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USA Today
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Apollo' 13 heads to IMAX: What to know about the real mission behind the movie
The Oscar-winning film directed by Ron Howard tells the true story of a near-disastrous 1970 NASA lunar mission. Houston, we have ... an IMAX release. More than 55 years ago, three astronauts en route to the moon had to abandon their dreams of reaching the lunar surface when their spacecraft encountered some serious trouble. The spacefarers' perilous journey back to Earth was later recounted in 1995's "Apollo 13," the Oscar-winning film with the same title as the now-infamous NASA mission. To mark the movie's 30th anniversary, "Apollo 13" is heading to IMAX theaters. Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, the late Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon, "Apollo 13" bills itself as "the dramatic true story" of how NASA engineers in Houston worked with the three astronauts to get them home safely. But how much of Hollywood's retelling is fact. vs fiction? Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox Here's what to know about "Apollo 13," its impending cinematic re-release and the true story of the real-life mission that inspired the film. 'Apollo 13' heading to IMAX theaters in US Universal Pictures and IMAX announced on Thursday, July 24, that "Apollo 13" is heading back to IMAX theaters, which are known for having larger screens than a typical movie theater and steep stadium seating. The IMAX premiere on Sept. 19 is meant to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film's original June 30, 1995, theatrical release. This isn't the first time "Apollo 13" was shown in IMAX long after its initial theatrical run: A digital remaster of the movie was released for IMAX in 2002. How accurate was 'Apollo 13' movie? What to know about NASA mission "Apollo 13" is inspired by the nearly disastrous April 1970 mission of the same name in which NASA's third planned mission to the moon had to be abandoned when an oxygen tank exploded on the service module. For the three astronauts selected for the mission – Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise – the critical mishap two days into the mission transformed the spaceflight into a life-or-death situation. Relying on backup life-support systems on the Apollo Lunar Module meant to transport them to the moon's surface from orbit, the astronauts used primitive methods of celestial navigation to make their way back to Earth. While in constant communication with flight controllers in Houston, the astronauts safely made a water landing on April 17, 1970, in the South Pacific Ocean – six days after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ron Howard, who directed "Apollo 13," went to great effort to ensure the on-screen depiction of the mission was as accurate and realistic as possible. Lovell and NASA experts consulted on the film, which was even partially filmed at the Kennedy Space Center. Who were the astronauts of NASA's Apollo 13 mission? The mission was under the command of Cleveland, Ohio, native Jim Lovell, then a veteran of three previous spaceflights who was selected as a NASA astronaut in September 1962. Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, had been selected as a NASA astronaut in 1966. Swigert, a native of Denver, was a backup astronaut for the Apollo 13 mission and replaced astronaut Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella. The third crew member of Apollo 13 was Biloxi, Mississippi, native Fred Haise, the lunar module pilot who was part of the same astronaut class as Swigert. Lovell, 97, and Haise, 91, are the two remaining living crew members of Apollo 13. 'Apollo 13' 30th anniversary trailer 'Apollo 13' cast: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon star "Apollo 13" features an ensemble cast portraying the mission's astronauts, their families and the NASA engineers who helped get them home. Here's a look:
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘What balls!' ‘Apollo 13' star Kathleen Quinlan on firing off notes to Ron Howard, secret dinner with Tom Hanks, and why her Oscar-nominated role was more than just ‘the wife'
First things first: yes, the ring thing really happened. Early on in Apollo 13 — Ron Howard's 1995 dramatization of the famous 1970 NASA space odyssey that very nearly became a space tragedy — there's a scene that plays more like fiction than fact. On the morning of the launch that rockets Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks) into the wild blue yonder, the celebrated astronaut's wife, Marilyn (Kathleen Quinlan), steps into a motel shower… and watches in horror as her wedding ring is washed down the drain mid-rinse. More from Gold Derby Could 'Sinners' campaign as a musical at the Golden Globes? The surprising answer 'Awards Magnet' mailbag: A 'Bear' Emmy nominations tank? A cap on acting nominees? It's the culmination of a series of premonitions she's had warning her that Jim's mission isn't going to go smoothly. And, sure enough, a few days into Apollo 13's moon-bound trajectory Lovell radios Houston to alert them to a very serious problem aboard the unluckily numbered spacecraft. 