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Imagine my surprise. A reporter on radio today reporting on dignataries attending the Wright brothers centinial at Kitty Hawk said: "Along with Pres. Bush, was the first man to walk on the moon, John Glenn."
An hour later, the same report ran, still uncorrected. #-o
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And i thought that it was Armstrong was common knowledge..n e 5 year old knows that....darn people amaze me every day (their stupidity that is)
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*mental cringe*
Oh wait, that was a physical one as well!
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Unfortunately not....I remember talking to a young lady,20 at the time,when Apollo 13 came & we were discussing it & she says to me "Don't tell me how it ends!" I looked at her & said "You mean you don't know how it ends?".Turned out she had no idea we'd gone to the Moon,knew nothing of the space program.She was in collge at the time....Originally Posted by SpaceTrekkie
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Established Member
Well, can't really blame her. Her science teachers were probably football coachs who worked on their play books, while the class slept, and made passing grades.
The way Hollywood likes to change things, while I was watching the movie for the first time, I kept expecting the Borg to show up and try to assimilate Apollo 13.
Order of Kilopi
I take it from this you haven't seen the director's cut!
Seriously, though, that's all very worrying. Perhaps if it isn't common knowledge that there was a moon mission, it's a lot easier for the public to swallow the idea that it never happened.
A question worth pursuing - how different would the world be if we hadn't gone to the moon? We wouldn't have teflon (or is that a myth?) and people wouldn't say things like, "They can put a man on the moon and yet they can't design a comfortable bungee harness..." But what are the more serious implications?
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Interestingly enough, it coulda been and maybe shoulda been.
After attaining hero status for being the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn was effectively barred from space again for fear that their newly-minted hero might perish by accident.
Now, Glenn was one of the best of the best, and one of the original 7 astronauts. As was Alan Shepard who made it to the moon, so certainly John Glenn could have as well. And there would have been a chance that his crew would have been lucky enough to be first on the moon through roster rotation. In fact, I would bet politics might even have given him a little boost as it did geologist Harrison (Jack) Schmitt.
RBG
Order of Kilopi
First, Teflon is not a spin-off of spaceflight. Was discovered earlier.
Second: It's interesting that Glenn and Gagarin shared a similar fate. It took Gagarin some efforts before he was again on flight status. The soviet leaders were eager not to loose their hero. It took a little bit longer for Glenn.
It would be great if Gagarin would be still among as, as Leonov. What stories would he have to tell...
Harald
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Yeah, and if it was a typical Hollywood movie The Return of the King would end with Frodo chopping Sauron's head off with a sword, followed by a sardonic wisecrack. :roll:
While Apollo 13 did change and "punch up" things for movieness, though, it's still the most realistic space movie ever. IIRC, Tom Hanks insisted on really flipping the right switches and so on.
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I actually like the part where Kevin Bacon's character (Astronaut Jack Swiger) is working with a control panel while reading the manual, don't know if it actually happened but it was pretty cool
Order of Kilopi
Hanks is a true Apollo nut. It's currently pretty difficult to write a good book about Apollo and not end up with a foreword by Hanks... ;-)Yeah, and if it was a typical Hollywood movie The Return of the King would end with Frodo chopping Sauron's head off with a sword, followed by a sardonic wisecrack. :roll:
While Apollo 13 did change and "punch up" things for movieness, though, it's still the most realistic space movie ever. IIRC, Tom Hanks insisted on really flipping the right switches and so on.
A year ago, he gave an interview to a big German weekly newspaper for a series they ran, titled: My Dream. Of course, he spoke about being an Apollo astronaut and do moonwalks all the time...
Harald
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More realistic than "The Right Stuff"? Didn't they use actual comms transcripts?
Order of Kilopi
The Right Stuff is notoriously inaccurate. It's more of an opera than historical fiction.
Apollo 13 is much more faithful to history, but is still not suitable as a substitute for history. It's not a documentary and does not intend to be one. Nearly all the events depicted in the film actually happened, but did not necessarily happen in the way shown, or in that order. Ron Howard condensed a lot of material into a story he could tell in two hours. In order to reduce the number of characters, he had familiar characters perform actions in the film that were actually done by other people in real life.
A lot of the dialogue was taken from transcripts and recordings, but a lot was simply made up, too. The argument in the LM over culpability was based, for example, on an actual argument. But neither Lovell nor Haise will reveal the subject of the actual argument, and so the screenwriter has to take liberties.
Most people involved with space flight are cool cucumbers, but that makes for poor drama except in small doses. You don't care about characters that always seem unperturbed by drastic turns of events. And so screenwriters feel the need to make the individuals a little more passionate and a little more volatile than they otherwise were. You can't simply rely on dry transcripts.
And of course you have the small technical issues like whether Lovell's Corvette was blue or red, and how Ken Mattingly couldn't have been standing that close to the rocket when it was launched. That sort of dramatic liberty makes for good storytelling. It's a good thing. It's why we go to the movies. But it's also what makes these secondary and tertiary sources unsuitable for historical research.
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I agree, so it's interesting when they show emotion. PBS had a documentary on Apollo 13 (sorry, don't remember the name) that came out shortly before the movie. A lot of it was interviews with the people involved, particularly Gene Kranz. At the end of the interview with him, they were talking about the couple of minutes of waiting during reentry and his thoughts and feelings when he found out they had made it. Even decades later you could tell he was getting chocked up. It was very moving.
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In the movie, Fred Haise says that it was an accident when his wife got pregnant. I remember thinking "ouch, I'd hate to be watching a movie about my dad and hear that!"
