Europa Report (2013)

Factual error: In this relatively low-budget but extremely well-produced 2013 science fiction film, a 6-man crew travels from Earth to Europa (one of the moons of Jupiter) to search for traces of life in the vast oceans beneath Europa's icy surface. One of the astronauts dies in-transit, leaving 5 crewmembers to complete the mission. When the large "Europa One" interplanetary spacecraft arrives at its destination, all 5 surviving crewmembers descend in a small landing craft to the moon's surface, leaving the Europa One spacecraft in orbit, totally unmanned. This is an inconceivable factual blunder. The narration plainly states that this mission picked up where manned lunar missions of the 1970s left off; so, many of the same protocols are in place. Just so, no manned space mission would ever abandon the primary space vehicle in orbit, placing the mission at risk by sending the entire crew down together in a landing party. At least two astronauts should have remained aboard the orbiting Europa One just in case the landing mission went sideways (as it does in this film).

Charles Austin Miller

Rosa Dasque: Compared to the breadth of knowledge yet to be known... what does your life actually matter?