Apollo 13 is indeed not only a breathtaking and uplifting movie but also a great collection of diverse situations with the successful application of Critical Incident Management. Its most visible elements are the critical thinking and problem-solving abilities shown by the spaceship crew. Jim’s identification of the burst helium disk and the planning of further actions of Mission Control is among the greatest exemplars of problem-solving in cinematography because of the astronauts’ quick reactions and thinking.
It is amazing how a team of astronauts began to apply a five-step problem-solving strategy immediately after another accident happened. Jack started identifying the issue by asking his colleagues directly and briefly (Howard, 1995). Then Jim applied the second step, namely the assumption of alternatives and assessing the problem’s magnitude (Chaffee, 2018). He expressed the hope that this was just a burst helium disk (Howard, 1995). Jim then received data on the positive and negative alternative courses of events that this incident could give rise to and proposed a solution, namely a re-entry procedure; these were the fourth and fifth steps (Howard, 1995). Finally, he set up a method of evaluation that was constant feedback from Mission Control (Howard, 1995). Jack provided a different opinion in the final part of the brainstorming by questioning the capabilities of the Earth team.
During this short story episode with the definition of a new emergency by the spaceship crew of Apollo 13, they displayed several qualities of critical thinking. These include active thinking, reasoned analysis, exploration through questioning, diverse and opposite perspectives, and coherent and logical ideation (Chaffee, 2018). The movie is full of such situations with life-threatening events and the subsequent application of Critical Incident Management. It is a good thing that entertainment is not only surprising but also educating.
References
Chaffee, J. (2018). Thinking critically (12th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Howard, R. (1995). Apollo 13 [Film]. Universal Pictures.