Minute 015: Fast as a Bullet from a Gun

GUEST: GRAPHIC NOVELIST BRIAN FIES Jim Lovell is hanging out the side of a decompressing Command Module. The frame of his seat breaks, and knocks Lovell away from the Apollo CSM and LM assembly in deep space. Lovell tumbles end over end. A giant, bloodshot eye fills the screen. Marilyn Lovell awakens in her bedroom in Houston. TITLE: “MARCH 23, 1970, 3 WEEKS PRIOR TO LAUNCH” “…stars would fall down on you or something,” says Jim Lovell, in another room. “That’s silly,” says Jay Lovell, in another room. “Stars can’t fall on us.” Marilyn wipes her face with a Kleenex. “Aw, you’re a smarter kid than I was,” says Jim Lovell. In Jay Lovell’s bedroom, Jim Lovell is talking to his son. “How long will it take you to get to the Moon?” asks Jay. “Four days,” replies Jim Lovell, drinking from a coffee cup.  Marilyn tiptoes down the hallway, listening. “But that’s pretty fast,” explains Jim, holding up a model, “This is the Saturn IV-B booster – – it shoots us away from the Earth – pshooo! – as fast — as a bullet — from a gun. Until the Moon’s gravity, it actually grabs us and pulls us into a circle around the Moon, which is called an orbit – alright?  Fred and I float down the tunnel into this guy – the Lunar Module – the spidery looking-” IN THIS MINUTE: Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks Marilyn Lovell : Kathleen Quinlan Ken Mattingly: Gary Sinese Fred Haise: Bill Paxton Jay Lovell: Max Elliott Slade