Continuity mistake: At the end of the movie, after the asteroid explodes, we see Grace looking through the glass and there are reflections of NASA controllers cheering. The same shot was used earlier in the film to depict Grace looking upset at some bad news. The camera zoomed into the picture a bit, but you can still see one controller cheering.
Other mistake: There's grass on the edge of the cliff when the Armadillo finally lands - look just under the Armadillo while the astronaut's pulling himself up the road. Considering this is an airless, waterless asteroid, it doesn't really fit...
Factual error: Steve Buscemi opens fire with what appears to be a variant of a General Electric GAU-8/A Gatling Gun which has an effective recoil of approximately 10,000 pounds-force (45 kN) per round discharge of armor-piercing ammunition. The vehicle carrying the cannon does not buck upwards or backwards at all. When the significantly decreased gravity of the asteroid is factored into consideration, at the very least the vehicle should have rocketed backwards or flipped upside down! Additionally, the barrels would have been cold-soaked to something close to -273° Celcius when the spinning asteroid was pointed away from the Sun, the heat generated by the rapid fire rate (combined with the friction of the slugs passing through the barrels) would certainly cause the frigid barrels to shatter like glass. And why would NASA fit a Gatling-Gun on a drilling platform in the first place? There are chemical lasers that would be much more effective and certainly lighter in weight should a mission call for the option of blasting one's way through an obstacle.
Revealing mistake: In the New York meteor shower scene, most of the cars blow up without having been hit at all.
Factual error: During the teams physicals, the doctor mentions Ketamine. While Ketamine is a sedative it is not strictly an animal sedative. Ketamine is a mid-range sedative that doesn't even put the patient to sleep. I use it in the ER I work in almost every day to set broken bones on children. The good doctor was a bit overly dramatic when describing the drug.
Revealing mistake: The two ships that the astronauts and drillers use are supposed to be new "X-71" military vessels that were top secret - and just happen to bear a resemblance to the actual NASA shuttle orbiter. But, when they are launched, it's modified shuttle footage, and in at least one of the long shots they didn't add the X-71 overlay. The key distinction is the two top-mounted booster rockets on the shuttle that the real shuttle doesn't have. There are also a few shots of the firing engine on the mission control screen that is the unmodified shuttle and not the X-71 configuration or paint scheme. This occurs later as well during the MIR docking sequence when mission control shows footage of a real docking arm that looks nothing like the soft-docking arms of the station.
Continuity mistake: The first meteor is a direct hit on a street vendor in NY where the dog is chewing on one of his Godzilla figurines. To start with he's chewing a small Godzilla, then it cuts to the vendor tugging on it, then it cuts back and its suddenly a much larger one.
Continuity mistake: When they are discussing the plan to jump the armadillo, A.J. Frost's left ear goes from having a clear earpiece over it in profile, to having a yellow earplug in from the front.
Continuity mistake: Even though the second shuttle takes off later then the first, they are neck and neck when they clear the atmosphere.
Factual error: Setting the thrusters on in the "Armadillo" while it is spinning, would cause the vehicle to spin either out to space, or to crash into the ground.
Visible crew/equipment: When on the asteroid, Rockhound starts to play with the gun. To stop him Harry goes over and pushes him off and they both go flying through the air. Just before they hit the floor you can see the zip wire they flew across on.
Continuity mistake: When the two shuttles are trying to land on the asteroid, the shuttle Independence crashes, and it is shown crashing upside down and sliding across the surface of the asteroid. Later, having survived the crash, AJ and the Russian are outside the shuttle and it shows it sitting on it's belly, right-side up, with the words United States visible. How did the shuttle suddenly flip itself upright when moments before it was upside down?
Factual error: In the scene on the asteroid, Steve Buscemi's character flicks away a fly, and you can see it buzzing around.
Character mistake: In the President's speech he says that 'The Bible calls this day Armageddon'. That is not correct. In John's Revelation 16 verse 16 it says 'And he gathered them on the place which in Hebrew is called Harmageddon'. Even aside from spelling variations, Armageddon is a place, not a point in time.
Continuity mistake: When the astronaut Sharp comes to his senses and decides to disarm the bomb while it is counting down, the digital readout is just all wrong. Bruce Willis is talking to him and the time reads 40 seconds left. After a good 20 seconds of talking, he starts working on the bomb with a screwdriver and the time reads 35 seconds. Next time we see it, it reads 30 seconds, then when the cover that holds the timer is removed it looks like it reads 45 seconds.
Continuity mistake: When Stamper is banging on AJ's door, a fan and about six cans are on the shelf. In the next shot, the fan has fallen off, but there are only three cans on the shelf.
Continuity mistake: When Harry and Chick are lying down and the spinning pillar goes over them, the pillar's direction of spin changes twice. Backward spin, then forward, then backward, then forward again.
Continuity mistake: When Harry is golfing off of the oil rig, the holes on the golf ball are spaced about a yard away. In the next shot, before he hits it, the holes are right together. It also goes from saying just "Srixon" to "3 Srixon," then the lettering gets angled, then he finally hits it.
Factual error: In the beginning of the movie, where the astronaut is working on the satellite during an EVA, it shows the satellite far apart from the space shuttle. Also, the shuttle's bay doors were open and facing the open void of space. This is a factual error, because when NASA sends a crew to fix a satellite in space, they flip the shuttle so the bottom faces space and the windows face the Earth. The satellite is attached to the Canada Arm and the astronauts are able to service is with ease, and not having to fear shards of a giant asteroid or other space debris.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of landing shuttles on the asteroid, Col. Sharp, pilot of Freedom, was wearing a black short sleeve T-shirt. At the moment of landing on the ground, he's wearing a flying jacket even not leaving his seat yet. Did he have enough time to put on his jacket during such an emergent situation?
Chosen answer: It's close to "zdrasveetsya" phonetically, which is a colloquial greeting like: "how are you doing".
rswarrior