Cole's backstory is partially based on Deke Slayton. Slayton was a pilot in World War II, joined NASA as an astronaut for the Mercury program but was grounded due to atrial fibrillation, and became director of Flight Crew Operations for the Apollo program.
A launch did occur at Cape Canaveral during production. The second unit was able to record the launch with their 4K cameras.
Dariusz Wolski, the film's cinematographer, also acts in the film--as Lance's cinematographer.
As several scenes were shot on site at the Kennedy Space Center, many of the background NASA engineers were played by actual NASA, SpaceX, and Boeing engineers.
The Westinghouse video camera that is supposed to be a last minute addition to the side of the lunar landing vehicle was already familiar to NASA technicians as it had already been in space on the Apollo 10 mission, albeit inside the capsule with the astronauts to test its reliability. The film also claimed it weighed 15 pounds when reality it weighed slightly over 7. For Apollo 11 it was decided to attach it externally, although there was some concern that due to the fragile components inside, it may not survive the landing. Fortunately it did continue to work after Eagle landed on the surface and captured Armstrong and Aldrin's historic first steps.