WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.480 Quote, Houston, we have a problem, unquote. It 00:00:03.480 --> 00:00:06.120 is, without a doubt, the most famous sentence 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.539 ever spoken in space. Oh, absolutely. It's the 00:00:08.539 --> 00:00:10.759 ultimate catchphrase. Like, you burn the toast 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:13.099 in the morning, you say, Houston, we have a problem. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:15.779 Your Wi -Fi goes down during a Zoom call. Exactly. 00:00:16.019 --> 00:00:18.879 It is this universal shorthand for, you know, 00:00:18.940 --> 00:00:21.300 something has gone terribly wrong and I need 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:24.780 help right now. It's calm, it's cool, and instantly 00:00:24.780 --> 00:00:28.949 recognizable. It is incredibly iconic. It's totally 00:00:28.949 --> 00:00:32.630 universal. And if we are being strictly accurate 00:00:32.630 --> 00:00:34.869 about the history here, it is also a complete 00:00:34.869 --> 00:00:37.140 fabrication. See, I had a feeling you were going 00:00:37.140 --> 00:00:39.700 to say that. I set up this dramatic intro. I'm 00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:42.060 channeling my inner Tom Hanks over here. And 00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:44.380 you immediately come in with a red pen to mark 00:00:44.380 --> 00:00:46.380 up the script. I have to. I mean, this is one 00:00:46.380 --> 00:00:48.560 of those fascinating instances where our collective 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:50.579 memory, the things that you and I and everyone 00:00:50.579 --> 00:00:52.920 listening think we know about history, it's been 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:56.039 entirely overwritten by pop culture. Overwritten 00:00:56.039 --> 00:00:59.100 how? That phrase, exactly the way you just said 00:00:59.100 --> 00:01:00.979 it, it was actually never spoken during the Apollo 00:01:00.979 --> 00:01:04.019 13 mission. Not even once. Okay, let's unpack 00:01:04.019 --> 00:01:06.420 this. Because we are going on a deep dive today. 00:01:06.579 --> 00:01:09.000 And I can hear the voice in my head. I can literally 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:11.379 see the movie scene. It is just so ingrained 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:15.069 in our culture. What are you telling me? Is this 00:01:15.069 --> 00:01:17.930 some sort of Mandela effect situation? Or did 00:01:17.930 --> 00:01:20.810 Hollywood just pull a fast one on all of us? 00:01:20.909 --> 00:01:24.069 It's a little bit of both, but mostly it's Hollywood. 00:01:24.170 --> 00:01:27.109 The astronauts on board the Odyssey Command Module 00:01:27.109 --> 00:01:29.810 back in... April of 1970, they said something 00:01:29.810 --> 00:01:32.230 different. And the difference, while it might 00:01:32.230 --> 00:01:34.409 just seem like a minor grammar nitpick at first 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:37.549 glance, it actually changes the entire psychological 00:01:37.549 --> 00:01:40.609 context of that specific moment in space. All 00:01:40.609 --> 00:01:43.810 right. I am fully ready for this. Let's do a 00:01:43.810 --> 00:01:46.640 forensic audit. One of the most famous moments 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:48.760 in spaceflight history. Let's do it. We got the 00:01:48.760 --> 00:01:50.379 actual flight journals today. We have the movie 00:01:50.379 --> 00:01:52.519 script to look at. And perhaps most importantly, 00:01:52.620 --> 00:01:55.219 we have the actual technical specs of the ship 00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:58.079 itself. Yeah. Because I really want to understand 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.700 not just what they actually said, but why they 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:03.280 said it that particular way. Right. Well, to 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.560 do that, we really have to set the scene for 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:07.659 you. And the scene wasn't exactly what you might 00:02:07.659 --> 00:02:10.819 expect it to be. What do you mean? Well, if I 00:02:10.819 --> 00:02:13.000 asked you to describe the general mood on Apollo 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.659 13 right before the accident happened, what would 00:02:15.659 --> 00:02:20.280 you say? Tension. High stakes. I mean, they are 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:22.840 flying through the void of space to the moon. 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:26.080 Actually, it was extreme boredom. Boredom. You're 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:27.979 kidding. No, extreme boredom. You have to remember 00:02:27.979 --> 00:02:30.439 the context of the era. This was the third lunar 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.319 landing attempt. Apollo 11 was the huge one. 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:36.139 Right. Neil Armstrong. Giant leap for mankind. 