Factual error: In the PALOMINO scenes, Anthony Perkins wears a long lab coat. In most of the scenes, it hangs straight down; but in the low gravity aboard the ship it should be flattering about (that's why such loose garments are not worn by real-life cosmonauts; they would be a hindrance).

Visible crew/equipment: Throughout the movie, the cables that help the robots V.I.N.C.E.N.T. and Old Bob fly are visible.

Revealing: When V.I.N.CENT uses his inbuilt power drill on Maximilian, you can see that the supposed metal hull is plastic, by the dust thrown up by the drilling and the coloration of the bore hole's edges. Maximillian does have a metallic structure, since Pizer knocks on his head in the parts storage and the sound elicited by his knuckles is metallic.

Revealing: Upon docking the Palomino to the Cygnus, the small ship is then carried "down" to where the crew can disembark. As the Palomino is carried along, the camera follows it linearly, past the superstructure of the Cygnus. The star filled background also shifts position slightly in exact synchrony with the motion, revealing that the background is really just a short distance beyond the spaceship miniature.

Revealing: The meteors that hit the spaceship are transparent.

Revealing: Another fly-by-wire act by Joseph Bottoms is in the scene when the Cygnus is first sighted and he vaults himself over the Palomino controls (in low gravity) to reach his seat. As he settles down, the wire used for the vault is briefly visible on his belt.

Revealing: When Dan Holland, Kate, V.I.N.CENT and old Bob battle Reinhard's robot sentries on the catwalk, part of the bridge the sentries stand on is critically damaged and collapses. In that shot, the sentries are model figurines.

Factual error: In the opening sequence the crew of the Palomino choose to approach the U.S.S. Cygnus, and thus fire the ship's rocket motors to accelerate it towards the target. As the motors push the ship, Kate McCrae is seen maneuvering herself in a state of zero-g. Very soon after that, she is seen floating weightlessly as the ship once again fires the engines to accelerate away from the nearby black hole. In reality, there'd be no weightlessness onboard the ship during any rocket generated acceleration. Everyone would be pressed to the floor.

Factual error: In one scene, Mr. Booth is touring the Cygnus by himself and finds a control room for the ship's botanical garden. He goes to a window to look into the garden, but the pane is fogged over so he wipes it clear with his shirt sleeve. Dew will form on the hotter, more humid side of the window, his side ought to be dry.

Revealing: When Josef Bottoms loses his grip on the hull of the probe ship and drifts towards the black hole, you can see the two wires he's dangling from.