'All that was real,' Quinlan confirms to Gold Derby ahead of Apollo 13's 30th anniversary on June 30. (NASA marked the 55th anniversary of the actual mission in April.) 'She dropped the ring down the drain and realized it was not a good omen. She felt that something ominous was coming — and it did.' (For the record, Jim Lovell later revealed that the movie did take one creative liberty: in real life, Marilyn recovered her wedding band from the shower drain trap.) Quinlan — who earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance — learned about the veracity of the ring incident direct from the source. Prior to production, she spent some time with the Lovells at their lakeside home in Texas. The trip included peeks through photo albums, plenty of stories and a private Cessna flight to the NASA museum in Houston piloted by Jim himself. 'Marilyn didn't like flying,' Quinlan recalls. 'She sat in the back of the plane with a thermos and served us coffee.' Meeting Marilyn — who died in 2023 — alleviated one of the chief concerns that Quinlan had when she accepted the role. 'I was worried a little bit about playing 'the wife,'' the actress admits candidly, acknowledging the limited roles for women in so many Hollywood studio productions in the '90s. 'You were either the wife or the girlfriend and that's pretty much what you did. I felt the danger of being 'the wife.'' Her time with the Lovells, though, provided her with a fresh perspective on the part. 'Once I met Marilyn, I understood the gravity of what astronauts' wives did,' she says. 'They had to stay home and take care of the kids by themselves all while acting like everything is fine. I remember thinking, 'There's something to this.'' With that thought top of mind, Quinlan returned to Los Angeles and typed up a series of notes intended to correct some of the inaccuracies she now saw in Marilyn's portrayal in the script based on her trip to Texas. She then faxed those notes directly to Howard. 'What balls!' Quinlan says with a hearty laugh while thinking back on her younger self's chutzpah. 'But Ron was very gracious about it and even took some of my notes.' While those typed notes have long since been lost to history, Quinlan does remember that one of her chief recommendations was centering Marilyn as a crucial part of the extended NASA team. 'NASA always told the wives that they would be the ones sending their husbands off to space,' she explains. 'What they said was very important — they needed to keep the astronauts' psychology strong. They were the crew's ground mission control so to speak.' In the end, Howard recognized the dramatic value of Quinlan's approach. 'He said that my work grounded the other actors' work,' she says. 'That was very flattering.' Released in the midst of a crowded summer movie season, Apollo 13 enjoyed a five-week run at the top of the box-office charts and raked in cash well into the fall. It finished the year as the second highest-grossing film of 2025, right behind Batman Forever — proof that scientists could go toe-to-toe with superheroes at the multiplex. Apollo 13 was a hit on the awards circuit as well, earning nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Besides Quinlan, Ed Harris also scored a Best Supporting Actor nod for his breakout performance as flight director Gene Kranz.'I got to be in a great film that's become a classic,' Quinlan says of her part in the movie's three-decade legacy. 'That's a great thing to have in my kit.' To celebrate 30 years of Apollo 13, Quinlan dug into her kit to share memories from the movie's production, from a pre-filming dinner date with Hanks to why we don't see Jim and Marilyn reunite at the final scene. Quinlan was already a Hollywood veteran by the time Apollo 13 came her way, having gotten her start in the early '70s with roles in movies like American Graffiti and Airport '77 as well as regular guest spots on such vintage shows as Police Woman and Ironside. In all that time, though, she had never crossed paths with Hanks in a casting session until she showed up to read for Marilyn — a meeting she squeezed in before undergoing surgery on her left shoulder. 'I did my reading with Tom and Ron, and then went to surgery,' she says, laughing. 'When I woke up, my then-husband Bruce Abbott told me, 'You got it!' And I said, 'Got what?'' Once the post-surgery haze passed, Quinlan threw herself into preparing for the shoot. Having enjoyed a small window into Jim and Marilyn's relationship, she wanted to ensure that she and Hanks had the same level of intimacy and familiarity as the real-life Lovells — especially as the actors would only be occupying the same frame for a limited amount of screentime. 'Tom was very friendly, but he was also Tom Hanks and that was intimidating in and of itself,' she says of her costar, who was coming off back-to-back Best Actor wins for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump. Determined to conquer any sense of intimidation before showing up on set, Quinlan had her agent call Hanks' office to arrange a private dinner date — a request that she's only made of two actors during her career. 