In the film Commander Pirx asked Harry Brown if he believed human beings possessed conscience. In the book the actual question was if Harry Brown believed in God. It was altered because of the communist censorship.
The lower part of the rocket shown before the take-off was that of a Vostok rocket.
The lift-off scene of the spaceship was an archive footage of one of the Apollo Saturn V launches including the scene when Apollo astronauts ride in the lift before entering their capsule.
In 18 years after shooting to Saturn the automatic space probe of Cassini which has executed a task, similar to the mission of Goliath, has really been launched.