Daily Dialogue — July 15, 2015

INCO : One minute and thirty seconds to end of blackout.
Walter Cronkite (V.O.): No reentering ship has ever taken longer than three minutes to emerge from blackout. This is the critical moment. Will the heat shield hold? Will the command module survive the intense heat of reentry? If it doesn’t, there’ll only be silence.
Jay Lovell: Mommy, you’re squishing me.
Marilyn Lovell: I’m sorry sweetie. It’s okay.
INCO : Okay Flight, that’s three minutes. We are standing by for acquisition.
Gene Kranz: Copy that.
Ken Mattingly: Odyssey, Houston. Do you read me? Odyssey, this is Houston. Do you read?
Walter Cronkite (V.O.): The expected time of reacquisition, the time when the astronauts were expected to come out of the blackout, has come and gone. About all any of us can do now is just listen and hope. We’re about to learn whether or not the heat shield, which was damaged by the explosion three days ago, has withstood the inferno of reentry.
Ken Mattingly: Odyssey, this is Houston. Do you read me? Odyssey, Houston. Do you read?
INCO : Three minutes thirty seconds. Standing by.
Ken Mattingly: Odyssey, Houston. Do you read? Odyssey, this is Houston. Do you read me?
INCO : That’s four minutes. Standing by.
Ken Mattingly: Odyssey, uh Houston. Do you read?
Jim Lovell: Hello, Houston. This is Odyssey. It’s good to see you again.

— Apollo 13 (1995), screenplay by William Broyles Jr. and Al Reinert, book by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Survival. Today’s suggestion by James Schramm.

Trivia: After the premiere of the film, Ron Howard asked the audience members to write reviews of the film. While most of the reviews were positive, one review stated that there was no way the crew would have survived the mission. Apparently, the person who wrote it did not know the film is based on a true story.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by James: “The entire movie is about survival and even though you know the outcome you struggle through the last few tense moments with the characters and cheer with them when you see the chutes open. Fantastic movie.”

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