'Both of them were surprised, too, which I found a little strange,' she says. (The other actor? Chris Cooper, who played her husband in the 2007 spy thriller Breach.) Joined by Abbott, Quinlan met Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, at a secluded restaurant in the SoCal mountains that she doesn't name but confirms is still open. ('You'd have to know about it,' she teases.) The out-of-the-way location afforded the duo the atmosphere and the time to really get to know each other. 'I felt like I could relax around him,' Quinlan says about their actorly connection coming away from the table. Hanks didn't forget the dinner either… but for slightly different reasons. Quinlan remembers getting a call from his office days later with a follow-up request. 'They said, 'Tom would like to know the name of that place you took him so he can take his son there!' Apollo 13 went into production during that in-between period when old-school movie magic like wire work seemed dated, but the new wave of computer-generated tricks were still booting up. So in order to realistically depict weightlessness in space, Howard famously put Hanks and his costars — the late Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon — aboard the so-called 'Vomit Comet,' a training aircraft that NASA employed to get its own astronauts accustomed to being human flotation devices. The name wasn't an exaggeration: nausea was a regular co-pilot for anyone who rode in the Boeing-made vessel. That's one of the reasons why Quinlan says she never asked Howard for her own chance to experience weightlessness. 'I wanted to at first, but then I heard that James Cameron and another big director had called to ask if he could ride in the Vomit Comet, and got turned down,' she says. 'I thought, 'If Ron is turning them down, I'm not even asking.' Besides her sightings of Hanks, Paxton, and Bacon after they exited the aircraft told her all she needed to know. 'I watched all those boys come out, and they were just green,' she remembers with a big grin. 'I just said, 'Nah, I'll pass.'' When it came to the film's recreation of Apollo 13's launch, Howard obviously didn't have the budget to send a real rocket into the final frontier. Instead, the skillfully-edited sequence — Mike Hill and Daniel Hanley shared a Best Film Editing nomination — relies largely on models and limited CGI. But that's not Quinlan saw when she's seen reacting to the rocket taking flight. Instead, she was staring at something much more… low-fi. 'They rigged a basketball to the end of a C-stand,' she says when asked where Howard directed her gaze for her part of the launch sequence. After Jim leaves Earth's atmosphere, Marilyn's only connection to him is through news footage and private NASA radio. Quinlan says that much of that material was played live on set so she had something to react to in the moment. 'Having those playbacks really helped,' she emphasizes, recalling an earlier instance in her career when those kinds of assists wasn't made available. 'I'll never forget being in The Twilight Zone movie when greenscreen had just been invented,' Quinlan says. 'I was shown this little round thing on the end of a popsicle stick and was told to react to it! It took me awhile to learn how to react to things that aren't really there. I've learned that you just have to believe in it for that moment.' It's notable that the last scene Hanks and Quinlan share together in the film also conspires to keep them apart. To avoid any infections, the departing astronauts have to say goodbye to their families from across a strip of highway. "I really liked that because the audience gets to feel their separation," Quinlan says of the staging. "I thought that was a very good choice by Ron." Even after Jim returns to Earth at the end of the movie, Howard chooses to avoid depicting the couple's joyful reunion. Instead, the final sequence stays with the astronauts as they're recovered from their capsule while Hanks narrates what happened to the principal figures in the years after. Quinlan confirms that she didn't shoot any additional material and believes seeing the Lovells together again isn't necessary to those final moments anyway. "I think what's there is resolution enough," she says matter-of-factly. "Showing him landing and her seeing that he landed on the news allows everybody gets to feel that moment along with Marilyn." While critics largely loved Apollo 13, the only review that mattered to Quinlan was Marilyn's — and it turned out to be a rave. "It's always scary when you play a real person what their reaction is going to be," she notes. "Marilyn saw the movie at the premiere in Houston, and I had seen it already so I waited outside. When it was over, she come up to me and said: 'Kathleen — you did a great job.' That was such a relief." Meanwhile, Jim Lovell — who recently celebrated his 97th birthday — had his own gift for Quinlan. "At one point, I asked him, 'How did you keep going in the face of everything going wrong?'" she recalls. "He said, 'I never felt like I didn't have an ace to play.' I've carried that with me forever." Best of Gold Derby Everything to know about 'The Batman 2': Returning cast, script finalized Tom Cruise movies: 17 greatest films ranked worst to best 'It was wonderful to be on that ride': Christian Slater talks his beloved roles, from cult classics ('Heathers,' 'True Romance') to TV hits ('Mr. Robot,' 'Dexter: Original Sin') Click here to read the full article.
