History Trivia / Apollo13

** [[Film/OhBrotherWhereArtThou Vernon]] can also be seen as an engineer.

** [[{{Bones}} Russ Brennan]] works through the CM power-up procedure with Lt. Dan.
** [[{{CSINY}} Mac Taylor]] was supposed to be on Apollo 13, but he ended up doing the reentry procedures. Or [[ForrestGump Lt. Dan]]. Take your pick.

* RealLifeRelative: Ron Howard's brother Clint, as usual in RonHoward movies. ("Gene, the ''Odyssey'' is dying.") Additionally, Howard's mother Jean plays Jim Lovell's mother Blanche, Howard's father Rance appears as the minister watching Apollo 13's splashdown from the Lovell house, and Howard's then fourteen-year-old daughter Bryce Dallas Howard is an extra in the scene in which the astronauts were visiting with family members and other well-wishers down the road from the launchpad on the night before liftoff.

** KevinCostner was considered to star as Jim Lovell, who the real Lovell considered a good physical match with him at that time.
** JohnCusack turned down the role of Fred Haise.

* It's thought that the order not to make any more waste dumps was a miscommunication:that NASA actually intended for them to hold off only for a long enough time to get some readings, not the entire rest of the mission.

** After Jack Swigert admitted to not filing his taxes before leaving for the Moon, Clint Howard ad-libbed his follow-up line, "That's no joke, they'll jump on him!"

* ThrowItIn: Fred Haise's line "I could eat the ass out of a dead rhinoceros" was suggested by Gary Busey, who was visiting the set during filming.

* In the movie, Hanks's Lovell says that Alan Shephard's ear infection flared up again. In reality, it was just the opposite. Shepard got surgery for his Meniere's disease, and it was cured. He petitioned Deke Slayton for a moon mission, and was assigned 13 along with Stu Roosa and Ed Mitchell. NASA rejected it, though, insisting that Lovell's crew take 13 and Shepard wait for 14 and get further training, due to Shepard having not even been in space since 1961.

* Aquarius's fuel cask was targeted so it would splash down somewhere in the Mariana Trench, one of the deepest ocean points on Earth, to avoid its radioactive fuel landing anywhere populated.

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: As noted on the main article page, NASA sparingly used 13 as a mission number since the accident. For NASA, a trope could be made for "January is Unlucky." The final flight of Space Shuttle Orbiter ''Columbia'', the ''Apollo 1'' fire and the loss of Orbiter ''Challenger'' all occurred on January 16, 27, 28 in 1967, 1986 and 2003.

* The first two moon crews were guaranteed later flights if their flights failed. 13 was the first one not to have that guarantee.

** [[TheAndyGriffithShow Leroy]] is all grown up and a NASA engineer now.

** It appears that the TV Guide Blanche Lovell is holding has ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' on the cover, way too new for the '70s.

* It's thought that the order not to make any more waste dumps was a miscommunication:that NASA actually intended for them to old off only for a long enough time to get some readings, not the entire rest of the mission.

* Although Fred Haise didn't fly in space again, he did fly the test space shuttle, Enterprise,during approach and landing tests. He later narrowly escaped dying when a vintage plane he was flying crashed and he was badly burned.

** It appears that the TV Guide Blanche Lovell is holding has BeavisAndButthead on the cover, way too new for the '70s.

* Although Fred Haise didn't fly in space again, he did fly the test space shuttle, Enterprise during approach and landing tests. He later narrowly escaped dying when a vintage plane he was flying crashed and he was badly burned.

* Initially, it wasn't immediately clear to Lovell that the loud bang was a real problem-Fred Haise had been repeatedly pranking the crew with the cabin re-pressurization valve, which made a loud bang itself. Lovell said he realized it wasn't Haise when he got a good look at his eyes a few seconds later.

* Aquarius's fuel cask was targeted so it would splash down somewhere in the Mariana Trench, one of the deepest ocean points on Earth, to avoid its radioactive fuel landing anywhere populated.

* {{Corpsing}}: The director told Hanks at one point during filming the TV broadcast/non-broadcast scene to do something to liven up the kid actors, as they were getting bored. He went back and started his lines about the space food again, then changed to a joke about a ''FreeWilly'' sandwich, playing on the actress who was the eldest Lovell daughter also having been in that franchise's second film.

* In the movie, Hanks's Lovell says that Alan Shephard's ear infection flared up again. In reality, it was just the opposite. Shepard got surgery for his Meniere's disease, and it was cured. He petitioned Deke Slayton for a moon mission, and was assigned 13 along with Stu Roosa and Ed Mitchell. NASA rejected it, though, insisting that Lovell's crew take 13 and Shepard wait for 14 and get further training, due to Shepard having not even been in space since 1961.

* At one point in the film, Fred Haise (played by Bill Paxton) wonders what the gender of his unborn child would be. It was a boy, Thomas J., born on July 6, 1970.