\u201cHouston, we have a problem.\u201d These (slightly misquoted) words have become iconic for the laconic understatements of danger seemingly common to the impressively courageous folks who fly. Apollo 13 was launched in April of 1970 for a third landing on the moon. Of course, as we all know, an exploding oxygen tank put the crew in grave and imminent danger. Their improbable, safe return was a legendary combination of steely courage on the part of the astronauts, and professional, technical brilliance and ingenuity on the part of the engineers charged with devising clever solutions that would avoid a disaster. Indeed, \u201cFailure was not an option.\u201d The whole affair and its denouement was a glorious tribute to those who made the American space program one of the great achievements of humanity.<\/p>\n
The story has been told in part or whole many times since in many genres, but certainly the most accurate and gripping was the 1995 movie, Apollo 13. <\/em>The film won two Academy Awards, and Horner\u2019s score was nominated for Best Original Score. Before his tragic loss in the crash of his small airplane in 2015, he was one of Hollywood\u2019s most respected and talented film composers. Among his great scores were those to Titantic <\/em>(including the song, \u201cMy Heart Will Go On,\u201d) Avatar<\/em>, Aliens<\/em>, and A Beautiful Mind<\/em>, to name only a few. His music for Apollo 13<\/em> is simple, direct, and an eloquent evocation of the personal strength of integrity, knowledge, and bravery of those who made that program a source of national pride. The style of his music for this film artistically and spiritually owes much to the musical language of perhaps America\u2019s most respected composer, Aaron Copland. It is the \u201cAmerican Sound\u201d and evokes the deep aspirations of our better angels.<\/p>\n –Wm. E. Runyan<\/p>\n \u00a9 2018 William E. Runyan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"program_note_tax":[119],"class_list":["post-301","program_note","type-program_note","status-publish","hentry","program_note_tax-jameshorner"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/program_note"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"program_note_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runyanprogramnotes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_note_tax?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}