A bit late for the 40th anniversary, but after the "medical emergency on Mars" sim at Balticon, I felt the urge to rewatch "Apollo 13".
I'd forgotten how good it was. I don't usually seek out space exploration stories but whenever I happen across one I'm always blown away by the enormous talent and work and patience that went into manned space flight, especially when things went wrong.
Tor's
article calls it "competency porn", and with good reason: it's an emotionally intense film but the story isn't about people falling apart, it's about keeping it together - "what do we have that's good?" people doing what they do best under unbelievable pressure and complexity. How many of us have, or ever will be, tested that way? How many of us could rise to the occasion?
YouTube's got the 40th anniversary
John Glenn Lecture in it's entirety, and UniverseToday has a series on
13 things that went RIGHT with the mission.