The explosion aboard Apollo 13s service module occurred, and thus began one of NASAs greatest achievements...returning the Apollo 13 crew safely back to earth. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1970-029A
How accurate was the movie? I mean I've seen it but never did any research on how accurate they portrayed the situation.
Very accurate. There's a fairly good documentary about the topic, and it plays a lot like the movie. What the movie leaves out is some of the astronaut behavior. There was a lot more sniping, whining, and a few instances of freaking out. Who could blame them? Anyway, I know this since my dad was one of the pocket-protectored nerds working around the clock to get them back.
Mine too B-Bob. My dad did the programming on the astronauts biofeedback. (remember when the guy was pissed and pulled off those little pads?) They lived across from NASA and let mission control guys sleep on thier couch during the ordeal. They said movie was pretty true.
My father in law was an engineer at NASA for his whole career (he just retired a few years back) and when we watched the movie together he said it was all very accurate except for that one part with the simulator when they made them go back in and do it again. He said the set up on that simulator took hours and you couldn't go right back in and do it again.
It's good to hear that the movie was so close to what really happened. I thought it was a really good movie and it seems like the astronauts don't get remembered as much as they should because of all of the hardship the overcame.