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:39.280 Exactly. And then Apollo 12 proved they could 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:42.159 do it again, but with pinpoint precision. So 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:45.539 by the time Apollo 13 came around in 1970, the 00:02:45.539 --> 00:02:48.080 American public had largely just lost interest. 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:51.000 Wow. Yeah, the major television networks didn't 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:54.180 even air the crew's primetime broadcasts. Ouch. 00:02:54.539 --> 00:02:57.080 That is, imagine broadcasting live from deep 00:02:57.080 --> 00:02:59.719 space and you get... Preempted by a rerun of 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:01.819 I Love Lucy or something. That is basically what 00:03:01.819 --> 00:03:03.360 happened. Marilyn Lovell, who was the mission 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:05.080 commander's wife, she was actually sitting in 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:07.539 the VIP viewing room down at Mission Control, 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.840 and they couldn't even find the live broadcast 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:12.099 on the monitors in there. You're joking. I'm 00:03:12.099 --> 00:03:14.719 not. The vice president at the time, Spiro Agnew, 00:03:14.840 --> 00:03:17.819 had just left the room. The control room itself 00:03:17.819 --> 00:03:20.759 was running on a skeleton crew. For all intents 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:23.219 and purposes, this was considered a totally routine 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:25.520 flight. Which is usually exactly when things 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:27.879 go horribly wrong in the movies. And in real 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:30.099 life, as it turns out. So let's look at the timeline. 00:03:30.340 --> 00:03:33.240 We are exactly 55 hours into the mission. They 00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:36.139 are roughly 200 ,000 miles away from Earth. Okay. 00:03:36.219 --> 00:03:38.300 They've just finished that television broadcast 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:41.479 that practically nobody watched. And mission 00:03:41.479 --> 00:03:44.800 control radios up and asks them to do a routine 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:48.009 quote -unquote cruise. A cryo -ster. A cryo -ster, 00:03:48.150 --> 00:03:50.490 which honestly sounds like a fancy cocktail. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:53.039 I wish it was a cocktail. It's actually a vital 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:55.020 maintenance procedure for the ship's cryogenics. 00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:58.199 They had these massive tanks of liquid hydrogen 00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:00.919 and liquid oxygen on board. Right. And to keep 00:04:00.919 --> 00:04:03.159 the quantity readings accurate, they periodically 00:04:03.159 --> 00:04:05.699 had to turn on these internal fans inside the 00:04:05.699 --> 00:04:09.039 tanks to mix up the super cold slush. Otherwise, 00:04:09.219 --> 00:04:11.740 the liquid stratifies and the sensors give bad 00:04:11.740 --> 00:04:13.439 readings. Okay, so they're just stirring the 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:15.900 oxygen tank. That sounds incredibly routine. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:19.279 It was completely supposed to be. So Jack Swigert, 00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:22.040 who is the command... module pilot he floats 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.000 over and flips the switch for the fans in oxygen 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.920 tank number two and moments later the bang a 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:32.639 massive bang the entire ship violently shudders 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:34.860 now before we get to what they actually said 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:36.959 on the radio i really want to understand what 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:39.279 happened physically in that moment because if 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:42.180 you watch the 1995 movie it looks like a bomb 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:45.399 went off inside the ship a bomb effectively did 00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:47.819 go off. And this is where the engineering history 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:51.139 gets incredibly tragic. Yeah, it turns out this 00:04:51.139 --> 00:04:53.860 specific oxygen tank had been dropped slightly 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:57.040 during its factory installation years prior. 00:04:57.930 --> 00:04:59.910 Just dropped. Dropped just a couple of inches, 00:05:00.069 --> 00:05:03.550 but it damaged a drain tube. So to fix a draining 00:05:03.550 --> 00:05:06.189 issue during a ground test just weeks before 00:05:06.189 --> 00:05:08.569 the actual launch, the ground crew had turned 00:05:08.569 --> 00:05:10.949 on the internal heaters in that tank for a really 00:05:10.949 --> 00:05:13.829 long period to just boil off the excess oxygen. 