Apollo 13 is a 1995 American docudrama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris and Kathleen Quinlan. The screenplay by William Broyles Jr. and Al Reinert dramatizes the aborted 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission and is an adaptation of the 1994 book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, by astronaut Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.
The film tells the story of astronauts Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 for the United States' fifth crewed mission to the Moon, which was intended to be the third to land. En route, an on-board explosion deprives their spacecraft of much of its oxygen supply and electrical power, which forces NASA's flight controllers to abandon the Moon landing and improvise scientific and mechanical solutions to get the three astronauts to Earth safely. Howard went to great lengths to create a technically accurate movie, employing NASA's assistance in astronaut and flight-controller training for his cast and obtaining permission to film scenes aboard a reduced-gravity aircraft for realistic depiction of the weightlessness experienced by the astronauts in space.
Released in theaters by Universal Pictures in the United States on June 30, 1995, Apollo 13 received critical acclaim and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture (winning for Best Film Editing and Best Sound). The film also won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, as well as two British Academy Film Awards. In total, the film grossed over $355 million worldwide during its theatrical releases, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 1995. It is listed in The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made (2004). In 2023, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."
Plot
On July 20, 1969, astronaut Jim Lovell hosts a party where guests watch Neil Armstrong's televised first steps on the Moon from Apollo 11. Lovell, who orbited the Moon on Apollo 8, tells his wife Marilyn that he will return to the Moon to walk on its surface.
Three months later, as Lovell is conducting a VIP tour of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building, his boss Deke Slayton informs him that his crew will fly Apollo 13 instead of 14, swapping flights with Alan Shepard's crew. Lovell, Ken Mattingly, and Fred Haise train for their mission. Days before launch in April 1970, Mattingly is exposed to German measles, and the flight surgeon demands his replacement with Mattingly's backup, Jack Swigert.
Lovell resists breaking up his team, but relents when Slayton threatens to bump his crew to a later mission. As the launch date approaches, Marilyn has a nightmare about her husband dying in space, and tells Lovell she will not go to Kennedy Space Center to see him off for an unprecedented fourth launch. She later changes her mind and surprises him.
On launch day, Flight Director Gene Kranz in Houston's Mission Control Center gives the go for launch. As the Saturn V rocket climbs through the atmosphere, a second stage engine cuts off prematurely, but the craft reaches its Earth parking orbit. After the third stage fires again to send Apollo 13 to the Moon, Swigert performs the maneuver to turn the Command Module Odyssey around to dock with the Lunar Module Aquarius and pull it away from the spent rocket.
Three days into the mission, by order of Mission Control, Swigert turns on the liquid oxygen stirring fans. An electrical short causes a tank to explode, emptying its contents into space and sending the craft tumbling. The other tank is soon found to be leaking. Consumables manager Sy Liebergot convinces Kranz that shutting off two of Odysseys three fuel cells offers the best chance to stop the leak, but this does not work.
With only one fuel cell, mission rules dictate the Moon landing be aborted. Lovell and Haise power up Aquarius to use as a "lifeboat", while Swigert shuts down Odyssey to save its battery power for the return to Earth. Kranz charges his team with bringing the astronauts home, declaring "failure is not an option". Consumables manager John Aaron recruits Mattingly to help him improvise a procedure to restart Odyssey for the landing on Earth.
As the crew watches the Moon pass beneath them, Lovell laments his lost dream of walking on its surface, then turns his crew's attention to the business of getting home. With Aquarius running on minimal electrical power and rationed water supply, the crew suffers from freezing conditions, and Haise develops a urinary tract infection. Swigert suspects Mission Control is concealing the fact they are doomed; Haise angrily blames Swigert's inexperience for the accident, but Lovell quashes the argument.
As Aquariuss carbon dioxide filters run out, concentration of the gas approaches a dangerous level. Ground control improvises a "Rube Goldberg" device to make the Command Module's incompatible filter cartridges work in the Lunar Module. With Aquariuss navigation systems shut down, the crew makes a vital course correction manually by steering the Lunar Module and controlling its engine.
Mattingly and Aaron struggle to find a way to power up the Command Module systems without drawing too much power, and finally read the procedure to Swigert, who restarts Odyssey by drawing the extra power from Aquarius. When the crew jettisons the Service Module, they are surprised by the extent of the damage, raising the possibility that the ablative heat shield was compromised. As they release Aquarius and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, no one is sure that Odysseys heat shield is intact.
The tense period of radio silence due to ionization blackout is longer than normal, but the astronauts report all is well, and the world watches Odyssey splash down and celebrates their return. As helicopters bring the crew aboard the USS Iwo Jima for a hero's welcome, Lovell's voice-over describes the cause of the explosion, and the subsequent careers of Haise, Swigert, Mattingly, Kranz, and himself. He wonders if and when mankind will return to the Moon.
