Me, too, Regan! Another thing that I sometimes miss as a freelancer is working with people in person. What a great pleasure teamwork can be.

Thanks for the comment, John. I was contemplating why this particular scene bothered me so much when there were several other problems with the science in the film (for example, the fudged orbits of various space objects and the extreme unlikelihood that someone could use a fire extinguisher as a makeshift jetpack). I decided that I didn't much mind it when they used questionable physics to save someone's life, but I really hated it when they used it to KILL someone. It made Clooney's character's death seem completely contrived. Nonetheless, I'm happy I didn't turn it off, because it pulled me back in pretty quickly. The reentry scene at the end is particularly stunning.

Ha, I thought about Felix when I wrote this. Oh, and the new class of US astronauts is indeed 50 percent women. First time ever: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/06/17/new-astronaut-class-begins-its-journey.