On 24 July 1969 USS Hornet (CVS-12) recovered the astronauts from Apollo 11, the first moon-landing mission. President Richard Nixon greeted and welcomed them aboard the ship.
On 17 October 1998 USS Hornet (CVS-12) opened as a museum ship in Alameda, California. She appears on the National Register of Historic Places; she's also both a National Historic Landmark and a California Historical Landmark.
The setting aboard the U.S.S. Hornet owes to the ship's reputation for being haunted. The Hornet saw a lot of combat in World War II and the Korean War, as well as a little in Vietnam. Over her 27 years of service 300 sailors died on-board the Hornet from combat injuries, accidents and suicide. In fact the Hornet holds the Navy record for the most suicides on-board a warship, she also has one of the highest accidental death counts in the Navy too from things like accidental deaths caused by storms to equipment malfunction.
The character "Dr. Burger" is aptly named. John Menick, who played the character, was "Herb", a nerd who never ate a Burger King burger in his life, in a major ad campaign in the 1980s.
In the final scene, to ensure viewers understand a plot point, the dialogue indicates the plane is approaching the fictional "Moscow International" airport. The three real-life commercial international airports in Moscow are Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo.