Jim Lovell

The month of April in the year 1970 at the height of the U.S. space program, the fifth mission to the moon, during the fifty-fifth hour of the mission, something incredibly dangerous occurred, setting the basis for this incredible book.

I watched the NetFlix movie Apollo 13, which lead me to put aside the book I was reading and search for this book. It was at the begging of the journey that an explosion shook and rocked the ship. All too soon the oxygen and power read that this necessary system was dangerously draining.

The movie and book are both worth examining and learning the details of this fraught journey that was a miracle to return to earth. Sadly, with the crew could see the moon, they never got the experience of actually walking on it.

It truly is a miracle that they returned. It was the three crew members Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert as well as the engineers and staff of the NASA mission control together working at a break-neck speed to solve the many issues that continued to hamper the flight's ability to ever return.

This is a nail-biting story of a crew who kept their cool in order to frantically address the problems that seemed insurmountable.

As well as the crew and the NASA experts, there was a lot of description of those who waited back on earth, praying with the family members who Apollo 13. In particular, Marilyn Lovell, wife of Jim Lovell was highlighted both in the movie and the book. This gave the story a more realistic view of the nightmare in space and down on earth.

Compellingly adding to the story was the detective work and long hours spent in discovering why this accident occurred.

Jim Lovell promised his wife he would never attempt to navigate a ship that would land him on the moon. He kept that promise! As well as the story of a nation who was some-what weary of the space program, snapped to attention as the TV journalists outlined all the myriad problems that haunted this mission, this is a love story of Marilyn Lovell and her astronaut husband.

4.5 Stars -- Highly Recommended… (more)

Outstanding nonfiction about the Apollo 13 mission. Lovell & Kluger manage to hold the technobabble to a bare minimum, though the verbatim calldowns through the different mission control consoles gets a bit wearing.

While the bulk of the book details the mission itself, its multitude of disastrous systems failures, and the incredible Earthside and spaceborne efforts to get the crew home safely, there is also background about Lovell's career, as well as a chilling review of the post-mission investigation into the root cause of the command module explosion that doomed the lunar landing.

There's also a fair amount of attention paid to Marilyn Lovell, both during the hair-raising mission itself and to the general substructure of astronaut wives and the support system they created among themselves.

Much of this material will be familiar to readers who have followed the beginnings of America's manned space program, whether readers lived through that period with the first glimmerings of the Mercury program in 1958 through the last, sad Apollo mission in 1972, or whether their only exposure to it has come second-hand through memoirs and documentaries. Yet nothing seems quite so fraught, quite so heartbreaking, or quite so edge-of-the-seat suspenseful, as those six days in 1970 when America, and the world, were brutally reminded that man-in-space was not routine, and that the technology that got us out there could also fail us with disastrous results.… (more)

"'Freddy,' Lovell said, turning to Haise. 'I'm afraid this is going to be the last moon mission for a long time.'"

This is the compelling story of the Apollo 13 disaster: the blow-out that disabled the command module and life support systems for astronauts James Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert, and the ensuing rescue efforts to bring them safely back to Earth. The story is told from the points of view of the astronauts, from all the engineers and staff at NASA Mission Control working frantically, and from the families who watched helplessly. There's a lot of detail here, as one crisis follows another, but it's not too technical and not boring.

If you've seen the Ron Howard movie, you will know the outline of the story (and the importance of duct tape), but it was still interesting to me to get all the details filled in. I was constantly amazed at the skill and ingenuity of the the astronauts and the people on the ground, as especially their dedication. The families, too, were amazing in their bravery and stoicism. It was a thrilling adventure to read, but also a very feel-good book.

Recommended.

4 stars… (more)