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Tarfumes.com - Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13
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List Price: $25.00
Our Price: $24.88
Your Save: $ 0.12 ( 0% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.454
EAN: 9780395670293
ISBN: 0395670292
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 378
Publication Date: 1994-09-06
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
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Editorial Reviews:
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In April 1970, during the glory days of the Apollo space program, NASA sent Navy Captain Jim Lovell and two other astronauts on America's fifth mission to the moon. Only fifty-five hours into the flight of Apollo 13, disaster struck: a mysterious explosion rocked the ship, and soon its oxygen and power began draining away. Commander Lovell and his crew watched in alarm as the cockpit grew darker, the air grew thinner, and the instruments winked out one by one. The full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe has never been told, but now Lovell and coauthor Jeffrey Kluger bring it to vivd life. What begins as a smooth flight is transformed into a hair-raising voyage from the moment Lovell calls out, "Houston, we've got a problem." Minutes after the explosion, the astronauts are forced to abandon the main ship for the lunar module, a tiny craft designed to keep two men alive for just two days. But there are three men aboard, and they are four days from home. As the hours tick away, the narrative shifts from the crippled spacecraft to Mission Control, from engineers searching desperately for solutions to Lovell's wife and children praying for his safe return. The entire nation watches as one crisis after another is met and overcome. By the time the ship splashes down in the Pacific, we understand why the heroic effort to rescue Lovell and his crew is considered by many to be NASA's finest hour. This riveting book puts the reader right in the spacecraft during one of the worst disasters in the history of space exploration. Written with all the color and drama of the best fiction, Lost Moon is the true story of a thrilling adventure and an astonishing triumph over nearly impossible odds. It was a major Oscar(R)-nominated motion picture directed by Ron Howard and starred Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The Miracle of Man and Technology!
Comment: Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 is an excellent account of the events that occurred during the flight of Apollo 13. Captain Lovell and Mr. Kluger did an excellent job in telling this story. It is very easy to get lost in the pages of this book. In the beginning, the book focused on the historical aspect of Project Apollo, including the tragedy of Apollo 1 and the lessons that were learned from that day in January of 1967. The original Apollo spacecraft was not too well received by the astronaut community and they had their concerns. Unfortunately, the fire in the Apollo 1 command module and the loss of its crew during a "Plugs Out" test, was their wake-up call. During the down time, the Apollo spacecraft was re-designed. When manned spaceflight resumed, the nation got excited as Project Apollo advanced to the historical flight of Apollo 11 and the first manned landing on the lunar surface. After the flight of Apollo 11, NASA was losing media coverage. The flights that followed, were considered routine. Everything changed during the flight of Apollo 13 when the liquid oxygen tank needed for the fuel cells and for life support, exploded and crippled the spacecraft.
Lost Moon had plenty of heroes. The first was Captain James Lovell himself. He was the most experienced astronaut in the astronaut corps. Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise and Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert were fully trained. However,they were first time flyers during the flight of Apollo 13. Yes, Captain Lovell was disappointed when he was unable to land on the moon. Being a good commander, he knew the safety of his crew was the first priority. Captain Lovell's experience and his leadership, were extremely valuable. What was most valuable was Captain Lovell's experience as a pilot and as an astronaut! One of the other heroes, was lead flight director Gene Krantz. Mr. Krantz was a former Marine and he was cool under pressure. His leadership with his flight controllers,his engineers and his resourcefulness is what brought Apollo 13 home. Mr. Krantz's statement "Failure is not Option!" was the driving force. He wanted the crew of Apollo 13 home and wanted them home safely. One of the first problems that resolved was the use of lunar module's descent stage engine to place Apollo 13 on a free return trajectory with an assist from lunar gravity. The second problem resolved was the problem with carbon dioxide levels building in the spacecraft and means to remove it. The resourcefulness came into play when the crew of Apollo 13 used what was available on the spacecraft,to construct the device which saved their lives from carbon dioxide poisoning. One of the other heroes that was mentioned, was flight controller John Allred. He was familiar with spacecraft systems. When Apollo 13 lost the liquid oxygen tank early in the flight, the command module Odyssey was powered down to conserve power, including shutting down the guidance computer. The flight of Apollo 13 was stretching the limits of the lunar module Aquarius when it was used as a "lifeboat!" His knowledge of spacecraft systems and his resourcefulness allowed Mr. Allred to come with a power conservation plan and the plan to power up the command module Odyssey for re-entry,including restoring the guidance computer.
Lost Moon also described the personal side of Captain Lovell and his family, especially his wife Marilyn. Mrs. Lovell was a pillar of strength as she kept her family together during the flight of Apollo 13. While she was keeping her family together, Mrs. Lovell was receiving the help and the support of her astronaut friends and neighbors and from the entire NASA community itself. Like any good story, the flight of Apollo 13 came to a successful conclusion when the command module Odyssey came through its fiery re-entry of Earth's atmosphere and made a successful splashdown in the South Pacific within view of the recovery forces.
