Continuity mistake: When Bond is fighting Jaws while falling from the plane, Bond's chute changes color from a red and yellow pack to a beige and red pack and then back again. (00:05:18)
Suggested correction: Sorry, the parachute is red and yellow at all times. Just watched the scene 5 times in a row. On the other hand: well spotted for the beige turning brown wall of the plane.
Revealing mistake: When Bond is taking photographs of the plans with his 007 camera, ignore the 007 camera and look behind it as he turns the camera vertical, you will see someone with very dark eyebrows which is not Roger Moore. (00:26:50)
Factual error: As Bond switches his gondola to hovercraft mode in Venice, a large skirt unfolds from the bottom of the craft. There could never be enough room below the deck of a gondola to store the folded skirt plus whatever fans and machinery the air cushion drive would require. (00:38:40)
Character mistake: When James enters and exits the laboratory, the door has a sign on it that warns for radioactive materials. The laboratory actually contains a biological weapon. Therefore the door should be marked with a bio-hazard symbol. (00:41:00 - 00:42:00)
Continuity mistake: When the boat jettisons its roof, you can see the "folded glider" prop below being torn away with it towards the boat's left side. In the next shot it is centered again (of course) and unfolds properly. (01:16:05)
Other mistake: In the boat chase on the Tapirape, Bond's torpedo hits the enemy boat either on its back or left side, but neither are damaged by the explosion in a subsequent shot. (01:18:15)
Revealing mistake: When Bond is underwater struggling with a python he is replaced by an obvious stuntman. (01:23:15)
Continuity mistake: Bond and Holly are in a room when the ceiling opens up to show them beneath the rockets of Moonraker 5. The next shot shows one of the rockets to be below the level of the ceiling. (01:24:25)
Continuity mistake: Shortly before Drax farewells James Bond in the Brazilian base, the countdown on the screen says "T -00:14:06". Six seconds later, it's "T - 00:11:08". Another five seconds later and the "T-" is gone. Looks like they cut a bit or two there. (01:25:45)
Factual error: Moonraker 6 with Holly and James on board jettisons its booster rockets after reaching space. The solid fuel boosters are jettisoned after they burn out at about 50 km height, far below orbit. Their empty weight is considerable, it is highly doubtful if the shuttle would even be able to carry them into orbit. (01:28:55)
Factual error: The space station rotates for pseudo-gravity, but everyone falls along the rotational axis towards the bottom of the screen instead of falling outward from the axis as they actually would. Admittedly, this would be difficult to film (Stanley Kubrick's astronaut jogging in a giant hamster-wheel in Space Odyssey - nuff respect), so I guess they just hoped the audience wouldn't know the difference. (01:29:40)
Revealing mistake: When Jaws goes to pull the ladder with the man on it, we see a close-up of him (with short hair) in shock then it cuts to a doll (with curly hair) falling back with the ladder. (01:48:40)
Revealing mistake: During the shooting in the space station, Holly and another guy jump in a ditch and start shooting at the baddies. Seconds later the same shot is repeated. (01:53:15)
Factual error: In the parachute scene, the bad guy's leg straps are missing. Without which, when his chute opened, he most likely would fall out of his harness.
Factual error: Although it's already been mentioned that the scene of the shuttle being stolen from the back of the 747 is impossible because the shuttle wouldn't be fueled while being transported, it should also be noted that even if the shuttle was fueled, it would still be just as impossible. During the getaway, the thieves ignited the shuttle's three main engines to get free of the 747 and escape. The thing is, the shuttle's main engines are fueled entirely by the large external tank the shuttle and the solid fuel boosters are attached to during liftoff, and once the tank is jettisoned, these engines cannot be used. The only engines the shuttle's internal fuel feeds are the reaction control thrusters and the Orbital Maneuvering System (which are the two smaller engines located in the bulges just above the main engines). Both the RCS thrusters and OMS engines are almost totally useless within the atmosphere, so even if the thieves managed to get the shuttle free of the 747, they could only get it as far as it would glide unpowered. In fact, they could probably get it further if it wasn't fueled. It should be noted that this is not a fictional, futuristic spacecraft. It's a bog standard shuttle, stolen from NASA, on the back of the modified 747 used by them to transport the orbiter from its landing site to Cape Canaveral.
Factual error: Two pilot/astronauts steal a space shuttle by firing it up and launching it off the back of the Boeing 747 transporter. This cannot happen: the 747 can't lift the shuttle with a full fuel load – it only just lifts it empty. It is not a fictional, futuristic spacecraft. It's a bog standard shuttle, stolen from NASA, on the back of the modified 747 used by them to transport the orbiter from its landing site to Cape Canaveral. (Why would they carry a fully fuelled shuttle anyway?)
Factual error: When a real shuttle is launched (or any other large rocket), the exhaust must be deflected sideways and guided through massive tunnels or trenches so that it does not bounce back into the base of the vehicle and destroy it. The Moonrakers lift off from inside an enclosed structure with no means of guiding the massive exhaust plume safely away. The tiny tunnel through which Bond and Holly escape would have been utterly useless to vent the exhaust of a real shuttle. In common with other movies, the noise and violence of a real launch simply cannot be portrayed accurately.
Continuity mistake: When James Bond is fighting with the pilot on the aeroplane, the wall beside the door is beige when viewed from inside and brown when viewed from outside.
Continuity mistake: In the cable car, Dr. Goodhead's shoes change from high heels to flat soles, and they also change color.
Continuity mistake: When the girl in the alleyway sees Jaws, she takes a closed flick knife out of her bag. When the angle changes to behind her, the blade's now extended.
