6 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Apollo 13’

APOLLO 13, Bill Paxton, Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, 1995, — Universal/courtesy Everett Collection

When Apollo 13 arrived in theaters on June 30, 1995, it hit home with viewers who remembered the real-life incident that occurred in 1970. While man had walked on the moon less than a year before, the truncated voyage of Apollo 13 would arguably turn out to be one of the most compelling chapters and the finest hour in the history of space exploration. Three astronauts face the prospect of dying as no man had died before when an explosion in space causes them to lose oxygen, power and guidance. Back on Earth at NASA’s Mission Control, a race was on to save the astronauts. Even if they managed to survive, they could still be incinerated upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.

The story of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Ken Mattingly, Jack Swigert and Gene Krantz were brought to life by an all-star cast that included Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon and Ed Harris, in a film directed by the amazing Ron Howard.

Apollo 13 was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Ed Harris) and Best Supporting Actress (Kathleen Quinlan), as well as four Golden Globe Awards. To date, the film has grossed $355,237,933 and was loved by critics and audiences alike.

Here are six things you may not know about the film.

The film’s most famous quote wasn’t a quote at all

The film’s most famous line may be this one, spoken by Ed Harris as NASA’s chief flight director Gene Kranz. But “Failure is not an option” was not actually said by Krantz during the mission. It was a line taken from the title of Krantz’s autobiography.

Steven Spielberg had a suggestion

The idea to use the Vomit Comet — the colloquial name for NASA’s reduced-gravity aircraft, used in astronaut training — for the weightless scenes came from Steven Spielberg, a friend of Howard’s. Howard had been considering wires and harnesses, which would have been much less realistic-looking

Jim Lovell and his uniform have a cameo

Lovell, the real-life commander of Apollo 13 played by Hanks, makes a cameo at the end of the film as the captain of the USS Iwo Jima, the recovery ship. Howard initially wanted to make him an admiral, but Lovell, who retired as a captain, insisted on wearing his actual rank and even his own Navy uniform for the scene.

“Houston, we have a problem” was the Hollywood version of the real quote

The iconic line, “Houston, we have a problem,” popularized by the movie, is a slight alteration of what was said. It was Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) who first reported the issue, saying, “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Jim Lovell then followed up.

Kevin Costner was Jim Lovell’s first choice

Universal/Everett Collection

Before Tom Hanks was cast, Jim Lovell himself had expressed a desire for Kevin Costner to play him in the film due to a physical resemblance. However, Costner was reportedly not considered by Ron Howard.

The Saturn V launch sequence was entirely new

Howard was determined not to use any stock NASA footage for the film. The incredibly realistic Saturn V launch sequence was entirely created using miniatures and clever visual effects, and it was so convincing that even Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin reportedly asked what NASA archive it came from.