Memorable quotes for
Apollo 13 (1995) More at IMDbPro »

[watching the Apollo 11 landing on TV]
Pete Conrad: Jim, you think it's too late for him to abort?
Jim Lovell: No, he still has time to get outta there, he just needs someone to wave him off.

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William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: When I go up there on 19, I'm gonna take my entire collection of Johnny Cash along!

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[Jim's daughter wants to go trick-or-treating as a hippie]
Barbara Lovell: Dad, can I please wear this?
Jim Lovell: Sure.
Marilyn Lovell: Jim!
Jim Lovell: No! No, absolutely not.

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Marilyn Lovell: Naturally, it's 13. Why 13?
Jim Lovell: It comes after 12, hon.

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Jim Lovell: Just a little while longer Freddo. Just a little while longer, we're gonna hit that water in the South Pacific. Open up that hatch. It's 80 degrees out there.
Fred Haise, Sr.: 80 degrees.

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Jack Swigert: So long, Earth. Catch you on the flip side.

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Marilyn Lovell: Blanche, Blanche, these nice young men are going to watch the television with you. This is Neil Armstrong, and this is Buzz... Aldrin.
Neil Armstrong: Hi.
Blanche Lovell: Are you boys in the space program too?

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NASA Director: This could be the worst disaster NASA's ever faced.
Gene Kranz: With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.

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Gene Kranz: Let's look at this thing from a... um, from a standpoint of status. What do we got on the spacecraft that's good?
[pause]
Sy Liebergot: I'll get back to you, Gene.

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Henry Hurt: I, uh, I have a request from the news people.
Marilyn Lovell: Uh-huh?
Henry Hurt: They're out front here. They want to put a transmitter up on the lawn.
Marilyn Lovell: Transmitter?
Henry Hurt: Kind of a tower, for live broadcast.
Marilyn Lovell: I thought they didn't care about this mission. They didn't even run Jim's show.
Henry Hurt: Well, it's more dramatic now. Suddenly people are...
Marilyn Lovell: Landing on the moon wasn't dramatic enough for them - why should NOT landing on it be?
Henry Hurt: Look, I, um, I realize how hard this is, Marilyn, but the whole world is caught up in this, it's historic-...
Marilyn Lovell: No, Henry! Those people don't put one piece of equipment on my lawn. If they have a problem with that, they can take it up with my husband. He'll be HOME... on FRIDAY!

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[On the night of the Apollo 11 landing]
Jim Lovell: Christopher Columbus, Charles Lindbergh, and Neil Armstrong. Ha, ha, ha. Neil Armstrong!

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Jim Lovell: From now on, we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. And it's not a miracle, we just decided to go.

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Jim Lovell: We just lost the moon.

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CAPCOM 2: 13, we just got another request from the Flight Surgeon for you to get some sleep. Don't like these readings down here.
Jim Lovell: [Tearing off his biomeds] Let's see how he likes this. I am sick and tired of the entire western world knowing how my kidneys are functioning!
Dr. Chuck: [after Lovell's heartrate flatlines] Flight, we just lost Lovell!
CAPCOM 2: 13, Houston. Jim, we just had a bottoming out on your biomeds.
Jim Lovell: I'm not wearing my biomeds.
CAPCOM 2: [after Gene Kranz shrugs it off] Ok, Jim. Copy that.
[Jack and Fred now tear away their own biomeds]
Dr. Chuck: [after all three crew members flatline] Flight, now I lost all three of them!
Gene Kranz: It's just a little medical mutiny, Doc. I'm sure the boys are still with us. Let's cut them a little slack, ok?

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Jack Swigert: [about to turn power back on in the capsule] Ken, there's an awful lot of condensation on these panels. What's the story of them shorting out?
Ken Mattingly: Umm... We'll just have to take that one at a time, Jack.
Jack Swigert: [to himself] Like trying to drive a toaster through a car wash.

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Marilyn Lovell: I can't deal with cleaning up. Let's sell the house.

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Jim Lovell: Houston, we have a problem.

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[as everyone is madly trying to identify the problem from instrument readings]
Jim Lovell: Houston, we are venting something out into space. I can see it outside window one right now. It's definitely a... a gas of some sort.
[pause]
Jim Lovell: It's got to be the oxygen.

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Jim Lovell: We just put Sir Isaac Newton in the driver's seat.

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Gene Kranz: EECOM, is this an instrumentation problem, or are we looking at real power loss here?
Sy Liebergot: It's, it's reading a quadruple failure - that can't happen! It's, it's got to be instrumentation.

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Gene Kranz: We've never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option.