Entrepreneur
19-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Exploration with Purpose: Inside The Explorers Club's Legacy and Mission
You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. In a world driven by innovation and progress, few organizations can claim foundational and future-facing roles, as The Explorers Club. Founded in 1904 in New York City, the Club is a non-profit organization and has stood for more than a century as a beacon of scientific inquiry, global exploration, and human achievement. From the first humans to stand atop Mount Everest to the first astronauts to land on the moon, The Explorers Club has counted the most remarkable individuals in history among its members, not for their wealth, but for their will to understand, protect, and advance the world. As Robert Croucher, Director of The Explorers Club, puts it, "The real purpose behind the organization is scientific inquiry in the field, resource conservation, and field study." It is this deeply rooted mission that propels the Club into new frontiers of environmental preservation, cultural research, space exploration, and beyond. Its members have led efforts that directly influenced modern climate science, ocean conservation, space exploration, and wildlife conservation. Right to left David Dolan, Head of Development of the Explorers Club (recipient of the Sweeney Medal) Trevor Wallace (New Explorers Award), Apollo astronaut Captain Jim Lovell (Explorers Medal), Jeff Bezos (Buzz Aldrin Award) Dr. Gino Caspari (New Explorers Award) Dr. Edie Widder (Citation of Merit). (Source: The Explorers Club) The collaboration across people, projects, and purpose is what creates such tangible change. Croucher says, "We are a mission-driven society that raises capital, awards grants, and supports exploration wherever it's needed most." Whether through partnerships with purpose-driven corporations or through its elite but merit-based membership structure, the Club focuses its influence and resources where they matter most. A shining example is the Club's long-standing collaboration with Rolex. Through the Rolex Perpetual Planet program, The Explorers Club has empowered a new generation of scientific leaders to carry out transformative research. Two recent grantees, Katherine Angier and Letícia Benavalli, are emblematic of this vision. Angier seeks to solve a rainforest mystery in the Republic of the Congo, exploring why animals congregate around enigmatic clearings in the forest. Her work could reshape how we understand biodiversity hotspots and inform conservation strategies in vulnerable ecosystems. Benavalli is focused on jaguars in Brazil's southern cerrado. By mapping their genetics, dietary patterns, and habitat needs, she hopes to illuminate pathways to preserve one of the planet's most elusive and endangered big cats. These aren't just field studies; they are lifelines for ecosystems, cultural heritage, and the future of scientific discovery. And they are made possible because the Club has developed a funding model that matches donor capital with meaningful fieldwork. Corporate partners like Rolex co-fund exploration grants, with grantees chosen collaboratively, resulting in high-impact projects backed by both scientific merit and strategic investment. Beyond financial support, The Explorers Club also builds a powerful ecosystem for its members. Far from being an exclusive social group, it is a dynamic network where professionals from diverse backgrounds, scientists, conservationists, explorers, and storytellers gather to push the boundaries of what is possible. Members gain access to high-caliber events like Monaco Oceans Week, the GLEX Summit in Ottawa, and the Annual Dinner in New York, as well as private talks with some of the most influential voices in science and exploration. "You have to illustrate that you have an interest in the Club's mission, as well as be active in the sector," says Croucher. "It's a simple but effective meritocratic philosophy. Members are admitted not by their wealth or societal acclaim, but by grit, purpose, and proven contribution." Take Preet Chandi, MBE, for instance. Known as "Polar Preet," she holds a world record for the fastest solo ski to the South Pole and is now training for an even more treacherous expedition to the North Pole. She joined the Club not with fanfare, but with a story. Within six months, she advanced from London Patron Member to full Fellow, a rare and remarkable journey. "Her dedication embodies everything we stand for," says Croucher. And the community spirit extends far beyond funding. "You should see people's faces when they walk out of one of our talks," Croucher adds. "It doesn't matter whether you're a GCSE student or a PhD holder, it clicks. Your life feels incomplete without this purpose." The Club offers state-of-the-art facilities, ensuring its reach extends far beyond Manhattan's brownstone headquarters. What ties it all together is purpose. Whether backing jaguar research in Brazil, fighting rhino poaching in Kenya, or empowering polar expeditions, The Explorers Club is not just preserving history; it's making it. As Croucher concludes: "Only by working together, members, partners, and supporters can we build the future this world deserves."
