Word: lunar
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...pleased that critic Richard Corliss noted the attention to detail by the makers of Apollo 13 [CINEMA, July 3], but there were some errors in the review. The names given to the command and lunar modules of Apollo 13, Odyssey and Aquarius, were not, as the article implied, derived from the entertainment-industry products 2001: A Space Odyssey and Hair. Astronaut Jim Lovell's book clearly states the derivation of the names: Odyssey because Lovell "plain liked the ring of the word," and Aquarius from Egyptian mythology. Otherwise, the review was well written, and should bring throngs to movie theaters...
...movie follows the three-man crew of commander Jim Lovell, command module pilot Jack Swigert and lunar module pilot Fred Haise, as they struggle with a host of technical problems in their command module, Odyssey, after the initial explosion...
Having lost all the oxygen of the command module, the crew must resort to using the oxygen of the lunar module, which would have taken Lovell and Haise to the moon's surface. To conserve power after shutting down two fuel cells (in an attempt to stop the loss of oxygen), the crew is forced to suffer through near-freezing temperatures. And because their main engine is damaged, the astronauts are forced to use the engine of the lunar module's descent stage to maneuver back to earth...
...with their star-cruising stars. Jim Lovell's little TV show on the third night of the mission, intended for the whole country's viewing pleasure, was not carried by the networks; it was a rerun of a rerun. Fly me to the moon? Yawn--no thanks. A vicarious lunar trip was now no more exciting than a seaside vacation with the kids...
...right, then. Imagine a minivan towing a small boat to the beach. The minivan is Odyssey, Apollo 13's command module (named after the Stanley Kubrick film about a man lost and transformed in space); the boat is Aquarius, the lunar module (after the song from Hair, Broadway's hymn to hippie insurrection). Now imagine that, on a nowhere stretch of road, your van just about blows up. How do you get home...