00:05:14.069 --> 00:05:15.370 Okay, that seems like a standard workaround. 00:05:15.490 --> 00:05:18.629 It would have been, except for one tiny fatal 00:05:18.629 --> 00:05:22.370 detail. The thermostat switches inside the tank. 00:05:22.970 --> 00:05:25.170 were rated for the command module's standard 00:05:25.170 --> 00:05:29.029 28 -volt DC power. Right. But during this specific 00:05:29.029 --> 00:05:31.509 ground test, they were plugged into the launch 00:05:31.509 --> 00:05:34.790 pad's 65 -volt power supply. Oh, no, I see exactly 00:05:34.790 --> 00:05:36.470 where this is going. An electrical overload. 00:05:36.790 --> 00:05:38.810 A massive overload. The switches essentially 00:05:38.810 --> 00:05:41.410 welded shut. They failed to click off when the 00:05:41.410 --> 00:05:43.889 heater got too hot, so the temperature inside 00:05:43.889 --> 00:05:47.029 the tank unknowingly spiked to over 1 ,000 degrees 00:05:47.029 --> 00:05:49.930 Fahrenheit. 1 ,000 degrees? Inside an oxygen 00:05:49.930 --> 00:05:52.569 tank? Yes. It literally melted the tank. Teflon 00:05:52.569 --> 00:05:55.069 insulation right off the electrical wires inside 00:05:55.069 --> 00:05:57.589 the tank. So for the entire flight up to that 00:05:57.589 --> 00:06:01.050 point, for 55 solid hours in space, they were 00:06:01.050 --> 00:06:03.889 flying around with bare exposed wires sitting 00:06:03.889 --> 00:06:06.529 inside a pressurized tank of pure liquid oxygen. 00:06:06.870 --> 00:06:09.470 Exactly. It was a literal bomb just waiting for 00:06:09.470 --> 00:06:11.829 a single spark. And when Swigert flipped that 00:06:11.829 --> 00:06:13.889 fan switch to do the routine stir at 55 hours 00:06:13.889 --> 00:06:16.589 in, the exposed wires shorted out and the spark 00:06:16.589 --> 00:06:19.990 jumped. And boom. Boom. The resulting overpressure 00:06:19.990 --> 00:06:22.740 blew the entire side. panel off the service module. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.519 It physically severed the plumbing lines to the 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:29.360 other oxygen tank. It was a catastrophic structural 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:32.740 failure. So there is utter chaos on the ship. 00:06:32.939 --> 00:06:34.860 Alarm lights are flashing everywhere. Master 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:37.720 alarms are blaring. This is the moment. Who speaks 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:41.259 first? Because in my head, it's Tom Hanks playing 00:06:41.259 --> 00:06:44.639 the commander looking totally steely eyed. In 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:47.329 the movie, yes. Tom Hanks, playing Jim Lovell, 00:06:47.350 --> 00:06:49.910 keys the mic and delivers the famous line. But 00:06:49.910 --> 00:06:51.769 in the real timeline, if we look directly at 00:06:51.769 --> 00:06:54.069 the actual flight transcripts, Jim Lovell wasn't 00:06:54.069 --> 00:06:55.970 the first person to report the explosion. Wait, 00:06:56.029 --> 00:06:58.449 it wasn't the commander? No. It was the command 00:06:58.449 --> 00:07:01.290 module pilot. It was Jack Swigert, the guy who 00:07:01.290 --> 00:07:03.730 physically flipped the switch. Okay, so Jack 00:07:03.730 --> 00:07:06.069 Swigert gets on the comms. What is the exact 00:07:06.069 --> 00:07:08.910 timestamp in the flight journal? We are at 55 00:07:08.910 --> 00:07:11.490 hours, 55 minutes, and 19 seconds into the mission. 00:07:12.189 --> 00:07:15.230 Swigert keys his mic. And he says, quote, OK, 00:07:15.290 --> 00:07:17.730 Houston, we've had a problem here, unquote. Wait, 00:07:17.769 --> 00:07:19.529 say that again. We've had a problem. We've had, 00:07:19.629 --> 00:07:22.949 past tense, or if we are being technical linguists, 00:07:23.050 --> 00:07:25.810 present perfect tense. That feels really strange 00:07:25.810 --> 00:07:29.449 to hear. We have a problem feels immediate and 00:07:29.449 --> 00:07:31.829 terrifying. Yeah. We've had a problem. Sounds 00:07:31.829 --> 00:07:34.009 almost like, I don't know, hey, we had a little 00:07:34.009 --> 00:07:35.810 glitch a minute ago, but we're checking it out 00:07:35.810 --> 00:07:38.670 now. Precisely. And that grammatical nuance is 00:07:38.670 --> 00:07:42.420 huge. It implies an event that is already. occurred 00:07:42.420 --> 00:07:45.259 and concluded a singular past incident right 00:07:45.259 --> 00:07:48.699 saying we've had a problem suggests something 00:07:48.699 --> 00:07:51.459 happened a bang occurred and now we are dealing 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:54.079 with the aftermath of it it does not necessarily 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:57.790 scream ongoing, life -threatening emergency. 