Lost Moon looks at the flight of Apollo 13 from different angles. The first was the historical aspect. The second was from the technical side. The final view was from personal perspective from the crew of Apollo 13 and their families. The movie Apollo 13 was tastefully done. Director Ron Howard did a superb job with the movie. Hollywood however, does have the knack of taking a story out of context for dramatic presentation. If you want a more accurate account of the flight of Apollo 13, Lost Moon: The Perlious Voyage of Apollo 13, is recommended reading. Captain Lovell and Mr. Kluger, presented their story in chronological order. It's easy to get lost in the pages of this book! The technology of the time and the resourcefulness of Mission Control, allowed Captain James Lovell and the crew of Apollo 13, to return home safely!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Remarkable narrative account
Comment: This book was the basis for the movie Apollo 13. America had become complacent about our space shots by this time, which is something I still do not understand. But that may be because I worked so long at the Kennedy Space Center and always knew and still understand how dangerous each and every launch is. Apollo 13 was to have been the fifth mission to the moon. But two days into the trip, on April 13, 1970, the oxygen tank exploded in the command module, placing the three astronauts in grave danger. Lovell describes those terrifying days as astronauts, contractors, and Mission Controlled struggled to bring Apollo 13 safely back to earth. If you want to read what really happened by someone who was there...this is the book for you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Comment: This well written book is a great time line of what really happened. I also enjoy the movie and this book fills in the gaps that were not covered in the movie. Also gives detailed accounts of nearly everyone involved in this mission.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good General and Technical Detail About a Near-Disaster in Space
Comment: As someone who has been fascinated with space flight since childhood, and who well remembers the real Apollo 13 from his teenage years, I found this book a fascinating reminder of history. However, this book is about much more than the aborted flight of Apollo 13. It includes historical flashbacks that involved astronaut James Lovell. One chapter describes Lovell's teenage years as he launched homemade rockets. Another summarizes the early years of space exploration in the wake of Sputnik 1. Still another describes the selection of Lovell as an astronaut in late 1962. There is also a chapter on the Apollo 1 fire. Some of Lovell's closest friends perished in that needless tragedy. There is a fine description of the historical flight of Apollo 8, that Christmas lunar orbit in 1968. It included a reading from the Book of Genesis.
Now on to Apollo 13. In preparations for potential in-space emergencies, no one had imagined the simultaneous loss of both main oxygen tanks and all three fuel cells. This left the Odyssey itself with only a few hours of remaining oxygen, water, and electricity. Lovell and Kluge note that mission rules forbid a lunar landing if only one fuel cell becomes inoperable, even if nothing else is wrong. But the "Can the moon landing be saved?" quickly gave way to "Can the astronaut's lives be saved?"
The initial belief was that a meteoroid must have hit the ship. This later was discounted when the blown-open side of the service module became visible shortly after being jettisoned prior to re-entry. Clearly, the explosion must have originated from within the service module itself. Later investigation pointed to a confluence of factors, none decisive in and of themselves, that had combined to precipitate the near-tragedy. To begin with, the wrong-power fuses were being used within the oxygen tanks. When overloaded, they simply melted, allowing the overload of electricity to pass through. During assembly, the oxygen tank had been dropped, damaging an exit tube. During launch-pad exercises, the liquid oxygen was drained past the damaged exit tube by applying extra heat and driving the oxygen out another way. The sensor was not designed to warn of overheating above 80 F. Meanwhile, this procedure had unknowingly raised the temperatures to impossible levels, burning the insulation off much of the wire inside the oxygen tank. The first two times the stirring fan was turned on in space, there was no problem. But the third time, a spark must have flown and ignited the damaged insulation in the pure-oxygen environment, causing the explosion. The explosion itself damaged a tube connected to the second oxygen tank, thus draining it.
The book provides good detail about the dangers and challenges associated with the abort procedure itself. The decision was made not to attempt to fire the service module engine in order to reverse the flight direction in a deep-space abort, if only because the damaged service module might be unable to take the strain of the engine's thrust. The first critical burn of the lunar module's descent engine, done some six hours after the explosion and designed to change the hybrid trajectory back into a free-return trajectory, would have caused the Apollo 13 to crash into the far side of the moon if done incorrectly. Without the burn, however, Apollo 13 would be stuck in a 40,000 by 240,000 mile elliptical orbit around Earth. Thoughts were entertained about jettisoning the useless service module and using the lunar module's descent engine to accelerate the ship considerably--returning it from the vicinity of the moon to Earth in only some 36 hours. But this was not done out of fear that exposure of the command module's heat shield to the temperature extremes of space might damage it.
Everything on the ship had to be powered down--a strategy that worked, just barely. The severe cold aboard the ship, a secondary consequence of the powering down of all nonessential equipment, is described. The astronauts had a frosty breath. Some got urinary infections. They had a hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep.
The astronauts were slowly being poisoned by their own carbon dioxide. This was solved by the jury-rigging of the lithium hydroxide "scrubbers" of the command module to get them to fit into the circulation system of the lunar module. Just before re-entry, there were the challenges of successfully reviving the systems aboard the command module, and jettisoning both the service and lunar modules in a completely unconventional manner.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Add in my five stars please
Comment: If you're into the space program and what happened during this era, then I can't think of one reason why this shouldn't be in your library. It's one of my all-time favorite books.
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