Cast
Apollo 13 crew: Tom Hanks as Commander Jim Lovell Bill Paxton as Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise Kevin Bacon as backup Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert Gary Sinise as prime Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly, who was grounded shortly before the mission
Other astronauts: Mark Wheeler as Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong Larry Williams as Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin David Andrews as Apollo 12 Commander Pete Conrad Ben Marley as Apollo 13 backup Commander John Young Brett Cullen as capsule communicator (CAPCOM) 1 "Andy" (a composite astronaut, based on Jack R. Lousma and William Pogue) Ned Vaughn as CAPCOM 2 (a composite astronaut)
NASA ground personnel: Ed Harris as White Team Flight Director Gene Kranz. Chris Ellis as Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton Joe Spano as NASA Director, a composite character loosely based on Manned Spacecraft Center director Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Marc McClure as Black Team Flight Director Glynn Lunney Clint Howard as White Team Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager (EECOM) Sy Liebergot Ray McKinnon as White Team Flight Dynamics Officer (FIDO) Jerry Bostick Todd Louiso as White Team Flight Activities Officer (FAO) Gabriel Jarret as White Team Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Systems Engineer (GNC) Andy Milder as White Team Guidance Officer (GUIDO) Jim Meskimen as White Team Telemetry, Electrical, EVA Mobility Unit Officer (TELMU) Loren Dean as EECOM Arthur, a composite character largely based on EECOM John Aaron Christian Clemenson as Flight Surgeon Dr. Charles Berry Carl Gabriel Yorke as SIM (Simulator) 1 Xander Berkeley as Henry Hurt, a fictional NASA Office of Public Affairs staff memberThe character in the film is a composite of protocol officer Bob McMurrey, who relayed the request for permission to erect a TV tower to Marilyn Lovell, and an unnamed OPA staffer who made the request on the phone, to whom she personally denied it as Quinlan did to "Henry" in the film. "Henry" is also seen performing other OPA functions, such as conducting a press conference. Endre Hules as Günter Wendt, pad leader Civilians: Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Gerlach Lovell, Jim's wife Jean Speegle Howard (Ron Howard's mother) as Blanche Lovell, Jim's mother Mary Kate Schellhardt as Barbara Lovell, Jim's older daughter Max Elliott Slade as James "Jay" Lovell, Jim's older son Emily Ann Lloyd as Susan Lovell, Jim's younger daughter Miko Hughes as Jeffrey Lovell, Jim's younger son Rance Howard (Ron Howard's father) as the Lovell family minister Tracy Reiner as Mary Haise, Fred's wife Michele Little as Jane Conrad
Cameos: Jim Lovell appears as Captain Leland Kirkemo of the recovery ship USS Iwo Jima; Howard had intended to make him an admiral, but Lovell himself, having retired as a captain, chose to appear in his actual rank (and wearing his own Navy uniform). Marilyn Lovell appears among the spectators during the launch sequence. Jeffrey Kluger appears as a television reporter. Horror film director Roger Corman, a mentor of Howard, appears as a congressman being given a VIP tour by Lovell of the Vehicle Assembly Building, as it had become something of a tradition for Corman to make a cameo appearance in his protégés' films. CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite appears in archive news footage and can be heard in newly recorded announcements, some of which he edited himself to sound more authentic. Cheryl Howard (Ron Howard's wife) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard's eldest daughter) as uncredited background performers in the scene where the astronauts wave goodbye to their families.
Production
Development The movie rights to Jim Lovell's book Lost Moon were being shopped to potential buyers before it was written. He stated that his first reaction was that Kevin Costner would be a good choice to play him.
Pre-production The original screenplay by William Broyles Jr. and Al Reinert was written with Costner in mind because of his facial similarities with Lovell. By the time Ron Howard acquired the director's position, Tom Hanks had expressed interest in doing a film based on Apollo 13. When Hanks' representative informed him that a script was being passed around he had it sent to him, and Costner's name never came up in serious discussion. Hanks was ultimately cast as Lovell because of his knowledge of Apollo and space history.
Because of his interest in aviation, John Travolta asked Howard for the role of Lovell, but was politely turned down, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Tommy Lee Jones were also considered for the role of Jim Lovell. John Cusack, Patrick Swayze, Joe Pesci and Rick Moranis were offered the role of Fred Haise but all turned it down, and the role went to Bill Paxton. Brad Pitt was offered the role of Jack Swigert but also turned it down in favor of Seven, so the role went to Kevin Bacon. Tom Cruise, Charlie Sheen and Michael J. Fox were also considered for the role of Swigert. Daniel Stern was the original choice to the role of Ken Mattingly but was busy filming Bushwhacked, Howard however was able to get Gary Sinise (who co-starred with Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump a year earlier) and asked if he would play any part and Sinise chose Mattingly. Kelsey Grammer and Christopher Lloyd were offered the role of Gene Kranz, but it ultimately went to Ed Harris.