I realize Apollo 13 isn’t the most accurate account of those events, not as good as Jim Lovell’s version, Lost Moon. But I like the sense of mission that permeates the story, of single-minded commitment, intent on one simple goal: walking on the moon. Thou
sands of people were involved, and each had a specific part, a certain role to perform in the process, the journey to the moon and back.
We Just Lost The Moon
Of course, a problem arose, a seemingly insurmountable catastrophe that made a moon walk impossible, and those same thousands of people scrambled to achieve the new mission: returning safely to Earth. Individually and collectively heroic, they overcame many obstacles, some never even imagined, which required new thinking, new activity. The single catastrophe became a series of predicaments that had to be solved one by one.
Gentlemen, What Are Your Intentions?
Tom Hanks (Lovell) tells the crew, “I’d like to go home,” and he gives a list of what must be done by them to take responsibility for their own safety: one more course correction burn, a contingency plan in case they lost radio contact with Houston, conserving consumables, storing water so it would not freeze. Everything else, all other efforts, became subject to that, for the crew and everyone at NASA. All personalities, all opinions, all emotions, all activity became focused on getting the boys home.
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