Apollo 13: Career Day

Sarah Ruiz, aerospace engineer, describes how Apollo 13 (Ron Howard, 1995) propelled her toward a career with NASA. Apollo 13 was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won for Best editing and Sound. Based on the 1994 book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, the film details how the three astronauts on Apollo 13 were forced to abandon their mission to land on the Moon and instead return to Earth because of an equipment failure that lead to reduced oxygen and electrical power. The film stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, and Gary Sinise as astronauts and was a huge career boost for Ed Harris who played the Houston Control Center Flight Director. Sarah Ruiz currently works in private industry on a new rocket program. In December 2025, she retired from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where she worked for more than 28 years, including as a flight controller for the space shuttle from 2005-2011.