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:00.269 It's almost shockingly casual given that half 00:08:00.269 --> 00:08:02.629 their ship just blew up. It is so casual that 00:08:02.629 --> 00:08:04.350 Mission Control didn't even understand him the 00:08:04.350 --> 00:08:06.810 first time. Seriously. They missed it. They completely 00:08:06.810 --> 00:08:09.709 missed the urgency. Jack R. Luzma was the capsule 00:08:09.709 --> 00:08:12.470 communicator, the Capcom, down in Houston. You 00:08:12.470 --> 00:08:14.930 have to imagine his perspective. The telemetry 00:08:14.930 --> 00:08:16.850 data on his screens is suddenly going completely 00:08:16.850 --> 00:08:19.029 haywire, but the voice loop in his headset is 00:08:19.029 --> 00:08:21.930 totally calm. He hears Swigert say it, but it 00:08:21.930 --> 00:08:24.589 just doesn't register as a mayday call. Luzma 00:08:24.589 --> 00:08:27.490 actually replies this is Houston say again please 00:08:27.490 --> 00:08:31.029 again please the spacecraft is literally venting 00:08:31.029 --> 00:08:34.110 its vital oxygen into the vacuum of space and 00:08:34.110 --> 00:08:36.110 the guy on the ground is asking for a repeat 00:08:36.110 --> 00:08:40.190 that is baffling it took about 16 seconds of 00:08:40.190 --> 00:08:43.389 pure confusion on the ground Then, at timestamp 00:08:43.389 --> 00:08:47.649 055 -5535, Jim Lovell, the mission commander, 00:08:48.070 --> 00:08:50.629 finally jumps onto the radio loop to clarify 00:08:50.629 --> 00:08:53.129 for Houston. Okay, what does he say? And he repeats 00:08:53.129 --> 00:08:56.350 the exact same grammar. Lovell says, ah, Houston, 00:08:56.549 --> 00:08:58.950 we've had a problem. So they both use the past 00:08:58.950 --> 00:09:02.000 tense. We've had. They both did. And then Lovell 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:04.080 follows up immediately with the dry technical 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:07.600 readout. He says, we've had a main B -bus undervolt. 00:09:07.740 --> 00:09:10.740 Main B -bus undervolt. Okay, I've seen that specific 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:13.320 phrase in the transcripts you shared, but I've 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:15.500 never really grasped the actual gravity of it. 00:09:15.539 --> 00:09:17.679 It's dense engineering jargon. Yeah, because 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:20.159 to the average listener, an undervolt just sounds 00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:22.200 like a flashlight battery running a bit low. 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:24.960 Why is it the very first thing he reported to 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:27.480 Houston? That is a great point, and it's critical 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:29.659 to understanding why they were in so much immediate 00:09:29.659 --> 00:09:32.980 danger. The Apollo spacecraft didn't use standard 00:09:32.980 --> 00:09:36.460 batteries for its main power. It used fuel cells. 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:38.980 Right, which work by mixing hydrogen and oxygen. 00:09:39.240 --> 00:09:42.179 Exactly. You mix liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, 00:09:42.299 --> 00:09:44.279 and a chemical reaction gives you two things, 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:47.860 electricity and water. The crew drinks the water, 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:51.120 and the ship runs on the electricity. Now the 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:53.779 main bus is essentially the primary spinal cord 00:09:53.779 --> 00:09:56.080 of the ship's electrical system. So when Commander 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:58.860 Lovell looks at his gauges and sees a main B 00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:01.639 bus under volt. It means the heart of the ship 00:10:01.639 --> 00:10:04.100 is stopping. It means one of the primary power 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:07.169 grids is completely dying. And because those 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:10.070 fuel cells absolutely need oxygen to generate 00:10:10.070 --> 00:10:12.490 power and their main oxygen tank just violently 00:10:12.490 --> 00:10:15.289 exploded, they aren't just losing the cabin lights. 00:10:15.389 --> 00:10:17.070 They're losing everything. Everything. They are 00:10:17.070 --> 00:10:19.330 losing the ability to power the navigation computer, 00:10:19.629 --> 00:10:22.070 the thrusters, the life support systems. And 00:10:22.070 --> 00:10:24.230 because the fuel cells make the water, they are 00:10:24.230 --> 00:10:26.389 also rapidly losing their drinking water supply. 00:10:26.649 --> 00:10:28.929 So saying undervolt is actually just test pilot 00:10:28.929 --> 00:10:32.309 engineer speak for we are rapidly dying. Essentially, 00:10:32.389 --> 00:10:35.169 yes. But notice the incredible discipline in 00:10:35.169 --> 00:10:38.090 that moment. They didn't scream explosion or 00:10:38.090 --> 00:10:41.070 fire into the mic. They looked at the instrument 00:10:41.070 --> 00:10:43.669 panel, read the gauges, and reported the specific 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:47.370 data. Main B bus undervolt. This brings me right 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:49.789 back to the phrasing they used. We've had a problem. 00:10:50.570 --> 00:10:52.909 It feels like the ultimate example of ironic 00:10:52.909 --> 00:10:56.059 understatement. It truly is. And it stems from 00:10:56.059 --> 00:10:59.220 this very specific, deeply ingrained pilot culture. