THEME PARKS : Local Space Lab Takes Off : Exhibit at Universal uses studio props and NASA artifacts to chronicle the making of ‘Apollo 13’ movie.

It seems that every time Universal Pictures releases a big-budget sum mer movie, a film it hopes will be a blockbuster, some form of ride or exhibit ensues at Universal Studios Hollywood. Such is the nature of the MCA marketing machine.

Guests to the theme park are the principle beneficiaries, though, as the theme park becomes more and more adept at these spinoffs. The latest, a display titled “The Making of Apollo 13, The Movie,” serves as an example.

Universal has built an eye-catching pavilion inside the front of the park and filled it with an array of movie props from the new Tom Hanks film, as well as footage and artifacts provided by NASA.

“You can’t see this anywhere else,” said Don Burgess, who produced the exhibit that runs through Labor Day. “We’re trying to show people how this movie was made and that it is taken from actual history.”

In his otherwise lukewarm review of the movie, Times film critic Kenneth Turan praised Howard’s “completely convincing physical re-creation” of the spacecraft. In fact, the film’s historical and technical nature, not to mention its dramatic story line, lend themselves to the type of exhibit that Universal has mounted.

Guests enter the exhibit along a steel gantry that was used to film the sequences in which Hanks and his fellow actors walk from the launch tower to their command module. The walkway is shrouded in mist with sounds of Mission Control buzzing in the background.

Inside, press clippings and other historical information provide an overview of the troubled 1970 mission, when an on-board explosion left the astronauts scrambling to guide their damaged spacecraft back to Earth.

NASA lent Universal some 13 hours of footage, much of which flickers on a wall of video screens. A row of computer terminals allows guests to retrieve programmed information.

“You can pick an astronaut or a specific Apollo mission and find out something about it,” Burgess said.

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There are also videotaped explanations of the excruciating detail with which director Ron Howard made this film. For instance, the spacecraft sets were kept at a chilly 42 degrees so that the actors suffered physical conditions similar to those of the astronauts.

And a cutaway version of the command module’s interior is displayed. This set was made all the more realistic because NASA provided numerous artifacts, including the seats, from the actual module. An accompanying monitor plays home movies that actor Bill Paxton shot during the much-publicized filming on a NASA plane that creates a weightless atmosphere.

The remainder of the exhibit offers miniatures and costumes that were essential in making the film. A 14-foot Vehicle Assembly Building dominates this display, flanked by a smaller launch platform and a three-foot version of the module that eventually splashed down with the three astronauts safe on board.

The artifice of filmmaking becomes apparent with these models. The movie’s dramatic splashdown sequence was filmed in the theme park’s so-called “Jaws Lake.” And the towering lunar landing module that stands just outside the pavilion has only three sides.

Even the costumes had to be redesigned for the distinct rigors of filmmaking. Bulky pressure suits were slimmed down and fitted with air conditioning to keep actors comfortable under the hot lights. Regulation helmets had to be remade with anti-glare materials.

Again, it is testament to Universal’s savvy that these props were preserved for an exhibit.

“You know how it is in Hollywood. They tend to throw things away and move on to the next project,” Burgess said. “Now they’re thinking ahead and saving things. That means our guests get to see them.”

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WHERE AND WHEN

What: “The Making of Apollo 13, The Movie.” Location: Universal Studios Hollywood, Hollywood Freeway at Lankershim Boulevard, Universal City. Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily; last tram departs about 6:15 p.m. Price: $33 general, $27 seniors 60 and older, $25 children 3 to 11; free for children 2 and younger. Call: (818) 508-9600.