New York Times
16-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Ed Smylie, Who Saved the Apollo 13 Crew With Duct Tape, Dies at 95
Robert 'Ed' Smylie, the NASA official who led a team of engineers that cobbled together an apparatus made of cardboard, plastic bags and duct tape that saved the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 after an explosion crippled the spacecraft as it sped toward the moon, died on April 21 in Crossville, Tenn. He was 95. His death, in a hospice facility, was confirmed by his son, Steven. The day after the astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise returned to earth on April 17, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon awarded NASA's mission operations team with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In his remarks, he singled out Mr. Smylie and his deputy, James V. Correale. 'They are men whose names simply represent the whole team,' President Nixon said at a ceremony at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. 'And they had a jerry-built operation which worked, and had that not occurred, these men would not have gotten back.' Soft-spoken, with an accent that revealed his Mississippi upbringing, Mr. Smylie was relaxing at home in Houston on the evening of April 13 when Mr. Lovell radioed mission control with his famous (and frequently misquoted) line: 'Uh, Houston, we've had a problem.' An oxygen tank had exploded, crippling the spacecraft's command module. Mr. Smylie, who lived five houses down from Mr. Haise, saw the news on television and called the crew systems office, according to the 1994 book 'Lost Moon' by Mr. Lovell and the journalist Jeffrey Kluger. The desk operator said the astronauts were retreating to the lunar excursion module, which was supposed to shuttle two crew members to the moon. 'I'm coming in,' Mr. Smylie said. Mr. Smylie knew there was a problem with this plan: The lunar module was equipped to safely handle air flow for only two astronauts. Three humans would generate lethal levels of carbon dioxide. To survive, the astronauts would need to somehow refresh the canisters of lithium hydroxide that would absorb the poisonous gases in the lunar excursion module. There were extra canisters in the command module, but they were square; the lunar module ones were round. 'You can't put a square peg in a round hole, and that's what we had,' Mr. Smylie said in the documentary 'XIII' (2021). He and about 60 other engineers had less than two days to invent a solution using materials already onboard the spacecraft. The crisis is depicted in Ron Howard's 1995 blockbuster film, 'Apollo 13,' starring Tom Hanks as Mr. Lovell, Kevin Bacon as Mr. Swigert and Bill Paxton as Mr. Haise. Onscreen, a character inspired by Mr. Smylie dramatically dumps rubber tubes, garment bags, duct tape and other materials onto a table. 'The people upstairs handed us this one,' the character says, 'and we gotta come through.' In reality, the engineers printed a supply list of the equipment that was onboard. Their ingenious solution: an adapter made of two lithium hydroxide canisters from the command module, plastic bags used for garments, cardboard from the cover of the flight plan, a spacesuit hose and a roll of gray duct tape. 'If you're a Southern boy, if it moves and it's not supposed to, you use duct tape,' Mr. Smylie said in the documentary. 'That's where we were. We had duct tape, and we had to tape it in a way that we could hook the environmental control system hose to the command module canister.' Mission control commanders provided step-by-step instructions to the astronauts for locating materials and building the adapter. In between steps, they joked about taxes. (It was, after all, April.) 'OK, Jack,' one of the commanders radioed. 'Did anybody ever tell you that you got a 60-day extension on your income tax? Over.' 'Yes,' Mr. Swigert replied. 'I think somebody said that when you are out of your country, you get a 60-day extension.' The adapter worked. The astronauts were able to breathe safely in the lunar module for two days as they awaited the appropriate trajectory to fly the hobbled command module home. They landed in the Pacific Ocean with plenty of time to file their taxes (thanks to the extension). 'We would have died had their solution not worked,' Mr. Haise said in an interview. 'I don't know what more you can say about that.' Robert Edwin Smylie, known as Ed, was born on Dec. 25, 1929, in Lincoln County, Miss., on his grandfather's farm. His father, Robert Torrey Smylie, delivered ice and later managed an ice-making facility. His mother, Leona (White) Smylie, oversaw the home. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Smylie studied mechanical engineering at Mississippi State University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1952 and a master's in 1956. He pursued a doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles, but didn't finish. In 1962, he was working at the Douglas Aircraft Company in California when President John F. Kennedy announced plans to send astronauts to the moon. 