Film: Apollo 13 (1995)

Director: Ron Howard

Run time: 140 minutes

This highly popular academy-award-winning movie recreates a memorable episode in the history of space exploration. The NASA’s manned flights into space were fraught with perils from the beginning. Apollo 11 was a moment of triumph when Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon in 1969, creating history. Other missions followed.

The Apollo 13 lunar mission, which sent the third space craft to the moon, had to be aborted when the oxygen tank exploded. After 87 hours of suspense, when everyone feared for the lives of the astronauts, they safely landed in the Pacific.

This movie, an edge-of the seat experience, draws from Jeffrey Kluger and Jim Lovell’s book, Lost Moon:The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. The story opens with astronaut Jim Lovell hosting a party on 20 July 1969. They watch the telecast of the climactic moment of the Apollo 11 journey which put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Lovell who has already orbited the moon on Apollo 8, dreams of a return journey to walk on the moon, as he tells his wife Marilyn. Lovell, Swigert and Haise are scheduled for the Apollo 13 mission. But the new voyage is beset with problems from the beginning. Swigert has to substitute Mattingly, who is affected by measles. Marilyn has misgivings about the voyage. On 11 April 1970, 51 minutes after the vehicle was launched, minor problems were noticed. However, 65 hours and 200,000 miles into the journey, an Oxygen tank blows up, starts leaking and the vital equipments show signs of dysfunction. Water, electricity and light are short of supply. NASA’s flight controllers are forced to abandon the moon-landing.

Tension builds as those on ground and the three in the command module navigate critical systems failures, improvise scientific and mechanical solutions. The astronauts’ safe return is all that matters. The crew power down systems, use duct tape and cardboard to fix the carbon dioxide emission inside the craft, and executed a manual re-entry. Suspenseful hours pass while all NASA is united in their single minded mission of rescue. The news spreads and the world is alarmed. Pope Paul VI prays for them. The crew has to jettison the service module as it approaches the earth and face intense heat and communication blackout. At the climactic moment the space craft makes a fiery entry into earth’s orbit and then successfully splashes in the Pacific Ocean on 17 April, 7 kilometers from the recovery ship.

The triumph is celebrated in a few intensely emotional moments by the families and those at the Mission control center in Houston. The mission’s original goal is given up and is switched to that of saving lives, overcoming impossible odds. The film pays tribute to teamwork, problem-solving, and the astronauts’ bravery in the face of the worst. The movie got 7 Oscar nominations and 2 awards.