A great movie that portrays how great NASA used to be

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 1999)

Apollo 13 shows how well structured NASA was during the Apollo program of the '60s and '70s. The administrators, flight directors, and mission control crew were capable of making quick decisions and therefore were able save the lives of the crew 200,000 miles from the earth. I believe the most important moment is when Lovell wonders when we will go back to the moon. After the Apollo program NASA started to lose public interest while overlooking major design flaws in its spacecraft (which led to the Challenger disaster). Only recently has the public started to take interest again with the Mars Pathfinder and John Glenn's return to space. Apollo 13 shows us how NASA worked then, and insight on how it can work in the future.
The acting was great particularly by Hanks who in real life has a deep interest in the space program. The character of Deke Slayton (my favorite astronaut!) was well played, except for the fact that he should have had a Wisconsin accent. Deke is portrayed as someone who knew how to lay down the law, but at the same time he truly cared about the astronauts who worked for him.