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Apollo 13

Mar 24

2026

North Bend Theatre North Bend, WA

Tickets
with

Pete Nelson

Master Treehouse Builder; Host, Treehouse Masters

Apollo 13— Houston, We Have a Treehouse!

The film Apollo 13 captures one of NASA’s most extraordinary feats of ingenuity, teamwork, and problem‑solving under failure-is-not-an-option pressure. Before the screening, master builder and author Pete Nelson, best known as the host and creative force behind TV's Treehouse Masters, will take the stage to share stories from his decades of designing and building treehouses around the world. From navigating the structural puzzles of working with living trees to engineering safe, elegant spaces suspended in the canopy, Pete’s work reveals a world where creativity meets reality and every project demands a fresh solution.

In one tightly packed night, two stories: the high‑stakes innovation that brought three astronauts safely home, and the inventive, real‑world engineering that turns childhood dreams into structures just a little closer to the stars.

This event is part of the National Evening of Science on Screen. Learn more.

North Bend Theatre North Bend, WA

Tickets

Film Synopsis

NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.

"Houston, we have a problem." 

Astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) leads command module pilot Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and lunar module driver Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) on what is slated as NASA's third lunar landing mission. All goes smoothly until the craft is halfway through its mission, when an exploding oxygen tank threatens the crew's oxygen and power supplies. As the courageous astronauts face the dilemma of either suffocating or freezing to death, Mattingly and Mission Control leader Gene Kranz (Ed Harris) struggle to find a way to bring the crew back home, all the while knowing that the spacemen face probable death once the battered ship reenters the Earth's atmosphere. Directed by Ron Howard, Apollo 13 was nominated for nine Academy Awards.

About the Speaker

Pete Nelson is a master builder, naturalist, and author best known as the host and creative force behind the hit Animal Planet series Treehouse Masters, which ran for 11 seasons and introduced global audiences to his imaginative, nature‑centered approach to building in the trees. His love of treehouses began in childhood, after building a backyard tree fort with his dad at their home in New Jersey, a spark that grew into a lifelong vocation.

For more than three decades, Pete has combined engineering, ecology, and artistry to create hundreds of treehouses around the world through his design‑build firm, Nelson Treehouse and Supply. His work often demands inventive solutions to the structural and environmental puzzles posed by building among living trees, and his designs are celebrated for their ingenuity, sustainability, and sense of wonder.

Pete has also published six books on the art and science of treehouse‑building, most recently Be in a Treehouse. Across all his projects, on screen, on the page, and in the canopy, he strives to equip others with the inspiration and practical knowledge to get out into nature and up in the trees in a safe, sustainable, and joyful way.