Apollo 13

[crokett]

A great movie, I am watching it now. Sometimes NASA gets it right.

[jackellis]

Sometimes NASA gets it right.

NASA was a different organization in those days. They made their share of goofs and they had to deal with bureaucratic rivalries but there was a "can do" spirit that is not as apparent today as it was then.

However I would not judge NASA by it's well-publicized failures. The space shuttle was a boondoggle of epic proportions but it helped keep a whole generation of young folks focused on science and engineering and for that reason, it was probably worth the huge price (see "The Earth is Flat"). The American space program's mortality rate is pretty low compared with the number of people who died in the early days of aviation. NASA has had some spectacular successes on Mars alone that have more than made up for its failures elsewhere. The fact that they could fix an instrument as complex as the Hubble Space telescope while it was in space is a pretty significant achievement in my book.

Of course, I'm a bit biased. I grew up during the 1960s and lived literally just down the block from Cape Canaveral during much of that time.

[Tom Slick]

That movie mirrors the documentaries I've watched on NASA. I really enjoyed it. I love the fact that Ed Harris is the spitting image of Gene Kranz in the movie. That would have been an amazing time to work in the air and space industries.

all of it is before my time, I grew up with the space shuttle.

[Richard in Smithville]

I can remember the tail end of the Apollo missions. I was only a little guy in grade two at the time but watching footage from the moon and the return to earth has stuck in my mind. It's hard to believe that todays kids have more computing power in hand held devices then they took to space.

[jackellis]

A little light reading on how the lunar mission worked:

http://history.nasa.gov/afj/loressay.htm

[gsmittle]

I can remember the tail end of the Apollo missions. I was only a little guy in grade two at the time but watching footage from the moon and the return to earth has stuck in my mind. It's hard to believe that todays kids have more computing power in hand held devices then they took to space.

My watch has more computing power than NASA did in 1969. I remember every moon launch, every moon walk, and especially Apollo 13. What impressed me at the time (I was 13) and still does, is that despite the near-total failure, Lovell, Hayes, and Sweigert came home with energy to spare.

What galls me the most is that we had the Moon in our grasp and walked away... Maybe someday I'll get there.

Great movie, BTW.

g.

[Chris_B]

If you like Apollo 13, you'll love this

From the Earth to the Moon mini-series, produced by Tom Hanks.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/angpes

My favorite TV production, ever.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Mark let our oldest Richard stay up and watch that (Apollo 13) the other night. I know that he enjoyed it.

[JoeyGee]

Let me preface this by saying I am completely fascinated by the space program, and especially Mercury through Apollo. I think the accomplishments in those years are hardly matched in all of human endeavours. I loved From the Earth to the Moon, and all the recent Discovery docs--Why We Left Earth, Moon Machines, etc.

I love Tom Hanks' movies, and I thought Apollo 13 was OK, but between that and Lovell's book, I was really annoyed with what I saw as whining about how they didn't get the attention that 11 and 12 got. Lovell complained less about not making it to the moon than he did about not getting attention until the incident on 13. The movie really played this down, but it was still there. The book was really bad in that regard.

I know, I'm nitpicking...

[jackellis]

I was really annoyed with what I saw as whining about how they didn't get the attention that 11 and 12 got. Lovell complained less about not making it to the moon than he did about not getting attention until the incident on 13.

Not so different from today's entertainment and sports celebrities after all, huh?

My mother got to know a few of these guys, including Lovell and Gus Grissom. I never got to meet any of them but I was enthralled with the space program. Still am.

Becoming a private pilot was the closest I could get to being an astronaut and it's not too bad.

[Alex Franke]

A great movie, I am watching it now. Sometimes NASA gets it right.

We liked it so much we bought it!

[shoottx]

In the Fall of 1969 as a senior in high school and and Explorer Scout, I recieved an invitation to attend the national conference for Explorer posts with a Space specialty. The conference was in Anaheim Ca in conjunction with the annual convention of National Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

As guests we had three tours scheduled Disney, Teledyne and North American Rockwell. At Rockwell we were the second civilian group to visit and view the Apollo 11 command module. We were there in the afternoon and they had a group go through in the morning. We also viewed the construction of the remaining Apollo command modules.

As an Explorer group we were to have lunch with Werner Van Braun, unfortunately he was ill, and they sent the Apollo 11 mission commander to the luncheon. What a mind blowing experience for a 17 year old farm kid from Illinois.

To say I was a space junkie would be an understatement.

[TK421]

If anyone is intersted there is a great space flight simulator program called "Orbiter". And then for the Apollo missions there is an add-on for the 'Orbiter' program called NASSP (Project Apollo), which is contains all the Apollo missions. You can flip all the switches in the command module and everything, its really cool. Very high learning curve, but also very addictive. These programs are all free. NASSP is actually a work in progress as it is being writtren by folks in their spare time (very detailed program). Google "Orbiter" and "Project Apollo for Orbiter".