When asked how she felt orbiting the moon, Molly's description of her impressions of Earth from space that "...it's hard to believe that everyone I've ever known, every country, every civilization is contained in that tiny blue and white ball" is a paraphrase of Carl Sagan's description in his book Pale Blue Dot of the photo taken by Voyager 1 that looked back at Earth from 4 billion miles away.
Baldwin's remark to Cobb upon landing on the moon, "You've come a long way baby" was a pitch line from ads for Virginia Slims cigarettes. These cigarettes were marketed to women throughout the 70s and 80s.
The words spoken by Richard Nixon to Molly are a variation on the words actually spoken to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the real Apollo 11 mission.
Clayton Poole's shoulder patch indicates he is in the 196th Infantry Brigade.
When Clayton Poole throws his ribbon rack at the guard, it is evident he earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. The V device and bronze star device indicate he earned the Bronze Star twice and with Valor.