Lost Moon (1994)

First thing's first. I enjoyed this, and as a novel I would have rated it about a 3.5, but as a nonfiction account I would call it a solid 5. When I say that it would have been much lower of a rating as a novel, I say so as a result of the fact that it would have suffered from the key problem with a lot of suspends novels: The sheer number of pages behind the current one always tells you they're going to be fine.

If you are picking up this book, you are doing so knowing enough about Apollo 13 that you know what you're getting into. This book is exactly that: The story of the Apollo 13 near-disaster, told from both the ground and from space, with a concise explanation at the end of what caused it. It reads well, and is definitely worth your time. ( )

"Houston we've had a problem."

On April 11, 1970, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigart blasted off from Earth on a journey to the moon. Three days later there was an explosion that ended the mission and almost ended their lives. For four days they barely slept and did their best to limp home on limited power and oxygen. This story describes in detail the actions of the crew and Mission Control to save Apollo 13 from an uncertain fate.

I liked the various perspectives presented from the Apollo 13 crew to Mission Control to the Lovell household. It was interesting to see how everyone involved reacted to the situation and especially how the team in Houston handled the various problems with the compromised mission. Reading the story from a 2012 perspective I felt somewhat removed from the issues. The idea that that one problem could cause an almost complete meltdown of the spacecraft seems foreign. Today it seems as if there are redundancies for any complex piece of machinery and any issues have long been worked out. But you have to remember that space program was still fairly young in 1970. Man had only landed on the moon one year prior this mission.

As well, the authors did a good job of creating empathy towards the characters. Despite knowing the ultimate outcome of this mission due to its historical nature, I worried about the Apollo 13 crew. I wanted them to be safe. I especially appreciated the attention to detail within Mission control and the spacecraft. The reader experiences the flight just as the crew did and I found the tecnobabble tired me out. Far from being annoyed at this, it let me identify with crew and the tireless Mission Control employees who even slept at work during the crises.

It was jarring to have Lovell as a co-author and yet the book wasn't in first person from his perspective. I do understand that it wouldn’t have made sense to write the story that way due to the various perspectives presented. It did make the book seem colder and less personable, creating distance between the reader and the story.

One thing I didn’t like was the chronological jumping around in Lovell's and NASA's timeline. I got used to it though, jumping from before Lovell was in the space program to his other space missions to Apollo 13. The problem was everytime we cut away from what was happening on Apollo 13 to a different time, it undercut the tension. If the reader is in the midst of worrying about this three man crew and then they're given a chance to relax by switching to an earlier point in history, it diminishes the excitement the story creates. While I believe that a book told chronologically can be somewhat old hat these days, in this case it would have kept my attention for the entirety of the story. As well, the book was filled with dates and technical details and procedures so it was difficult to separate out and remember all that was going on with Apollo 13 when I came back to chapters regarding their missions.

Overall I had a blast reading this book. If you are interested in the history of space travel and don't mind a few technical details read this book! ( )

One of my favorite stories and the book behind the movie. It is Ernest Shackelton in space.

The beginning is a bit slow if you are used to the movie because it starts with some background into Lovell, the space program, and some other things. All of the information does provide a much richer experience however. When the core of the story you are familiar with starts it is well worth it.

If you are familiar with the movie things happen a little differently every once in a while. Some of the things highlighted in the movie are not as time critical and some of the things the movie omits are really important. The Epilogue is especially nice material that happens to explain things mentioned in the movie but not addressed directly.

A read well worth it. ( )

Having lived through the dramatic events it described at an impressionable age I found this book riveting reading. It's hard to believe now that we (mankind) did this (the moon missions generally and the amazing team effort to save Apollo 13 in particular) at that time and that we've done so little in a similar direction since.

This memoir by James Lovell, co-written by the excellent science journalist Jeffrey Kluger, is one of the better Apollo books. ( )