Apollo 13

We all take for granted the media we surround ourselves with today: the Internet, cell phones, GPS, wireless and mobile computing, satellite TV. Blogs. The space program pioneered all that. So, last night I was flipping channels, not even thinking of the remote control in my hand, when I came across the movie “Apollo 13,” the one starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard. I’ve only seen it once before, and last night it was already several minutes into the show. Didn’t really make much of an impact on me when the movie first came out in 1995. Maybe because I experienced it first hand when it was frontline news, as it happened, back in April of 1970. What could a movie do to improve on a near-tragedy?

A child of the 60s, I grew up following the space program. I was too young to remember the Mercury program, vaguely conscious of the Gemini program, but extremely interested – and hooked! – in the Apollo program, the moon landings. I distinctly recall the first moon landing of Apollo 11, watching the blurry black and white images on the TV screen. Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were the first of only twelve men to walk on the moon, a celestial body outside of Planet Earth. I recall thinking I couldn’t see anything but a white structure, a black background and a fuzzy figure making an appearance on the screen. Like most people Apollo 11 got my attention, Apollo 12 barely got a nod from me, and Apollo 13… were we sending yet another moon landing?

But back to the movie…I marvel at, not only how mankind was able to land on the moon and return safely home, but how the catastrophe of Apollo 13 brought the world together, even if for a few days of peace, and how the personnel at NASA were able to bring our astronauts back. Stranded in space, oxygen supply running low, breathing in their own carbon dioxide fumes, several days away from re-entry and living in the cramped Lunar Module that was designed for two astronauts, not three, and rely on it to be your primary transport…and far away from home. But they did it, they came home. I enjoyed the movie. Brought me back to those seemingly far, but never-forgotten days of childhood. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from life is to never take anything for granted.