Space Cowboys

Factual error: Several times in the film you see astronauts "suit-up" and head straight out the airlock into space. In reality they would have to pre-breathe pure oxygen for forty minutes to purge the nitrogen from their bloodstreams. If they just went straight out they would suffer from "the bends", as divers do.

Factual error: When the super fortress has a near miss with one of the x-plane pilots the pilot should be in free fall and not appearing to float motionless as the super fortress passes by.

Continuity mistake: When Donald Sutherland is getting off the roller coaster to talk to Clint Eastwood. He kisses the woman and then removes his glasses. You then see a shot of the back of his head and his glasses are still on. They then show a shot of his face and they're off.

Continuity mistake: In the opening shot of the NASA people, they are wearing I.D. tags that have the date of 11-99. But just days later Clint Eastwood's tag is a year higher, showing 11-00.

Factual error: After bailing out one of the pilots somehow suspends his free fall and is almost hit by the B29 while motionless in midair.

Visible crew/equipment: When Clint Eastwood first enters IKON to power up the panel, you can see a crew member's hand (with a gold ring) to his right. On his way out you can also see a hand and the top of the head of a crew member in the same location.

Visible crew/equipment: Set lights and camera equipment are reflected in Hawk's sunglasses as he speaks with the kid who wants to go up in his plane.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: On the reentry James Garner is sitting next to Clint Eastwood - it pans away, then comes back, and no one except Clint Eastwood is in the cockpit. Also one shot shows 4 people in seats during the re-entry.

Factual error: Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland go scooting around in open space (admiring a view of Italy on the sunlit side of the Earth) with their gold solar-screen visors retracted wide open. To avoid accidental instant blindness, real astronauts would never open their solar-screen visors during EVA on the sunlit side of the Earth; yet the astronauts in this film do it constantly, with no ill-effects.

Charles Austin Miller

Frank Corvin: You sent us up to this bastard, have us put it back into orbit, fully armed, just to save your own ass?

More quotes from Space Cowboys

Question: What are the chances of four guys of their age ACTUALLY passing the physical to the required standards? I know they all kept reasonably fit but they struggled with running etc. so it seems unlikely they would pass all the tests. I know movie rules dictate suspense of disbelief to a certain degree, I'm just wondering what their chances would be in reality.

The_Iceman

Answer: Eastwood would be out on height alone and the rest probably have high blood pressure. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/606877main_FS-2011-11-057-JSC-astro_trng.pdf.

Chosen answer: It wasn't a matter of how physically fit they were, but that their particular combination of knowledge, skills, and past experiences were needed for this specific mission. The physical criteria would be amended in order to recruit them for that mission.

raywest

They were specifically told they wouldn't be given an easier ride and would need to pass the exact same tests as the younger astronauts. The physical criteria wouldn't have been amended to suit them so is it possible for 4 guys of this age to pass?

The_Iceman

Remember that at some point in the process it became a political issue - the old cowboys were wanted for their PR value, so physical test results would have been "fudged", if not ignored altogether.

ReRyRo

Agree that the physical requirements were a major plot point and part of the 'deal' for the team to go, but there was some relaxing of requirements and politics. In general, the answer is YES, old folks can go to space without major fudging of the requirements as was demonstrated by lots of astronauts in their late 50s, a few in their 60s, and John Genn at 77. Just recently an 82-year-old woman flew on Jeff Bezos' tourist rocket.

More questions & answers from Space Cowboys

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