" This mission will be known as America's most successful, failure "

Rating: 9/10 (3 March 2011)

It is 1970 and the U. S. is used to the fact, America's space program is brilliantly successful and it's space trips to the Moon have become routine. However, just when the U.S. becomes complacent about it's achievements, disaster strikes. According to the book written by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger, a faulty circuit built into the wiring aboard their space vehicle two years before their scheduled trip, a problem was waiting to endanger their mission. Ron Howard the gifted actor/director creates a real-life historical drama with this film called " Apollo 13. " Nearly a quarter of a million miles into space, the astronauts Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and rookie Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) experience a major explosion aboard this space craft and within minutes realize they may not only not reach the moon, but are in danger of dying before they get there. Their only hope is that the ground team at the Huston Space center can somehow discover a way to help them get home. Despite the fact there are several special teams who help the astronauts' convert their landing craft to become a life-line, none of it would have mattered had it not been for Astronaut Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise). His expertise and computer knowledge is incredible and one applause's his tireless efforts. The film itself is a tribute to the courage and fortitude of the families and their daunting task of trying not to show their fear in front of a plethora of newsmen, media correspondences and T.V. reporters who lay siege to their homes. The movie is exciting and sympathetically poignant as the audience joins the three men in a life and death struggle. This movie is a triumph not only for the actors, the director, but also for the space program which endures to this day as America's finest. ****