'I was a young engineer and just wanted to be there and help make it happen,' Mr. Smylie said in a NASA oral history. He applied for a job at the space agency in Houston, initially working in the environmental control section. He eventually became chief of the crew systems division, which was responsible for the life-sustaining equipment used by Apollo astronauts in space. Mr. Smylie always played down his ingenuity and his role in saving the Apollo 13 crew. 'It was pretty straightforward, even though we got a lot of publicity for it and Nixon even mentioned our names,' he said in the oral history. 'I said a mechanical engineering sophomore in college could have come up with it.' Mr. Smylie's marriage to June Reeves in 1954 ended in divorce. He married Carolyn Hall in 1983; she died in 2024. In addition to Steven, his son, he is survived by his daughters, Susan Smylie and Lisa Willis; his stepchildren, Natalie and Andrew Hall; 12 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren. Mr. Smylie's lifesaving invention was a seminal moment in the storied history of duct tape, the jack-of-all trades tool kit item. 'Duct tape has come to enjoy a kind of heroic and ever more pervasive presence in American life,' Tisha Y. Hooks observed in 'Duct Tape and the U.S. Social Imagination,' the dissertation she wrote at Yale University in 2015. 'From the Apollo 13 mission to the broken basement pipe,' she wrote, 'duct tape is there.'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Why Astronaut Jim Lovell Absolutely Hated the First Apollo 13 Movie
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise were determined to reach the moon as their craft took off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Two days later, they were simply determined to make it back to Earth alive. The terrifying events of the doomed mission and the ensuing operation to bring the trio home is the subject of the documentary Apollo 13: Survival. According to production company Insight Film, the movie examines the true 'knife-edge, life-or-death drama' that unfolded with the help of archived recordings and testimony from people close to the mission. The survival story of the Apollo 13 mission is now widely known due to the 1995 Oscar-winning movie of the same name. But surprisingly, it took a long time for Lovell, his flight partners, and the ground crew involved to have their tale fairly told onscreen. Two days after the launch of Apollo 13, an oxygen tank exploded, depleting the astronauts' Command Module, named Odyssey, of power and oxygen. 'Ah, Houston, we've had a problem,' Lovell grimly remarked, kicking off a dramatic rescue more than 200,000 miles from Earth that—thanks to blanket news coverage through print, radio, and, most importantly, television—captivated observers throughout the world. Millions of Americans tuned into newscasts for updates, as Lovell, Swigert, and Haise battled perilous conditions such as freezing temperatures and rising carbon dioxide levels. On April 15, Pope Paul VI even led a prayer for the trio's safety. Flight Director Eugene Kranz and the crew at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston provided valuable assistance, calculations, and even helped the astronauts construct a makeshift CO2 filter using duct tape, cardboard, and a sock. With that aid, the astronauts finally splashed down on April 17 in the South Pacific Ocean. The New York Times reported that as many as 40 million people watched their recovery roughly 600 miles from American Samoa. People involved in the operation were feted with congratulations. President Richard Nixon appeared at the MSC (now known as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Kranz and the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team. Nixon then did the same for the three astronauts at the Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, deeming the mission 'successful' despite the aborted moon landing. 'We are glad to be here, and we are glad to be a part of America,' Lovell said, according to NASA. The dramatic story of Apollo 13 was told on film four years later—and not without controversy. Universal Studios became the first to adapt the Apollo 13 rescue for the screen, but the effort resembled a daytime soap opera more than a riveting survival saga. On March 2, 1974, ABC aired that movie Houston, We've Got a Problem. That the title was a misquote of Lovell became an early sign of the creative liberties the film would take in adapting the story. Starring Robert Culp and Sandra Dee, the movie—made with NASA assistance—took the unusual approach of focusing on the workers inside Mission Control, not the Apollo 13 astronauts. While NASA permitted filming inside its Johnson Space Center facilities and allowed real personnel to appear as extras, the agency stayed out of the project's creative development. 