Apollo 13's best known quotes originated not in space or Mission Control, but in Hollywood.
The astronauts urgently radioed, “Houston, we've had a problem," when an oxygen tank wrecked their moon-bound spacecraft on April 13, 1970. Screenwriters for the 1995 film “Apollo 13” wanted to punch that up. Thus was born “Houston, we have a problem.”
Even more artistic license was taken with NASA flight director Gene Kranz' speech to his team in Houston. Kranz never declared, “Failure is not an option.” That, too, is a movie line. Kranz says he constantly finds himself setting the record straight.
