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"Did Ron Howard exaggerate the drama of the reentry scene in the movie Apollo 13?

A little bit, maybe, but not much.

By Joe Pappalardo

History is sometimes a tricky thing. And when you mix history with Hollywood, the truth can become a casualty—even in cases where movies take pains to be accurate.

The 1995 film Apollo 13 has been praised for its accuracy, but many people still wonder if director Ron Howard played up the tension among the astronauts and inside mission control to heighten the movie’s emotional impact. Bill Parkinson, an attorney working for the U.S. Department of Justice in Dallas, is one of the wonderers. “Apollo 13 portrayed the capsule’s reentry as protracted beyond all expectations,” he writes. “As a teenage junkie for all things aeronautical, I followed that flight and seem to recall that the flight’s descent path was shallower than ideal, and that the blackout period was indeed much longer than it should have been. [But] I’m certain the movie embellished the scenario for dramatic effect. Can you help before I tear out what little is left of my hair when the movie is on?”

We turned to someone who should be able to give us the straight scoop: Apollo 13 flight director Gene Kranz, now retired in Texas. (For those who don’t know, Kranz was the well-dressed character in the film played by Ed Harris.)"
http://www.airspacemag.com/issues/2007/april-may/NEED-Apollo13.php

Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/