The Launch | Apollo 13 | Screen Bites

I wrote Jim Lovell a letter about a month ago and sent a DVD along with it asking if he'd sign it. He's 94 now and, according to a forum I read, he quit signing things through the mail so I didn't really expect anything back. I was shocked and sooooo happy when I checked my mailbox yesterday and saw that he had signed it and sent it back to me. I already loved this movie but now it's amplified even further!

The movie was 25 years after the events. We're now 26 years since the movie.... mindblowing

Ed Harris is incredible in this movie, he's very convincing as the guy in charge of the people in the NASA room and that look of fear and worry on his face when things start to go wrong for the crew, amazing acting!

In 2004 a friend of a friend who was a big shot at NASA gave us a tour of the Houston space center. Not the normal tour; a special tour. We’re in the Apollo command center and he takes us down a little hall off to the right and stops at a door. He tells us when he opens the door we are not to set foot inside. He pulls out a key and opens the door and I’m looking at a little room with a couple of tables covered in old blueprints. Coffee mugs with evaporated, mummified coffee are laying around. Everything is covered in dust. I asked what we were looking at. He said, “This is where they saved Apollo 13. After splash down they locked the door and nobody has stepped foot inside, since.” They preserve it as a shrine to NASA engineering.

When his wife started crying , always gives me chills. I can almost feel her emotions.

An absolutely thrilling sequence. Masterful editing, sound mixing, and visual effects. RIP James Horner. His incredible music drove this scene.

This movie is an absolute masterpiece. Timeless. They simply do not make movies like this anymore.

For some reason the bit that gives me chills is when Hanks says "the clock is running!" Its just how he says it, with almost childlike glee.

This scene really captures the power of the Saturn V rocket. What a machine that was.

3:37 I love that shot of the Saturn V as it soars into the upper atmosphere and the vocals from the James Horner score.

Funny thing is, the engine failure wasnt even recognized as a failure by the crew at that time. Number 5 is supposed to shut down earlier (to reduce the G-load a bit). They noticed it and reported it like they were supposed to, and only in orbit were like: "wait, that was way too early." Ground Control of course noticed. After all not too big of a problem. Apollo 6 lost 2 engines and still soldiered on into orbit.

2:43 This moment right here. With that beautiful music and the rocket taking off... will always give me goosebumps and wet eyes. Perfectly done scene and movie.

Man, I watch this terrific scene and I notice Bill Paxton's reactions. This guy was in so many successful, iconic films and now he is gone. But because of the films he chose to appear in, he will be remembered for as long as people enjoy watching them. What a terrific character actor he was.

God it must have been simply amazing to watch a Saturn V launch in person.

Not a single Rocketdyne F-1 Rocket Engine ever failed in an operational launch. the design by Wernher Von Braun and the engineering done was absolutely flawless. And they had pencils and paper to do the math on it all. Truly remarkable people

James Horner...wow what a composer. Rest in Piece you genious

"Looks like we had our glitch for this mission." Oh, you wish that was your "glitch" for this mission.

I don't mind admitting that the crescendo of this scene brings tears to my eyes every single time.

This is the movie that should have cleaned up at the Oscars. AN incredible story told incredibly well with so many stand out performances by excellent actors. and by the way seeing the Saturn V launching from the pad is a truly majestic sight The scene at the end of the movie showing the capusle reentry - flame and smoke and everything else- is just as gripping.

The thing that always gets me about this scene is the intensity of the launch in the later stages when they jettison the tower jet into the engine 5 cutoff. The intensity of the moment and the calm teamwork between the astronauts and the flight controllers on the ground is so subtly inspiring to me. What a masterpiece this movie was.