What's the Difference between Lost Moon the Book and Apollo 13 the Movie?
| In the Book |
In the Movie |
James Lovell
|
James Lovell
Portrayed by: Tom Hanks
|
Jack Swigert
|
Jack Swigert
Portrayed by: Kevin Bacon
|
Fred Haise
|
Fred Haise
Portrayed by: Bill Paxton
|
Ken Mattingly
|
Ken Mattingly
Portrayed by: Gary Sinise
|
Gene Krantz
|
Gene Krantz
Portrayed by: Ed Harris
|
| In the Book |
In the Movie |
|
The crew and management were not concerned about Swigert's flying ability. |
A NASA official is shown being concerned about Swigert's ability to dock the LM with the CM after leaving Earth orbit. |
|
The Grumman Company (maker of the Lunar Module) and their employees were extremely eager provide any assistance to Houston while the Command Module was powered down and the LM was used as a lifeboat. |
An unnamed Grumman engineer is shown as pessimistic and reluctant to help.
|
|
Prior to the CM re-entry, a Grumman Aircraft (LEM contractor) invoice for battery charging, oxygen, personal accommodation and towing was passed around mission control with the intention of presenting it to McDonnell Douglas (the CM contractor) as a joke after the safe arrival of Apollo 13. The bill came to about $417,000. See it here; http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/space-centers/kennedy-space-center/the-apollo-13-invoice/ |
This does not happen. |
|
The book has much more detail on the Apollo 1 fire and the Apollo 8 flight such as the reading from the book of Genesis and Lovell's naming of Mount Marilyn (later named Montes Secchi by the IAU). |
The movie barely touches upon Apollo 8.
|
|
The helium burst disk was expected to burst. A battery explosion also happened. |
The helium disk is shown bursting unexpectedly, the battery explosion is not shown. |