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.679 Most of these guys came from test pilot and military 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:03.580 aviation backgrounds. Right. The right stuff. 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:06.519 Exactly. There is a deeply held belief in that 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:09.019 community that panic will kill you much faster 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:11.799 than any mechanical failure ever could. If you 00:11:11.799 --> 00:11:14.080 scream, your heart rate instantly goes up, your 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:16.000 breathing gets shallow, you consume more oxygen 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.740 and you stop thinking clearly. So the language 00:11:18.740 --> 00:11:21.580 they choose to use actually becomes a tool for 00:11:21.580 --> 00:11:25.639 emotional control. 100%. By deliberately using 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:28.700 the past tense, we've had a problem. And by sticking 00:11:28.700 --> 00:11:32.419 to dry technical terms like undervolt, they are 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:35.000 psychologically containing the terrifying event. 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:38.019 They are actively framing it in their own minds 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:40.679 as a technical puzzle that needs to be solved 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:43.379 rather than a fatal catastrophe to be feared. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:46.269 That makes so much sense. It really reminds me 00:11:46.269 --> 00:11:48.230 of that famous story about the British Airways 00:11:48.230 --> 00:11:50.950 flight that accidentally flew right into a cloud 00:11:50.950 --> 00:11:53.809 of volcanic ash. Oh, I know the one. Yeah. All 00:11:53.809 --> 00:11:55.850 four engines completely stopped mid -flight. 00:11:56.169 --> 00:11:58.090 And the captain got on the passenger intercom 00:11:58.090 --> 00:12:00.350 and just casually said, ladies and gentlemen, 00:12:00.490 --> 00:12:02.769 we have a small problem. All four engines have 00:12:02.769 --> 00:12:04.549 stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them 00:12:04.549 --> 00:12:06.590 going again. I trust you are not in too much 00:12:06.590 --> 00:12:08.509 distress. I trust you are not in too much distress. 00:12:08.649 --> 00:12:12.509 It is the exact same energy. Right. It's polite, 00:12:12.710 --> 00:12:15.570 it's measured, it's calm. And it is incredibly 00:12:15.570 --> 00:12:18.009 effective at keeping everyone, including the 00:12:18.009 --> 00:12:20.409 pilot, totally focused on the solution instead 00:12:20.409 --> 00:12:23.309 of the danger. Okay, so that establishes the 00:12:23.309 --> 00:12:26.289 historical reality of the flight deck. Jack Swigert 00:12:26.289 --> 00:12:28.350 said it first, Jim Lovell confirmed it, they 00:12:28.350 --> 00:12:30.629 both definitely used the past tense, and they 00:12:30.629 --> 00:12:33.529 were cool as cucumbers. So who messed up the 00:12:33.529 --> 00:12:37.570 quote? Who exactly changed we've had to we have? 00:12:38.269 --> 00:12:41.049 Enter the Hollywood screenwriters William Broyles 00:12:41.049 --> 00:12:44.190 Jr. and Al Reinhart. They are the ones who wrote 00:12:44.190 --> 00:12:47.750 the screenplay for the 1995 film Apollo 13. And 00:12:47.750 --> 00:12:50.490 honestly, as writers, they had a major problem 00:12:50.490 --> 00:12:52.549 of their own to solve. Which was what? The fact 00:12:52.549 --> 00:12:54.990 that reality is often just really bad storytelling. 00:12:55.350 --> 00:12:58.049 Fair point. They looked at the actual NASA transcripts. 00:12:58.049 --> 00:13:00.009 They saw Jack Swigert saying, OK, Houston, we've 00:13:00.009 --> 00:13:02.529 had a problem here. And they realize it drags. 00:13:02.529 --> 00:13:05.529 It lacks punch. It is a bit clunky for a movie 00:13:05.529 --> 00:13:08.970 script, isn't it? It's very soft. It is. Broyles 00:13:08.970 --> 00:13:11.730 and a linguist named Naomi S. Barron actually 00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:14.970 analyzed this exact linguistic shift later on. 00:13:15.070 --> 00:13:18.149 They noted that the actual historical line simply 00:13:18.149 --> 00:13:20.450 wasn't considered dramatic enough for a high 00:13:20.450 --> 00:13:23.330 -stakes suspense movie. You really have to think 00:13:23.330 --> 00:13:25.129 about the audience sitting in that dark movie 00:13:25.129 --> 00:13:28.730 theater back in 1995. Well, the audience already 00:13:28.730 --> 00:13:31.370 knew the ending. Spoiler alert for anyone listening, 00:13:31.529 --> 00:13:34.450 they survive and make it home. Exactly. For the 00:13:34.450 --> 00:13:37.669 moviegoer, there is zero actual suspense about 00:13:37.669 --> 00:13:40.289 the ultimate outcome of the mission. So as a 00:13:40.289 --> 00:13:42.610 director or writer, how do you keep the audience 00:13:42.610 --> 00:13:44.350 on the edge of their seat when they know the 00:13:44.350 --> 00:13:46.690 ending? You have to maximize the tension of the 00:13:46.690 --> 00:13:49.029 immediate moment. So they changed the tense of 00:13:49.029 --> 00:13:51.889 the verb? They changed we've had to we have. 