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[US income tax returns are due in 2 days, but Swigert is 200,000 miles away]
Jack Swigert: Uh, well, if anyone from the, uh, from the IRS is watching, I... forgot to file my, my, my 1040 return. Um, I meant to do it today, but, uh...
Sy Liebergot: [back at Mission Control] That's no joke. They'll jump on him!

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[as they pass over the lunar surface]
Fred Haise, Sr.: Mare Tranquilitatis - Neil and Buzz's old neighborhood. Coming up on Mount Marilyn. Jim, you've got to take a look at this.
Jim Lovell: I've seen it.

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Gene Kranz: Let's work the problem people. Let's not make things worse by guessing.

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Blanche Lovell: Are you scared?
Susan Lovell: [nods]
Blanche Lovell: Don't you worry. If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmy could land it.

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Gene Kranz: I don't care about what anything was DESIGNED to do, I care about what it CAN do.

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Jack Swigert: I've been going over the numbers again. Have they called up with a re-entry plan yet? 'Cause we're coming in too shallow, we're coming in too damn fast.
Jim Lovell: We're working on something, Jack, just hold on.
Jack Swigert: Listen, listen, they gave us too much delta vee, they had us burn too long. At this rate, we're going to skip right out of the atmosphere and we're never going to get home.
Fred Haise, Sr.: What are you talking about? How'd you figure that?
Jack Swigert: I can add.
Jim Lovell: Jack, they've got half the Ph.D.'s on the planet working on it.
Fred Haise, Sr.: Houston says we're right on the money.
Jack Swigert: And what if they had made a mistake, all right? And there was no way to reverse it, you think they would tell us? There's no reason for them to tell us!
Fred Haise, Sr.: What do you mean they're not going to tell us? That's bullshit!
Jim Lovell: All right, there's a thousand things that have to happen in order. We are on number eight. You're talking about number six hundred and ninety-two.
Jack Swigert: And in the meantime, I'm trying to tell you we're coming in too fast. I think they know it, and I think that's why we don't have a God-damned reentry plan.
Jim Lovell: That's duly noted, thank you Jack.

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Controller #1: Is it A.M. or P.M.?
Controller #2: A.M. Very, very A.M.

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Jim Lovell: Ah, Guenter Wendt! I wonder where Guenter Wendt?

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[Jim Lovell is told that Ken Mattingly will be too sick to fly]
Jim Lovell: I've trained for the Fra Mauro highlands... and this is FLIGHT SURGEON HORSESHIT, Deke!
Deke Slayton: Jim, if you hold out for Ken, you will not be on Apollo 13. It's your decision.

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Sy Liebergot: Flight... I recommend we shut down reactant valves to the fuel cells.
Gene Kranz: What the hell good is that gonna do?
Sy Liebergot: If that's where the leak is, we can isolate it. We can save what's left in the tanks and we can run on the good cell.
Gene Kranz: You close 'em, you can't open 'em again! You can't land on the moon with one healthy fuel cell!
Sy Liebergot: Gene, the Odyssey is *dying*. From my chair here, this is the last option.

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[Taken off the crew for a viral infection]
Ken Mattingly: Well, I... damn. Medical guys. I had a feeling when they started doing all the blood tests that I... I mean I know it's their asses if I get sick up there but I mean JESUS!

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Patty: How do you go to the bathroom in space?
Jim Lovell: Well, um... I tell you it's a very complicated procedure that involves cranking down the window and looking for a gas station.

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R.E.T.R.O. White: Flight, we are looking at a typhoon warning on the edge of the prime recovery zone.
Gene Kranz: Say again, RETRO?
R.E.T.R.O. White: Flight, we are looking at a typhoon warning on the edge of the prime recovery zone. Now, this is just a warning, it could miss them...
Gene Kranz: Yeah, only if their luck changes.

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Jim Lovell: Uh, Houston, we are ready for the beginning of PTC, and I think once we're in that barbecue roll, Jack and I will eat.
Fred Haise, Sr.: Hey, I'm hungry.
Jim Lovell: Are you sure?
Fred Haise, Sr.: I could eat the ass out of a dead rhinoceros.

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Reporter: So... the number 13 doesn't bother you?
Fred Haise, Sr.: Only if it's a Friday, Phil.
Reporter: Apollo 13 - lifting off at 1300 hours and 13 minutes, and, entering the moon's gravity on April 13th.
Jim Lovell: Uh, Ken Mattingly has been doing some... scientific experiments regarding that very phenomenon, haven't you?
Ken Mattingly: Well, uh, yes, well I uh, had a black cat walk over a broken mirror under the lunar module ladder, didn't seem to be a problem.
Fred Haise, Sr.: We also consider a real helpful letter we got from a fellow who said we ought to take a pig up with us for good luck.

