Blooper

Both additional astronauts, Ethan as well as Roger, are unconscious during the landing. However, when these two are thrown out of the Space Shuttle using the rescue system they both clearly are awake and responding.

When the shuttle is landing, you can clearly see the name "Columbia" on the side of the shuttle when the name of the shuttle is Daedalus. In a subsequent shot the name on the side of the shuttle then says Daedalus.

The space shuttle Daedalus' fuselage markings are inconsistent, both within the film and with the real-life shuttle fleet. The wing markings (NASA "meatball" logo on the left wing, American flag and orbiter name on right wing) match the fleet beginning in 1998, but in some shots the NASA "worm" logotype is shown on the aft end of the payload bay doors, where it appeared prior to 1998 but was removed from the four flight vehicles when their markings were changed. (The "worm" and "meatball" logos never appeared on an orbiter at the same time.) The "meatball" logo should appear aft of the "United States" text on the lower aft fuselage; it appears there in some shots, but not others.

When Frank Corvin is approaching the satellite, he closes the "shield" on his helmet that protects his eyes from being burned by the sun. In the next shot, it is open again.

The shuttle's port wing markings change from "United States" during reentry to the NASA "meatball" logo on landing.

Sarah is present before and during the shuttle launch, moments later she appears at mission control. The shuttle launch site for NASA is in Florida and only controls through initial launch. Mission control is in Houston, which is over 800 miles away.

It's approximately 120 000 miles to the halfway point to the moon (not 100 000 as stated), and because the Earth has about one hundred times the mass of the moon, one would have to travel more than halfway there, to the L1 Lagrange point, before the moon's gravitational pull would be stronger than Earth's.

When Hawk launches the missile platform toward the moon, he aims straight for it. Due to the moon's orbit around the Earth, that would result in the moon shifting considerably in position before Hawk would ever have got there. In order to hit the moon, the platform would have to be aimed further along the moon's orbit.

When discussing the space toilet, the instructor says that they should make a seal between the funnel and their skin, which is incorrect. Male astronauts are trained not to make a seal; rather, to urinate from a couple inches away from the funnel. The female funnels are designed with small holes at the rim to allow airflow.

When becoming aware the satellite has problems, it is at 1000 miles. It is supposed to be sent back to geostationary orbit (where it presumably came from) but that's more than 20,000 miles higher. That descent is inconsistent with the rate of orbital decay presented in the movie. Also, the Space Shuttle operates at orbits of at most a few hundred miles.

During the landing simulations, you can hear jet engines shutting down after the touchdown, but the shuttle doesn't have any engines - jet or otherwise - during landing. It's not the sound of jet engines - it's the hydraulic motors moving the simulator.

A geostationary equatorial orbit would be the worst choice among commonly used orbits for a weapons platform. The satellite always remains over one point on the Earth, and the weapon would have to travel at least 22,000 miles after firing, providing more time for it to be detected. A low polar orbit would provide a much shorter travel time for the weapon, would pass over all parts of the Earth's surface twice a day, and would also have been easier to reach from the USSR. Which is exactly why the Soviets, wanting to put a weapons platform *secretly* on a satellite, might choose one intended for a geostationary equatorial orbit rather than a low polar orbit.

When Frank (Clint Eastwood) and Jerry (Donald Sutherland) are discussing bringing the damaged orbiter in for a landing, Jerry tells Frank what the numerous challenges are, including the fact that he'll "have to do it dead stick." The Space Shuttle orbiter was designed to land as an unpowered glider, so all of its landings were "dead stick," although it makes sense for Jerry to mention it amongst the challenges of landing the crippled vehicle.

While Jerry desperately needs his glasses for everything, including reading, on board of the shuttle he does some fine tuning on a computer panel without his prescription (sun) glasses. This is not unusual since glasses (including distance, reading, and progressive lenses) have a definite "starting" distance for proper focus. Many people who read glasses remove them for up close work. When Jerry is working on the panel and also using the calculator, he's working just a few inches from his nose, much closer than a person normally reads at. This is to adjust for his vision problems and be able to focus on things up close.

A nuclear weapon to be kept in a low polar orbit could be designed with only a small retrorocket and a heat shield, but since the satellite would pass near a particular target only twice a day, it might take many hours before it could be launched. Large rocket motors like an ICBM's, as depicted in the film, would be militarily sensible since targeting would be much more flexible and the weapon's travel time after launch would also be shorter. And with the weapon in a high orbit, as indicated in the film, large rockets would be required to reach the surface at all.

When using the co2 extinguisher on the shuttle the spent gas can be seen to fall downward. In the weightless environment of space it would spread equally in all directions.

When Corvin stabilizes the motion of the Russian satellite, all the debris spinning around it miraculously gets stabilized too.

When Hawk is having his blood drawn, the needle moves from his arm and it is apparent that there is a flexible hose running off the side of his arm.

Considering micrometeoroids and dust particles in space, ICON looks remarkably factory fresh for being "a relic of the Cold War".

When the astronauts are capturing the satellite, one brushes his hand against the control joystick, but without any effect on the shuttle arm's position.

Corvin and Hawkins are shown flying a Bell X-2 in 1958, but the X-2 program was actually canceled in 1956 due to a fatal accident.

Hawk talks about meeting the love of his life when he was 17 when he tackled the fiberglass porta-potty she was in. He was a test pilot in 1958, but the fiberglass porta-potty came out in the 1970s.

A crew member is visible in the hatch of the Russian satellite, not wearing a space suit in the vacuum of space.

When the young couple first meet Hawk before going on the ride, the reflections of a number of crew are visible in the window behind Hawk.

Reflected in Frank's sunglasses when talking to Hawk by his biplane.

In the first spacewalk scene, we see the two main characters clearly floating over Sicily and Italy. In the very next shot, a large display shows the courses the shuttle will take on every orbit. None of these orbits show the shuttle coming anywhere near the Mediterranean.

The chances of even a highly skilled aircraft pilot manually navigating from earth orbit to a soft landing on the moon are negligible. The physics are entirely different, and extensive computer calculations are required.

It takes considerably more delta-vee to soft-land on the moon from earth orbit than it takes to escape earth entirely and enter solar orbit. This could have been done by simply firing the rockets in a horizontal orientation and in the orbital plane. No piloting would be required after this point.

The shadow of a mic is visible on the back of one of the blue Nasa desks when Gene says "Amen reverend" (far left of the screen).

The Public Affairs Office counts down the seconds to launch and says; "3, 2, 1, zero. Ignition!" and then pauses whilst we see the Shuttle's main engines building up thrust, then the Solid Rocket Boosters fire and the stack lifts off. In fact liftoff actually occurs at the zero mark. The main engines ignite a few seconds before zero so that they are at full thrust when the SRBs ignite at T-0 for liftoff.

Tank Sullivan seems to pray unto Saint Mary during a tense moment, saying "Hail Mary, full of grace." Tank, however, is a Baptist minister, not a Catholic; Protestant Christians may revere saints, but do not pray unto them as Catholics do.