Apollo 13 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt by Jim & Jeffrey Kluger LovellMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
We've had this in my family library in Google Play for a while, so, when I was between books, I decided to have a look. And I'm glad I did. I mean, I saw the movie, which was really well done, but having a first hand account of this mission was worth the read.
For those of you who don't know the story, this is the story of one of the Apollo moon missions which had intended to land on the moon in 1970. After the first moon landing in 1969, the missions had started to get routine, so this mission was given rather short shrift from the media. However, when an oxygen module ruptured on the way to the moon, all attention returned as NASA struggled to bring home the crew of the crippled spacecraft. Almost miraculously, they managed it, but it makes for a fascinating of human endurance and technological improvisation,
This account is based on the Jim Lovell, the commander of the expeditions, account and gives an hour by hour, almost minute by minute account of what it was like in the crippled space craft as well as a detailed explanation of what was happening on the ground- both in mission control, but also at home and in the media. It is a gripping account and, even when the science sections get a bit thick, it is quickly relieved by the human factor both on the spacecraft and on the earth.
This is an excellent book and really worth reading, especially for those who enjoy stories of survival against the odds, or even just space flight.
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