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:55.299 Present tense. Houston, we have a problem. It 00:13:55.299 --> 00:13:57.259 just sounds so much more active and dangerous. 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:01.740 It is highly active. It signals an ongoing, unresolved 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:04.279 state of emergency. It basically tells the theater 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:06.759 audience the danger is here, right now, in this 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:09.080 second, and it is not resolved yet. It puts you 00:14:09.080 --> 00:14:10.840 right there in the cramped cockpit with them, 00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:13.179 facing a crisis that is currently unfolding. 00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:16.440 It's honestly amazing that just cutting two letters, 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:19.879 getting rid of the D in had, can totally shift 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:21.789 the entire weight of a scene. It shifted the 00:14:21.789 --> 00:14:23.669 weight of the scene and ultimately it shifted 00:14:23.669 --> 00:14:27.029 our entire culture. That misquote became so unbelievably 00:14:27.029 --> 00:14:30.669 powerful that in 2005, the American Film Institute, 00:14:30.909 --> 00:14:33.470 the AFI, officially ranked it. I saw this in 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:36.889 the notes. Number 50 on the list of the 100 greatest 00:14:36.889 --> 00:14:39.330 movie quotes of all time. Right. But think about 00:14:39.330 --> 00:14:41.350 the deep implication of that for a second. It 00:14:41.350 --> 00:14:44.570 is a quote unquote movie quote list. But because 00:14:44.570 --> 00:14:48.340 Apollo 13 is a historical biopic. Because it's 00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:51.779 heavily marketed as a quote unquote true story. 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:55.259 The general public completely conflated the movie 00:14:55.259 --> 00:14:57.639 script with the historical flight transcript. 00:14:57.940 --> 00:15:00.700 The movie version basically cannibalized reality. 00:15:01.139 --> 00:15:03.460 Exactly. The fiction replaced the fact. It's 00:15:03.460 --> 00:15:05.340 like the movie became the official historical 00:15:05.340 --> 00:15:08.120 record. I guarantee if you ask a random person 00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:10.580 on the street today, they will bet their house 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:13.679 that Tom Hanks exact line is what was really 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:15.860 said in space. And honestly, can you really blame 00:15:15.860 --> 00:15:18.549 them? The movie. perfectly portrays the emotional 00:15:18.549 --> 00:15:21.750 truth of the situation, even if it slightly fudges 00:15:21.750 --> 00:15:23.370 the factual truth. That's a good way to look 00:15:23.370 --> 00:15:25.570 at it. The true emotion in that tiny capsule 00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:28.769 was, we have a problem. The historical fact was, 00:15:28.929 --> 00:15:31.830 we've had a problem. That is a really interesting 00:15:31.830 --> 00:15:34.570 distinction to make. The screenwriters explicitly 00:15:34.570 --> 00:15:37.590 prioritized the visceral feeling of the danger 00:15:37.590 --> 00:15:41.110 over the dry accuracy of the radio log. They 00:15:41.110 --> 00:15:43.590 did. And on top of changing the grammar, they 00:15:43.590 --> 00:15:46.850 gave the famous line to the commander, Tom Hanks 00:15:46.850 --> 00:15:49.370 playing Jim Lovell, instead of the pilot, Jack 00:15:49.370 --> 00:15:51.509 Swigert. Why do you think they did that? Was 00:15:51.509 --> 00:15:53.669 it just Hollywood politics because Tom Hanks 00:15:53.669 --> 00:15:57.090 was the big A -list star? Partly, yes. You give 00:15:57.090 --> 00:16:00.159 the best lines to your leading man. But also, 00:16:00.299 --> 00:16:03.360 narratively speaking, the commander is the definitive 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.279 father figure of the mission. It feels much heavier 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:09.320 and more authoritative coming from him. But because 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:12.320 of that, poor Jack Swigert really gets the short 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:14.019 end of the stick in popular history. He really 00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:16.259 does. He's the one who actually sat in the seat, 00:16:16.419 --> 00:16:19.039 physically saw the master warning light illuminate, 00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:21.860 understood the failing electrical systems, and 00:16:21.860 --> 00:16:25.220 made the brave call to Houston. But Jim Lovell 00:16:25.220 --> 00:16:27.429 gets all the glory in the movie. It is tough 00:16:27.429 --> 00:16:29.649 being the command module pilot. You're basically 00:16:29.649 --> 00:16:31.929 the designated bus driver while everyone