Another thing I've always wondered about. Mattingly is shown standing next to his car while watching the take off. Did he really drive all the way from Houston to KSC and then drive all the way back? That just seems like it would be more driving than I'd be willing to do. I think I'd fly commercial.
Order of Kilopi
On the subject of nit-picks...
In the Apollo 13 movie, Lovell covers the moon with an outstretched raised thumb.
Whereas I've always been told that one's outstretched little finger is half a degree across. Certainly my own outstretched little finger covers sun and moon.
Consequently, the thumb business has bothered me ever since I first saw the film, even though I understand the poetic licence of "thumbs up".
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I absolutely adore the movie - apart from anything else, it proves that a high degree of fidelity does not detract from the excitement & drama. Ron Howard should be congratulated for insisting on such an overall level of accuracy.
Of all of the little touches, I liked Lovell's daydream sequence where he imagines walking on the moon. Apart from the red stripe signifying him as the commander of the mission, he also has a small anchor on his helmet reflecting his rank of Navy Captain. A small but really nice touch. =D>
Given that - I still shudder in the scene where they pass over the lunar surface. Haise comments excitedly that he can see their landing site (Fra Mauro highlands). Within a couple of seconds, Swigert comes in behind him and identifies the Tsiolkovsky crater. That's some trick! [-X
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Conversely, Lovell also did the thumb gesture while in lunar orbit. I believe he mentioned it in "Lost Moon" and it was meant to convey a sense of "smallness" when compared to the universe. Essentially, everything you've ever known, all the heroes and villians, civilizations past and present, history good and bad, accomplishments and disappointments, could fit under one's thumb. It reminds you how insignificant we are in the whole cosmic scheme of things.
OK...enough philosophy! Where are the Chee-tos?
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only slightly related, but if anyone's interested in a good moon-mission documentary (starts from the beginning w/ mercury, gemini then apollo) there's one called "Moonshot" It's got some great interviews with John Glenn, Jim Lovell, Pete Conrad, Alan Shepherd etc. (obviously it was made several years ago, seeing as, i dunno abut the others, but Alan Shepherd died in 97 i believe.) Its narrated from the point of view of Deke Slayton (but he died during the production of the documentary i believe, or shortly before it)
Anyways, I thought it was very informative and fun to watch
ok so this has really not a whole lot to do w/ apollo 13 or the movie...but it reminded me of it (somewhere the that gray mass in my head i call a brain) so i thought i'd just add my two cents
Member
I just watched the right stuff again, and the control room just doesn't ring true to me. All that raying and cheering. I would think they'd be sober until debriefing. I cringe when I see all that smoking, but I guess that's just my 2003 mentality. I think they did a really good job conveying the sense of pride, and achievement that was felt.
Member
Speaking of the thumb-covering-the-moon scene, did you guys notice that there was no shadow over his open eye?
OOPS!
Established Member
It was presumably based on the book "Moonshot" by Shepard and Slayton printed in 94.
I have a slight bit of trivia about Apollo 13 the movie.
In December 93 I had the oppertunity to hear Lovell, (Anders and Borman) speak on the 25th. aniversery on Apollo 8.
Lovell metioned that when he was assigned to the mission, he went home to speak to his wife about their planned trip at Christmas, and that he would not be able to go, since he Borman and Anders had planned a trip of their own--to the moon.
They changed that story to Spring Break to Mexico.
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[/quote]Another thing I've always wondered about. Mattingly is shown standing next to his car while watching the take off. Did he really drive all the way from Houston to KSC and then drive all the way back? That just seems like it would be more driving than I'd be willing to do. I think I'd fly commercial.
Gene Cernan says in his book that all the astronauts had jets at their disposal and could fly anytime they wanted to. I dont believe he would be flying commercial. 8)
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I can do you one better than that. I recently took my first Astronomy course in college. On the very first day, the teacher gave us a beginning quiz (not for a grade) to get an idea what we already knew. Over half the class got the number of moons orbiting the earth WRONG.Turned out she had no idea we'd gone to the Moon,knew nothing of the space program.She was in collge at the time....
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[shudders]I can do you one better than that. I recently took my first Astronomy course in college. On the very first day, the teacher gave us a beginning quiz (not for a grade) to get an idea what we already knew. Over half the class got the number of moons orbiting the earth WRONG.
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Gloria was sick in your Transit on Monday?
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Nope: it can be translated as "Thus Pass the Glories of the World"
[Editted to fix horrible gramatics problem]
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IIRC both stories are true. In Lost Moon Lovell tells the story that you mentioned and goes on to mention that he recycled the joke when Shepard got bumped to Apollo 14. The thing that I found interesting was that there is a scene in the movie where Lovell's wife looses her ring down the drain in a hotel shower. I found no mention of it in Lovell's book and thought that it was just added for dramatic affect. A few months back they showed Apollo 13 on the History Channel and Lovell confirmed the story kind during one of the commercial breaks.It was presumably based on the book "Moonshot" by Shepard and Slayton printed in 94.
I have a slight bit of trivia about Apollo 13 the movie.
In December 93 I had the oppertunity to hear Lovell, (Anders and Borman) speak on the 25th. aniversery on Apollo 8.
Lovell metioned that when he was assigned to the mission, he went home to speak to his wife about their planned trip at Christmas, and that he would not be able to go, since he Borman and Anders had planned a trip of their own--to the moon.
They changed that story to Spring Break to Mexico.
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