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[Swigert has just successfully powered up the Command Module]
Jack Swigert: Uplink completed. We got her back up, Ken. Boy, I wish you were here to see it.
Ken Mattingly: I'll bet you do.

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[Several technicians dump boxes containing the same equipment and tools that the astronauts have with them onto a table]
Technician: We've got to find a way to make this
[square CSM LiOH canister]
Technician: fit into the hole for this
[round LEM canister]
Technician: ... using nothing but that.

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Jim Lovell: Gentlemen, it's been a privilege flying with you.

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Marilyn Lovell: Jeffrey?
Jeffrey Lovell: Why are so many people here?
Marilyn Lovell: Well, you know, your dad's flying his mission.
Jeffrey Lovell: He said he was going to get me a moon rock.
Marilyn Lovell: Right. Well, something broke on your daddy's spaceship. And he's going to have to turn around before he even gets to the moon.
Jeffrey Lovell: Was it the door?

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Gene Kranz: Lunar module has just become a lifeboat.

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Jim Lovell: Gentlemen, what are your intentions?
[Jack Swigert and Fred Haise turn around and stare at Lovell]
Jim Lovell: I'd like to go home.

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Ken Mattingly: 13, this is Houston, do you read?
Jim Lovell: Roger that, Ken. Are the flowers blooming in Houston?
Ken Mattingly: That's a negative, Jim. I do not have the measles.
[stares at the flight surgeon]

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Technician: How much power have we got to work with?
John Aaron, EECOM Arthur: Barely enough to run this coffee pot for nine hours.

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Television Reporter: Is there a specific instance in an airplane emergency when you can recall fear?
Jim Lovell: Uh well, I'll tell ya, I remember this one time - I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there's no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shrangri-La, and we were in the Sea of Japan and my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone... because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. And so it was - it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean. And I, I look down there, and then in the darkness there's this uh, there's this green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. And it was the algae, right? It was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was - it was - it was leading me home. You know? If my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So uh, you, uh, never know... what... what events are to transpire to get you home.

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Fred Haise: It hurts when I urinate.
Jim Lovell: Well, you're not getting enough water.
Fred Haise: No, I'm drinkin' my rations, same as you... I think old Swigert gave me the clap. Been pissin' in my relief tube.
Jim Lovell: Well, that'd be a hot one at the debriefing for the flight surgeons... Another first for America's spacemen.

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[the crew has been "killed" in a simulator accident]
Jim Lovell: Well... if I had a dollar for every time they've killed me in this thing, I wouldn't have to work for you, Deke... Well, we have two days, we'll be ready. Let's do it again.

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Jim Lovell: Freddo, how long does it take to power up the LEM?
Fred Haise, Sr.: Three hours by the checklist.
Jim Lovell: We don't have that much time.

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FIDO Gold: Looks like Mrs. Kranz pulled out the ol' needle and thread again...
Technician: Last one looked like he bought it off a gypsy.
FIDO Gold: Well I guess you can't argue with tradition.
Technician: [Gene puts on a flight vest with an Apollo 13 patch on it, everyone begins applauding] Hey Gene, I guess we can go now!
Gene Kranz: Save it for splashdown fellas...

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Jim Lovell: [after the center engine cuts out shortly after takeoff] Looks like we've had our glitch for this mission.

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Marilyn Lovell: [none of the TV networks are showing Apollo 13's TV broadcast] Do they know they're not on the air?
Henry Hurt: We'll tell them when they get back.

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Jack Swigert: [Swigert bumps his head on the ceiling of the crowded lunar module] Oww! Goddamn this piece of shit!
Fred Haise, Sr.: Hey! this piece of shit's going to get you home! That's 'cause that's the only thing we've got left, Jack.
Jack Swigert: Well, what are you saying, Fred?
Fred Haise, Sr.: Oh, I think you know what I'm saying...
Jack Swigert: Now wait a minute... all I did was stir those tanks...
Fred Haise, Sr.: What was that gauge reading before you hit the switch?
Jack Swigert: Hey, don't tell me how to fly the damned CM, all right? They brought me in here to do a job, they asked me to stir the damned tanks, and I stirred the tanks!
Fred Haise, Sr.: You didn't know what you were doing, do you?
Jim Lovell: Jack, quit kicking yourself in the ass.
Jack Swigert: This is NOT MY FAULT!
Jim Lovell: No one is saying it is. If I'm in the left-hand seat when the call comes up, *I* stir the tanks.
Jack Swigert: Yeah, well, tell *him* that.
Fred Haise, Sr.: I just asked you what the gauge was reading. AND YOU DON'T KNOW!
Jim Lovell: All right, we're not doing this, gentlemen. We are *not* going to do this. We're not going to go bouncing off the walls for ten minutes, 'cause we're just going to end up back here with the same problems! Try to figure out how to stay alive!

