Apollo 13: Survival – a 'real, rare and breathtaking tale of survival'
Netflix documentary includes 'remarkable' archival footage from near-disastrous moon mission
The story of the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13, a Nasa spacecraft bound for the moon, who managed to make it back to Earth in April 1970 is "nothing short of astounding", said Adrian Horton in The Guardian. Little wonder then that Netflix has chosen it as the subject of its latest documentary, "meticulously and sumptuously rendered through restored archival material".
Yes, we have watched the retelling of these events before, notably in the Oscar-winning film starring Tom Hanks in 1995, but "Apollo 13: Survival" reveals never-before-seen footage, interviews with the original team for the first time, plus access to the 7,000 hours of complete audio recordings.
That the three astronauts – Fred Haise, Jack Swigert and mission commander Jim Lovell – got home is shown here to be nothing short of a miracle. They spent four "harrowing, near-suffocating" days in a lunar module designed for two people and 45 hours with just a "few light bulbs' worth" of power after the explosion almost drained the spacecraft of oxygen and electrical power. In a triumph of understatement, this was the event that prompted Swigert to utter the phrase: "Houston, we've had a problem here."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Apollo 13: Survival" recounts the audacious rescue effort, coordinated from Nasa's control room in Houston 200,000 miles away. "Unprecedented and untested manoeuvres" were deployed to get the astronauts home, including "transferring flight data by hand to the 'lifeboat' module, catapulting off the moon's orbit, manually aiming an unpredictable rocket blast at the earth". Each of them was a last resort, "dicey and high-risk". Indeed, said The Irish Examiner's Esther McCarthy, "as Nasa's brightest sought solutions", news networks put the crew's chance of survival at 10%.
Aside from the series of scientific masterstrokes that brought the astronauts home, the director Peter Middleton wanted to focus on the "emotional heart of the film" and the "very real impact" of the unfolding crisis on the three astronauts and their families. To that end, the team reached out to the Lovell family, who shared their extensive personal archive with the team. The film is dedicated to Jim's wife, Marilyn, who died in 2023. The archival footage is "remarkable", added Horton in The Guardian, and includes crew recordings during two crucial engine bursts and photos of Marilyn reacting to each "hairs-breadth success on the news".
One of the most notable aspects of the story is the fact that "even in crisis the (almost entirely) men of Nasa are near-psychotically cool cucumbers, relaying stressful information as if reading Ikea furniture directions". Similarly, this latest retelling "avoids sensationalism, baiting or cheesy re-enactments". It is "a real, rare and breathtaking tale of survival and ingenuity, clearly and painstakingly told".
"Apollo 13: Survival" is available on Netflix
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
3 tips to lower your household bills
The Explainer Prices on everything from eggs to auto insurance to rent have increased — but there are ways to make your bills more manageable
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Crossword: November 11, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: November 11, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Juror #2: Clint Eastwood's 'cleverly constructed' courtroom drama is 'rock solid'
The Week Recommends Nicholas Hoult stars in 'morally complex' film about a juror on a high-profile murder case
By The Week UK Published
-
Explore a timeless corner of Spain by bike
The Week Recommends Take a 'dawdling route through the back-country' far from the tourism hotspots
By The Week UK Published
-
Movies to watch in November, including 'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II'
The Week Recommends A major musical adaptation, a Roman Empire sequel and a movie where Santa gets kidnapped
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Edmund de Waal on this year's Booker Prize shortlist
The Week Recommends The chair of judges details works by Rachel Kushner, Percival Everett and others
By The Week UK Published
-
Griddled salmon and vegetables with miso and melted butter recipe
The Week Recommends Hokkaido comfort food classic with a delicious twist
By The Week UK Published
-
Shattered: Hanif Kureishi's 'inspirational' memoir of accident that left him paralysed
The Week Recommends 'Exhilarating' book is composed of diary entries dictated to his son Carlo
By The Week UK Published
-
Small Things Like These: 'stylish' Irish drama 'casts a powerful spell'
The Week Recommends 'Stylish' drama starring Cillian Murphy as a devoted father
By The Week UK Published
-
Blitz: an 'odyssey through Britain at war'
The Week Recommends The 'excellent' Saoirse Ronan stars in this 'cracking' film
By The Week UK Published