'We did not and do not feel we should be arbiters of what's artistic or in 'good taste,' or not,' NASA Public Affairs representative John P. Donnelly wrote in a memo, adding he was hopeful the movie might 'humanize' the space program. It certainly did little to humanize the three astronauts, none of them are listed as characters, and there are no scenes in outer space. Meanwhile, during the course of the movie, members of the team in Houston grapple with personal issues that played no role in the real rescue—including a heart ailment affecting Culp's character and a custody dispute involving another. The studio explained the changes by saying the network would never have accepted a documentary-style project. It also emphasized the added disclaimers that to point out the movie's fictitious elements. 'What we did was take the basic facts and add additional drama on top,' Universal executive producer Herman Saunders said in February 1974. 'How would you keep people in suspense, otherwise, when they all know the outcome 0f the story already?' Houston, We've Got a Problem is largely forgotten by everyone except Lovell, who read the script and found it to be in poor taste and 'a disservice to the flight crew and ground personnel' involved in the entire mission. 'If one is to believe this story, it was obviously more traumatic to be in Mission Control than to be on board the crippled spacecraft,' Lovell said. 'The Apollo 13 story in itself is an exciting adventure tale without the embellishments found in an afternoon serial program. If NASA wanted exposure of this nature, this story should have been based on a fictitious space flight.' The movie was the only noteworthy adaptation of the mission that Swigert witnessed. He died at age 51 of complications from bone cancer in late December 1982. Meanwhile, Lovell became determined to tell the real story of Apollo 13 and played a critical role in doing so 20 years later. In 1994, Lovell collaborated with journalist Jeffrey Kluger on the autobiographical book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. This novel would serve as the inspiration for director Ron Howard's eponymous 1995 blockbuster Apollo 13 about the doomed mission. From the get-go, Lovell consulted on the movie to make it as realistic as possible. He even requested that actor Kevin Costner, who bore a striking physical resemblance, play him onscreen. The role eventually went to Tom Hanks, with Bill Paxton playing Haise, Kevin Bacon portraying Swigert, and Ed Harris in the critical part of Kranz. Lovell personally helped Hanks prepare for the movie, welcoming the Forrest Gump star to his home in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, and flying him in his personal airplane. Hanks also spent more than four hours in NASA's 'Vomit Comet,' the airplane used to train astronauts for rocket flight by alternating between negative gravity and 2Gs of force. Unlike the maligned Houston movie, much more attention was devoted to the astronauts and the realism of their spacecraft. Haise consulted with the sound effects team on alarm and equipment noises, while Space Works Inc. created replicas of the Apollo 13 command and lunar modules 'down to every last rivet and piece of velcro.' The attention to detail proved worthwhile, with Apollo 13 earning nine Academy Award nominations, with wins in two categories. Despite its further alteration of Lovell's famous quote—changed to the now iconic 'Houston, we have a problem'—the movie ultimately earned the astronaut's approval. 'Ron Howard really followed it down the line,' Lovell said, adding another director might have 'put this thing on Mars with David Bowie or something like that.' Since the premiere of the Apollo 13 movie, the real mission has continued to be the subject of much interest and analysis. Haise published his own memoir, Never Panic Early: An Apollo 13 Astronaut's Journey, in 2022 that details his experience and career. Apollo in Real Time, a website launched in 2020, allows viewers to see photographs and listen to Apollo 13 audio transmissions as they happened in 1970. As for the new Netflix documentary, Lovell has already given his full stamp of approval. 'More than 50 years after the mission, the film put me right back in the captain's seat,' he said, according to the Independent. 'Those were the days! Seeing the historic footage and hearing the perspectives of family and friends on the ground truly stirred my emotions. I am grateful the world now has this excellent documentary showing the raw emotions and triumph we felt back then.' All of these projects help ensure the true legacy of Apollo 13 endures for years to come. Director Peter Middleton reached out to Lovell's family before making the new documentary in an effort to 'weave in the experience of our family in a way that would give people a whole new perspective,' according to Jim's son, Jeff Lovell. Jeff told The Telegraph in August 2024 that he gave Middleton access to hours of home videos and personal photographs. 'I hope that makes it a much more emotional, human story,' he said. You Might Also Like Nicole Richie's Surprising Adoption Story The Story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Her Mother Queen Camilla's Life in Photos
