''Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13'' (published in

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, also known as wrappers, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, ...

as ''Apollo 13'') is a 1994 non-fiction book by astronaut

Jim Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. ( ; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the fi ...

and journalist

Jeffrey Kluger Jeffrey Kluger (born 1954) is an American editor at large at Time (magazine), ''Time'' magazine and author of thirteen books on various topics, such as ''The Narcissist Next Door'' (2014); ''Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio' ...

, about the failed April 1970

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo program, Apollo space program and would have been the third Moon landing. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the landing was abort ...

lunar landing mission which Lovell commanded. The book is the basis of the 1995 film adaptation ''

'', directed by

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...

and starring

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

as Lovell. Lovell was initially approached by Kluger in 1991 about collaborating on the book.

Fred Haise Fred Wallace Haise Jr. ( ; born November 14, 1933) is an American former NASA astronaut, engineer, fighter pilot with the United States Marine Corps Aviation, U.S. Marine Corps and United States Air Force, U.S. Air Force, and a test pilot. He ...

was not interested in the collaboration, and

Jack Swigert John Leonard Swigert Jr. (August 30, 1931 – December 27, 1982) was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer, United States Air Force pilot, and politician. In April 1970, as command module pilot of A ...

had died of cancer in 1982.

Background

Apollo 13 was the third mission of the

Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

intended to land men on the Moon. An explosion of an onboard

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...

tank in the Service Module, when the craft was close to reaching the Moon, crippled the electrical power generation and propulsion systems for the Command Module ''Odyssey''. This necessitated the abort of the lunar landing, and placed the lives of astronauts Lovell,

, and

in serious jeopardy. The mission became famous for the safe return of the men, made possible by the

flight controller Flight controllers are personnel who aid space flight by working in mission control centers such as NASA's Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center or ESA's European Space Operations Centre. Flight controllers work at computer consoles a ...

s' resourceful adaptation of the electrical, propulsion, and life support systems of the

Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed s ...

''Aquarius'' as a "lifeboat".

Physical description

* Hardcover, 378 pages * Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (T) (October 1994) * Language: English * * Dimensions: 1.5 × 6.2 × 9.2 inches

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Cite book, title=Apollo 13, language=Spanish, year=1995 , author1=James Lovell , author2=Jeffrey Kluger , publisher=Barcelona Ediciones, isbn=84-406-5685-8, url=https://archive.org/details/apolo13textoimpr00love/mode/2up 1994 non-fiction books Apollo program American non-fiction books Non-fiction books adapted into films Houghton Mifflin books Non-fiction novels Apollo 13 Aviation books Spaceflight books Jim Lovell Books by astronauts

Background

Physical description

See also

References

Bibliography