Notes for Video – Apollo 13
Cast of Characters:
 Jim Lovell – Tom Hanks
 Fred Haise – Bill Paxton
 Ken Mattingly – Gary Sinese
 Jack Swigert – Kevin Bacon
 Gene Kranz – Ed Harris
 Marilyn Lovell – Kathleen Quinlan
1. Alan Shepard gets an ear infection so the crew of Apollo14 gets bumped up to the
Apollo 13 mission.
2. Jim’s wife Marilyn’s apprehension about Jim going on this mission.
- will they be ready in 6 months
- why #13
- her bad dream
- has many excuses as to why she can’t attend the launch
3. Jim’s new car stalls out 2 times. Occupants in the car next to him at red light taunt him
about being on the Apollo 13 mission.
4. Ken Mattingly is taken off the mission because he hasn’t had the measles and he has
been exposed to them.
5. Marilyn loses her wedding ring while showering before going to the launch.
6. Center engine #5 cuts off right after they jettison the main rocket booster. The glitch
for the mission!!!
7. Fred Haise gets sick right after liftoff.
8. After the TV broadcast, Jack stirs the oxygen tanks. An explosion occurs. Master
alarms start going off.
9. Jim sees that they are venting oxygen into space.
10. Oxygen level in command module is dropping. LEM becomes the life boat (designed
to hold two people not three).
11. Everything must be turned off in the LEM to save power. Need to power down to
just 12 AMPS in order to survive.
12. Ken Mattingly is brought in to figure out how to get the astronauts back.
13. Fred Haise is running a temperature of 103.
14. Alarm sounds - CO2 is building up in LEM. Must build filter using a square one from
the command module to fit into a round one on the LEM.
15. Fred and Jack argue. Jack is being blamed for the explosion by Fred.
16. They are off course and need to burn rockets to get them back on the right course.
17. Re-entry path is too shallow because they are not bringing back any moon rocks.
18. Finally see damage to service module. It goes right up to heat shield. Is the shield
damaged? Will they burn up during re-entry?
19. Will the parachutes open?
20. Black out lasts longer than the 3 minutes it usually takes.