else 00:16:31.929 --> 00:16:34.009 gets to go walk on the moon. And in this specific 00:16:34.009 --> 00:16:36.470 case, you're the guy who bravely reported the 00:16:36.470 --> 00:16:39.070 deadly explosion, but the other guy gets the 00:16:39.070 --> 00:16:41.570 famous T -shirt slogan. You know, digging into 00:16:41.570 --> 00:16:45.350 this technical side, the fuel cells, the welded 00:16:45.350 --> 00:16:48.990 heater switches, the melting Teflon. It makes 00:16:48.990 --> 00:16:51.649 the absolute calmness of the real transcript, 00:16:51.830 --> 00:16:54.309 quote, even more impressive to me. It really 00:16:54.309 --> 00:16:56.690 is staggering. I mean, Swigert and Lovell must 00:16:56.690 --> 00:16:59.330 have known deep down. looking at those primary 00:16:59.330 --> 00:17:02.490 voltage readings rapidly dropping to zero, that 00:17:02.490 --> 00:17:04.970 this wasn't just some sensor glitch. They definitely 00:17:04.970 --> 00:17:07.470 suspected it was catastrophic very early on. 00:17:08.009 --> 00:17:10.609 Lovell actually later wrote in a book, Apollo 00:17:10.609 --> 00:17:12.690 Expeditions to the Moon, that when he finally 00:17:12.690 --> 00:17:15.450 looked out the small window and physically saw 00:17:15.450 --> 00:17:18.609 the vital oxygen gas visibly venting out into 00:17:18.609 --> 00:17:21.130 space. Which happened, what, about 15 minutes 00:17:21.130 --> 00:17:22.910 after the bang? Yeah, about 15 minutes later, 00:17:23.049 --> 00:17:25.470 Lovell wrote that seeing that gas venting is 00:17:25.470 --> 00:17:28.250 when the, quote, not in a stomach. really tightened. 00:17:28.390 --> 00:17:30.630 That is the exact moment he knew for sure the 00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:33.309 problem wasn't an instrument glitch. It was a 00:17:33.309 --> 00:17:35.569 fatal catastrophe. But by the time he looked 00:17:35.569 --> 00:17:37.829 out the window, the famous radio call had already 00:17:37.829 --> 00:17:40.829 been made. Right. And that is exactly what makes 00:17:40.829 --> 00:17:43.730 the real transcript so uniquely fascinating to 00:17:43.730 --> 00:17:47.130 read. It captures that very specific, terrifying 00:17:47.130 --> 00:17:51.450 limbo period. Those few confusing minutes between 00:17:51.450 --> 00:17:54.150 the initial bang and the undeniable realization 00:17:54.150 --> 00:17:57.569 of their doom, we've had a problem, perfectly 00:17:57.569 --> 00:18:00.349 reflects that initial uncertainty. They were 00:18:00.349 --> 00:18:02.869 actively troubleshooting. They were working the 00:18:02.869 --> 00:18:05.390 problem step by step. It's a master class in 00:18:05.390 --> 00:18:07.630 crisis management, really. Assess the panel, 00:18:07.710 --> 00:18:10.390 report the data, verify the issue. Don't panic 00:18:10.390 --> 00:18:12.190 until you actually know what you're panicking 00:18:12.190 --> 00:18:14.069 about. And even then, as we discussed, don't 00:18:14.069 --> 00:18:16.609 panic because panic uses up your oxygen and you 00:18:16.609 --> 00:18:19.089 suddenly don't have any left. That is a terrifyingly 00:18:19.089 --> 00:18:21.930 practical point. Just chilling. So looking at 00:18:21.930 --> 00:18:25.069 all of this, do you think the movie ruined the 00:18:25.069 --> 00:18:28.759 true history or did it somehow save it? That 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:30.720 is the big philosophical question of this whole 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:32.880 deep dive, isn't it? I mean, on one hand, I am 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:35.680 a total stickler for historical accuracy. It 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:37.859 genuinely annoys me that we as a society are 00:18:37.859 --> 00:18:39.680 quoting a Hollywood screenwriter instead of an 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:42.319 American astronaut. But on the other hand. If 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:44.420 Tom Hanks had looked at the camera and said, 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:47.420 OK, Houston, we've had a problem here and delivered 00:18:47.420 --> 00:18:50.319 it with that super dry test pilot casualness. 00:18:50.339 --> 00:18:53.059 It definitely wouldn't be on the AFI top 100 00:18:53.059 --> 00:18:55.799 list. It wouldn't be a worldwide meme. It wouldn't 00:18:55.799 --> 00:18:58.539 be printed on a million coffee mugs and T -shirts. 00:18:58.579 --> 00:19:01.200 So you could strongly argue that by sexing up 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:04.680 the quote, by making it punchier and more dramatic. 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:07.859 The screenwriters actually ensured that the Apollo 00:19:07.859 --> 00:19:10.640 13 mission itself stayed relevant to the public 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:14.319 consciousness for decades. Exactly. It is a classic 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:17.140 example of the Luke, I am your father effect. 00:19:17.480 --> 00:19:20.220 Oh, right. Which is actually, no, I am your father. 00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:22.619 See, we do this all the time with pop culture. 