Apollo 13 (motion picture)

Apollo 13 (motion picture), motion picture about the historic and nearly disastrous Apollo 13 rocket mission (see Apollo Program: Apollo 13). Released in 1993 and based on a book written by Jim Lovell and Jeffery Kluger, the film stars Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon as three astronauts who are almost stranded in space when the oxygen tank on their ship explodes. Quick, ingenious thinking by the astronauts and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission-control staff back on earth help the men avert disaster.

Director

• Ron Howard

Cast

• Tom Hanks (Jim Lovell)
• Bill Paxton (Fred Haise)
• Kevin Bacon (Jack Swigert)
• Gary Sinise (Ken Mattingly)
• Ed Harris (Gene Kranz)
• Kathleen Quinlan (Marilyn Lovell)
• Mary Kate Schellhardt (Barbara Lovell)
• Emily Ann Lloyd (Susan Lovell)
• Clint Howard (NASA man)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Sound (1996): Rick Dior, Steve Pederson, Scott Millan, David MacMillan
• Academy Award for Best Film Editing (1996): Michael J. Hill, Daniel P. Hanley
• Screen Actor’s Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (1996)
• Screen Actor’s Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (1996): Ed Harris

Quote

• Jim Lovell: “Houston, we have a problem.”

Trivia

• The cast and crew of Apollo 13 shot some extra-terrestrial rocket scenes using NASA’s weightlessness-simulating KC-135 airplanes. With each flight the filmmakers had 23 seconds of zero gravity. They made 628 flights for a total of 4 hours and 44 seconds of weightlessness.