, park that thing”, while Haise and Lovell watch nervously as Swigert attempts the docking. Someone at Mission Control (it’s hard to identify who due the camera angle) supposedly says: “if Swigert can’t dock this thing, we don’t have a mission.”

Haise and Lovell watch on anxiously during the LM extraction and docking.

In reality, if Swigert couldn’t successfully make the dock, Lovell or Haise also could have done it. LEM extraction was always a tense moment (one needs a lunar module to land on the lunar surface, you see) but it was always a tense moment; the movie makes out that the concern is over Swigert, not the procedure.

This was added to create a little dramatic tension, and works extremely well.

5. Chit Chat Alongside The ‘Crawler’

The ‘crawler’, the vehicle used to move the assembled Saturn V rocket and accompanying spacecraft, was a huge piece of machinery that generated an awful lot of noise. Really not the best thing to be having a conversation next to, don’t you think?

Lovell gets the bad news, alongside the crawler.

Yet in the movie, Jim Lovell does just that. In fact, it’s a crucial moment of the movie, as Deke Slayton gives the news that Charlie Duke has the measles – and Ken Mattingly is also infected.

Of course, that’s exactly why the movie has Lovell have the conversation next to this ear-bleedingly loud piece of machinery. It’s nice imagery; the rocket on the way to the launch pad, only uh-oh! One of the astronauts can’t go with it. This is the brilliance of Ron Howard.

It is also a mistake within a mistake. Ken Mattingly was removed from the crew two days prior to launch, so we can assume Lovell is meant to be having this unpleasant conversation with Slayton at most three days prior to launch. In reality, the Saturn V would be moved to the launch pad long before then. I cannot find an exact example for Apollo 13, but for Apollo 11, the “roll out” to the pad took place in May – and the mission launched in July.

6. Course Correcting Burn

In the movie (and in reality), the lunar module Aquarius performs a course correction burn towards the end of the mission, the second it has been required to do. The length of the burn, in the movie, is 39 seconds.

Aquarius during the burn.

During the actual mission, the burn was only 14 seconds. The time was extended for dramatic effect.

7. What CMP?

In the opening section of the film, Fred Haise and Ken Mattingly talk about their fortune at being on a crew with Jim Lovell as they watch the Apollo 11 landing at Jim’s house*. Later on, Pete Conrad raises a toast to the back up crew of Apollo 11, which Mattingly accepts.

This is a somewhat erroneous mistake, as technically Ken Mattingly was only on the support crew of Apollo 11 – the original CMP was Bill Anders. Anders, however, was due to leave NASA in August 1969. That meant if Apollo 11 was somehow delayed from its July launch window, Mattingly would be elevated from support crew to back up crew – and he duly trained for that role. However, as Apollo 11 was not delayed, Anders was the official back up Command Module Pilot for the mission.

It’s a confusing mess, and one can see why Howard chose to omit the whole “Apollo 11 technically had two back up CMPs” truth for what was a small section of the film.

* I have always had a thing about Conrad being at the Apollo 11 party at all. During the Apollo 11 landing descent, Conrad was at Mission Control – he is noted as having helped with an antenna problem. The first EVA, which is the focal point of the Lovell’s party, was only a few hours after this moment. Technically, Conrad could have travelled to the party, but it’s always bugged me. Unfortunately, finding out exactly who was hanging with the Lovell’s in July 1969 is a bit of a tricky one – though Conrad and Lovell were very good friends.

8. Tranquility Base? Not quite…

During a poignant section of the film, the three astronauts gaze down at the lunar surface wistfully as they pass by the “dark” side. As they do so, Fred Haise says he can see the Sea of Tranquility, which he refers to as “Neil and Buzz’s old stomping grounds”.

Not so much. Firstly, this section takes place while Apollo 13 is on the far side of the moon: Tranquility Base, or Mare Tranquilititas, is on the near side of the moon – and would therefore not have been visible.

The camera also “shows” what the astronauts are seeing. Rather than a shot of the Sea of Tranquility, viewers are shown a section of the moon known as Hadley Rille (this too is on the near side). This is easily identifiable, as it was the landing site for Apollo 15. So, perhaps “there’s Dave and Jim’s future stomping grounds” might have been more apposite.

The shot from the film of the "Sea of Tranquility".

For comparison:

Hadley Rille as photographed by Apollo 15.

It’s easy to see why the former reference to the Sea of Tranquility was done, under artistic licence – it added to the poignancy of the moment, viewing a part of the moon where men had walked. The shot of Hadley Rille is a little harder to put down to “filmic effect”, though!

9. Crew Arguments

Around the 1h20m mark of the film, the astronauts begin to argue. This mainly involves Fred Haise shouting at Jack Swigert while Jim Lovell referees.

Firstly, the crew of Apollo 13 insist they did not argue during their time in space. Jim Lovell points out, at length, that there was no point. However, it was added for dramatic tension.

The crew arguing.

Secondly, during Haise’s semi-attack on Swigert, he asks if Swigert checked the levels of the oxygen tanks before he stirred them. The cryo stir was what triggered the explosion, so the implication is that Swigert was somehow remiss.

However, the exact reason for the cryo oxygen tank stir was because of slightly bizarre data being read from the oxygen tanks. The EECOM controller was seeing slightly odd readings, and suggested the stir to try and fix what he assumed was a small glitch. So there is no reason why Haise, who would doubtless have been aware of this issue, would assume checking the oxygen tanks would have made any difference whatsoever – as the tanks giving slightly odd readings was the entire reason for the stir that triggered the explosion.

Lastly, even if Swigert had checked the levels on the tank, it would not have stopped the explosion that crippled the Odyssey.

Oh, And…

I realise that in one breath (or post, if you will) saying that Apollo 13 is a spectacular film, and then in a second breath / post choosing to highlight its inaccuracies is a somewhat bizarre decision. I also see how, given the name of this blog, it may appear I am attempt to “debunk” the film. So I’ll begin with a little disclaimer: I believe Apollo 13 is the greatest film ever made, and it sparked my Apollo interest when I was 13 years old. I feel I owe it a lot. This post is more about meeting fact with fiction, and is also a celebration of the movie, which by and large, got it spot on.

For example, here’s a couple of nice things that really did happen that found their way into the movie:

Cabin Valve High Jinks

Before the explosion, Fred Haise is shown scaring his crew mates by fiddling with the cabin repress valve – which produced a satisfying thud without actually causing any damage. Haise actually did this, as shown here on the transcript:

Playful LMP.

Farewell Aquarius

One of the most touching moments of the movie is when the lunar module “lifeboat” Aquarius is jettisoned. Even though re-entry is imminent, everyone in the film takes a moment to thank Aquarius for saving the astronaut’s lives. Well, they did in reality too:

See you, lunar lifeboat.

Those familiar with the film will know this is actually directly quoted.