00:19:22.759 --> 00:19:25.259 We collectively polish up history to make it 00:19:25.259 --> 00:19:27.720 fit a better narrative arc. We naturally crave 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.480 those clear, dramatic beats. The real world is 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:33.079 often messy, it's filled with radio static, and 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:34.789 it's frequently grammatically passive. we've 00:19:34.789 --> 00:19:37.890 had, but stories. Stories are active. We have. 00:19:38.130 --> 00:19:41.789 And humans always prefer the better story. It's 00:19:41.789 --> 00:19:44.109 endlessly fascinating to me that we feel the 00:19:44.109 --> 00:19:46.730 need to artificially heighten reality to make 00:19:46.730 --> 00:19:49.869 it feel real to an audience. The actual literal 00:19:49.869 --> 00:19:52.930 explosion of a spacecraft halfway to the moon 00:19:52.930 --> 00:19:55.910 wasn't quite dramatic enough on its own. We needed 00:19:55.910 --> 00:19:57.930 to fix the verb tense to make people sitting 00:19:57.930 --> 00:20:00.569 in a theater truly feel it. It speaks volumes 00:20:00.569 --> 00:20:03.970 about how we process historical trauma and memory. 00:20:04.329 --> 00:20:07.130 We need our heroes to sound exactly like heroes. 00:20:07.329 --> 00:20:09.930 We need them to speak in bold, declarative sentences. 00:20:10.369 --> 00:20:13.630 We don't want our brave astronauts saying, Houston 00:20:13.630 --> 00:20:16.170 looks like a minor voltage drop on the B bus. 00:20:16.390 --> 00:20:18.289 We want them looking death in the eye and saying, 00:20:18.369 --> 00:20:20.650 we have a problem. It really is the difference 00:20:20.650 --> 00:20:23.349 between a technician. and a warrior that is a 00:20:23.349 --> 00:20:25.369 beautiful way to summarize it the raw flight 00:20:25.369 --> 00:20:27.970 transcript shows us brilliant technicians the 00:20:27.970 --> 00:20:30.269 hollywood movie shows us mythic warriors both 00:20:30.269 --> 00:20:32.029 versions are true just in their different ways 00:20:32.029 --> 00:20:34.069 so if you're listening to this we've taken a 00:20:34.069 --> 00:20:35.970 close look at the sheer boredom right before 00:20:35.970 --> 00:20:39.009 the bang the horrifying mechanics of a faulty 00:20:39.009 --> 00:20:41.609 heater switch turning an oxygen tank into a bomb 00:20:41.609 --> 00:20:44.349 and the subtle linguistic shift that went on 00:20:44.349 --> 00:20:47.369 to define an entire generation's memory It is 00:20:47.369 --> 00:20:49.349 a whole lot more than just a simple misquote. 00:20:49.470 --> 00:20:51.930 It really is. It's an incredible glimpse into 00:20:51.930 --> 00:20:54.829 just how fragile these complex machines actually 00:20:54.829 --> 00:20:58.170 are and how remarkably resilient the human beings 00:20:58.170 --> 00:21:00.670 inside them have to be to survive. And also just 00:21:00.670 --> 00:21:03.609 how incredibly powerful a good screenwriter can 00:21:03.609 --> 00:21:06.329 be. Never underestimate a writer armed with a 00:21:06.329 --> 00:21:08.710 red pen. Well, before we sign off today, I want 00:21:08.710 --> 00:21:10.549 to leave everyone listening with a final thought 00:21:10.549 --> 00:21:13.539 to mull over on your own time. We have firmly 00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:16.279 established that the movie version is the quote 00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:20.200 everyone knows and loves. It is undeniably better 00:21:20.200 --> 00:21:22.440 storytelling. But here is the question for you 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:25.299 to think about. If Broyles and Reinhardt hadn't 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:27.619 changed those two little letters, if they had 00:21:27.619 --> 00:21:30.440 stayed 100 % faithful to the dry passive transcript, 00:21:30.779 --> 00:21:33.960 would Apollo 13 be so widely remembered today 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:38.049 as NASA's great successful failure? Or would 00:21:38.049 --> 00:21:40.390 it have slowly faded away into the dense history 00:21:40.390 --> 00:21:43.869 books, just like Apollo 12 or 14? Does our lasting 00:21:43.869 --> 00:21:46.269 memory of history depend on the actual monumental 00:21:46.269 --> 00:21:49.710 event? Or does it entirely depend on how catchy 00:21:49.710 --> 00:21:52.109 the catchphrase is? That is the ultimate question. 00:21:52.589 --> 00:21:55.690 Are we really remembering the quiet bravery of 00:21:55.690 --> 00:21:58.089 Jack Swigert, or are we just remembering the 00:21:58.089 --> 00:22:00.950 screen charisma of Tom Hanks? Something to think 00:22:00.950 --> 00:22:02.750 deeply about the next time you burn your morning 00:22:02.750 --> 00:22:05.720 toast and find yourself calling Houston. Thanks 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:07.640 for joining me on this deep dive. It was an absolute 00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:10.099 blast. Poor choice of words given the topic, 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:11.759 but you know what I mean. A pleasure as always. 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:13.839 We will catch you all on the next deep dive. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:14.420 Stay curious.