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[after a dispute has broken out between Haise and Swigert]
Jim Lovell: All right, we're not doing this, gentlemen. We are *not* doing this. We're not going to go bouncing off the walls for ten minutes, 'cause we're just going to end up back here with the same problems! Try to figure out how to stay alive!
William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: [over communications mic] Aquarius, this is Houston.
Jim Lovell: [shouts] Are we on Vox?
Fred Haise, Sr.: No, we're not on Vox.
[Lovell turns on his mic]
Jim Lovell: [calmly] Yeah, Houston, this is Aquarius.

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Fred Haise, Sr.: I know why my numbers were wrong. I only figured it for two people.
Jack Swigert: Maybe I should just hold my breath.

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Congressman: Now Jim, people in my state keep asking why we're continuing to fund this program now that we've beaten the Russians to the Moon.
Jim Lovell: Imagine if Christopher Columbus had come back from the New World and no one returned in his footsteps.

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Deke Slayton: Jim, we've got a problem. I got some blood work back from the lab. Charley Duke has the measles.
Jim Lovell: [Unconcerned] So we need a new back-up.
Deke Slayton: You've all been exposed to it.
Jim Lovell: Oh, I've had the measles.
Deke Slayton: Ken Mattingly hasn't.

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[last lines]
Jim Lovell: [narrating] Our mission was called "a successful failure," in that we returned safely but never made it to the Moon. In the following months, it was determined that a damaged coil built inside the oxygen tank sparked during our cryo stir and caused the explosion that crippled the Odyssey. It was a minor defect that occured two years before I was even named the flight's commander. Fred Haise was going back to the moon on Apollo 18, but his mission was cancelled because of budget cuts; he never flew in space again. Nor did Jack Swigert, who left the astronaut corps and was elected to Congress from the state of Colorado. But he died of cancer before he was able to take office. Ken Mattingly orbited the moon as Command Module Pilot of Apollo 16, and flew the Space Shuttle, having never gotten the measles. Gene Kranz retired as Director of Flight Operations just not long ago. And many other members of Mission Control have gone on to other things, but some are still there. As for me, the seven extraordinary days of Apollo 13 were my last in space. I watched other men walk on the Moon, and return safely, all from the confines of Mission Control and our house in Houston. I sometimes catch myself looking up at the Moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the Moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?

---

Jeffrey Lovell: Dad, did you know the astronauts in the fire?
Jim Lovell: [pause] Yeah, I knew them. Knew all of them.
Jeffrey Lovell: Could that happen again?
Jim Lovell: Well I'll tell you something about that fire, a lot of things went wrong. The door, called the hatch? They couldn't get it open when they needed to get out, that was one thing. Well, a lot of things went wrong.
Jeffrey Lovell: Did they fix it?
Jim Lovell: Oh absolutely they fixed it. It's not a problem anymore.

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Jim Lovell: Houston. We're getting our first look at the service module now. One whole side of the spacecraft is missing. Right by the high gain antennae a whole panel is blown out, right up. Right up to our heat shield.

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Deke Slayton: [as Swigert is piloting the command module for docking] Come on Rookie, park that thing!

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Marilyn Lovell: [Jim is standing outside, looking up at the moon, covering and uncovering it with his thumb. Marilyn comes out with a garbage bag] You're drunk, Lovell.
Jim Lovell: Yeah, I'm not used to the champagne.
Marilyn Lovell: Me neither...
[She picks at a few glasses on a table, then drops the bag in exasperation]
Marilyn Lovell: I can't deal with cleaning up, let's sell the house.
Jim Lovell: All right, we'll sell the house.
[Still looking up at the moon]
Jim Lovell: They're back inside now. Looking up at us. Isn't that something?
Marilyn Lovell: [Settles into a lawn chair] I'll bet Jenny Armstrong doesn't get a wink of sleep tonight. When you were on the far side on 8, I didn't sleep at all. I just vacuumed over and over again.

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Marilyn Lovell: [Barbara has locked herself in her room] Barbara!
[Knocks on the door]
Marilyn Lovell: Barbara, we're going to hear your father's broadcast!
Barbara Lovell: No! I'm never coming out! I hate Paul! None of us are ever going to play another one of their records again!
Susan Lovell: She's still going on about the stupid Beatles breaking up?
Barbara Lovell: They're not stupid, *You're* stupid!

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