Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13

Out of the seven Apollo expeditions to land on the moon, six of the efforts succeeded outstandingly and one failed. Lost Moon is the story of the failure and the incredible heroism of the three astronauts who brought their crippled vehicle back to earth. This account--written by Jim Lovell, commander of the mission, and his talented coauthor, Jeffrey Kluger--captures the high drama of that unique event and is told in the vernacular of the men in the sky and on the ground who masterminded this triumph of heroism, intellectual brilliance, and raw courage. A thrilling story of a thrilling episode in the history of space exploration.

Astronaut Lovell and Kluger, a contributing editor at Discover magazine, take us on the terrifying voyage of unlucky Apollo 13. Launched in April 1970 and manned by Lovell, Jack Swigert and Jack Haise, Apollo 13 was scheduled to orbit the moon while Lovell and Haise descended to its surface. En route, though, a cyogenic tank exploded, causing a loss of oxygen and power in the command module. Luckily, the LEM, the lunar module that was to land on the moon, was uninjured and the astronauts could survive briefly on its oxygen. What unfolds is a story of courage as the astronauts and the personnel at Mission Control in Houston labored to return the spacecraft to Earth. First, there was the crucial alignment to ascertain the position of the spacecraft. Then came the all-important "burn" to swing the spacecraft around the moon on a "free return" trajectory back to earth. And finally there was the important PC+2 burn to guide the ship to the South Pacific, making sure it would enter Earth's atmosphere precisely-if done wrong the craft would either incinerate or skip into orbit around the sun. Everything went perfectly and Apollo 13 splashed down in the Pacific. This is a gripping and frightening book that commands rapt attention. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The lunar landing mission of Apollo 13, commanded by veteran astronaut Lovell, was to be the crowning accomplishment of his NASA career. However, little more than two days into the flight, an oxygen tank exploded, crippling the service module's electrical system and forcing the crew to abandon their mother ship and use the lunar module as a lifeboat. Lovell and Kluger's account of Mission Control's heroic efforts to figure out a way to bring the crew home safely and the astronauts' race against time in a freezing spacecraft provide the core of this gripping narrative. Shifting from the engineers' struggles in Houston to contractors' efforts across the country to the concerns of the astronauts' families, this work fleshes out Apollo 13's story more fully than earlier accounts (Henry Cooper's Thirteen: The Flight That Failed, LJ 3/15/73) and adds to the growing body of firsthand astronaut accounts of their pioneering flights. Highly recommended.
--Thomas J. Frieling, Bainbridge Coll., Ga.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Even though Lovell was the commanding officer of Apollo 13 and therefore at the very heart of these galvanizing events, he and coauthor Kluger of Discover magazine felt that the "omniscient sweep" of a third-person voice was essential to the telling of this unparalleled story. And they were right. The facts are these: On April 11, 1970, Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise began their journey to the moon. Two days later, when Apollo 13 was 200,000 miles from home and five sixths of the way to its inhospitable destination, an oxygen tank exploded and the crew was placed in unprecedented danger. So many things could have killed the crew, from lack of oxygen and water to the complete breakdown of communication and navigation systems. If any one of those catastrophes had occurred, the three men would have been condemned to an eternity of orbiting the earth and her pale sister entombed in the craft that failed them. Instead, ingenuity and sheer luck prevailed. Lovell and Kluger document every white-knuckle phase of this near disaster, balancing fascinating technological detail with more, pardon the pun, down-to-earth concerns, such as how Marilyn Lovell kept her composure during the seemingly endless ordeal. It's no wonder that director Ron Howard and Oscar-winner Tom Hanks have made a movie based on this book: you'd be hard-pressed to find a more compelling and unique drama. Donna Seaman