Capricorn One Trivia Quiz

Answer: James Brolin

Before playing the starring role in "Capricorn One", James Brolin starred on the hit ABC series "Marcus Welby, M.D." He would later co-star with Connie Selecca on another ABC series, "Hotel". Oddly enough, both he and Elliott Gould, who plays reporter Robert Caulfield, have been married to Barbra Streisand.

Answer: Because the life-support systems don't work.

Kelloway makes the fateful decision to fake the mission, instead of telling Congress that the spacecraft's life support systems don't work. He's afraid that Congress will yank funding for the space program if he squeals.

Answer: The astronauts' families would be killed.

Specifically, Kelloway indicates that the plane the families are riding from Cape Canaveral back to Houston had an explosive device on board. If certain people weren't given the all-clear signal, they'd explode the device.

Answer: Television signals coming in from only 300 miles away.

Whitter complained twice about the errant signals, and even admitted to running a program on his own to verify the telemetry he received on his console. Eventually, Dr. Kelloway shut down Elliot's terminal and had him removed from the flight team.

Answer: Elliot has relocated.

Alva Leacock (played by Barbara Bosson) does her best to convince Caulfield that she has been living in what had been Elliot's apartment for over a year. Caulfield would later confess to his boss that the apartment manager was able to produce receipts to verify her claims.

Answer: Peter Hyams

Before becoming a director in Hollywood, Peter Hyams spent time as a TV news anchor in Chicago and as a Vietnam war correspondent for CBS News. In addition to "Capricorn One", he has directed movies such as "The Star Chamber", "2010: The Year We Make Contact", and "Running Scared".

Answer: Spacecraft burns up on reentry

The final piece of Kelloway's plan-to have the spacecraft reenter off-course and have the crew inserted into it by helicopter-falls apart when the heat shield fails. In order to maintain his elaborate ruse, he also has to kill off the astronauts.

(Quiz author's note: This question was written prior to the space shuttle Columbia tragedy on February 1, 2003. To any quiz takers offended by this particular question, please accept my apologies.)

Answer: O.J. Simpson

Simpson would parlay his fame as a football star into a number of movie roles, including a bit part in the disaster classic "The Towering Inferno". He would later appear with Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy in "The Naked Gun" movies, as the bumbling Nordberg.

Answer: Climbing up a rock face

In a dramatic piece of camerawork, filmgoers see the dehydrated astronaut hanging precariously onto the top of the rock face, unwittingly about to crawl into the arms of Kelloway's goons.

Answer: Attending a memorial service for the crew

"Capricorn One" ends with a shot of Caulfield and Brubaker running through a Houston cematery. Brubaker's smile tells he's happy to be home; Caulfield's smile tells he's looking forward to a Pulitzer Prize for pulling off the scoop of the century.