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Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed
“Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”
On the evening of April 13, 1970, the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13 were just hours from the third lunar landing in history. But as they soared through space, two hundred thousand miles from earth, an explosion badly damaged their spacecraft. With compromised engines and failing life-support systems, the crew was in incomparably grave danger. Faced with below-freezing temperatures, a seriously ill crew member, and a dwindling water supply, a safe return seemed unlikely.
Thirteen is the shocking, miraculous, and entirely true story of how the astronauts and ground crew guided Apollo 13 to a safe landing on earth. Expanding on dispatches written for the New Yorker, Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. brings readers unparalleled detail on the moment-by-moment developments of one of NASA’s most dramatic missions.
On the evening of April 13, 1970, the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13 were just hours from the third lunar landing in history. But as they soared through space, two hundred thousand miles from earth, an explosion badly damaged their spacecraft. With compromised engines and failing life-support systems, the crew was in incomparably grave danger. Faced with below-freezing temperatures, a seriously ill crew member, and a dwindling water supply, a safe return seemed unlikely.
Thirteen is the shocking, miraculous, and entirely true story of how the astronauts and ground crew guided Apollo 13 to a safe landing on earth. Expanding on dispatches written for the New Yorker, Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. brings readers unparalleled detail on the moment-by-moment developments of one of NASA’s most dramatic missions.
210 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1972
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About the author
Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.
15 books6 followersHenry Spotswood Fenimore (S. F.) Cooper Jr. is the author of eight books about NASA and space exploration, and was a longtime staff writer for the New Yorker. He lived in Cooperstown, New York.
He was a descendent of James Fenimore Cooper.
He was a descendent of James Fenimore Cooper.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
September 5, 2015
Where I got the book: Audiobook from Audible. This was a deal of the day and I fell for it—SUCKERRRRR.
Apollo 13 is like one of my favorite movies ever. Which is probably why I read The Martian. Tiny humans pitted against the Vastness of Space—can the stakes get any higher? And the cool thing about Apollo 13 is that it was TRUE and it was way back in the dark ages of 1970 when I was ten years old and had no idea any of this was happening. I jumped on this double quick, hoping, I think, for an Apollo 13: The Movie experience.
Well, not quite. I mean it was, but purely from the technical point of view. None of the personal stuff, the anxiously waiting families, the moment in training when it transpires NASA never thought astronauts might need to pee (a hilarious scene). This version of the Apollo 13 story, written close to the event in 1972, is a detailed and thorough account of the technical problems NASA and the astronauts had to overcome to get the mission home to Earth. To add to the geekiness, J. Paul Guimont narrates in a robotic voice that sounds alarmingly like text-to-speech, colorless and dispassionate.
And yet my overall impression was one of enjoyment—I guess this book docked with my inner nerd. (Inner? I think it’s pretty near the surface). Next time I watch the movie I’ll know all about Fido, Guido and Retro, and how the Trench differs from the rest of the room. I’ll understand the danger of gimbal lock, and snigger at the idea of the command module being full of bags containing human waste. In short, this was knowledge as entertainment. Just add Tom Hanks.
Apollo 13 is like one of my favorite movies ever. Which is probably why I read The Martian. Tiny humans pitted against the Vastness of Space—can the stakes get any higher? And the cool thing about Apollo 13 is that it was TRUE and it was way back in the dark ages of 1970 when I was ten years old and had no idea any of this was happening. I jumped on this double quick, hoping, I think, for an Apollo 13: The Movie experience.
Well, not quite. I mean it was, but purely from the technical point of view. None of the personal stuff, the anxiously waiting families, the moment in training when it transpires NASA never thought astronauts might need to pee (a hilarious scene). This version of the Apollo 13 story, written close to the event in 1972, is a detailed and thorough account of the technical problems NASA and the astronauts had to overcome to get the mission home to Earth. To add to the geekiness, J. Paul Guimont narrates in a robotic voice that sounds alarmingly like text-to-speech, colorless and dispassionate.
And yet my overall impression was one of enjoyment—I guess this book docked with my inner nerd. (Inner? I think it’s pretty near the surface). Next time I watch the movie I’ll know all about Fido, Guido and Retro, and how the Trench differs from the rest of the room. I’ll understand the danger of gimbal lock, and snigger at the idea of the command module being full of bags containing human waste. In short, this was knowledge as entertainment. Just add Tom Hanks.
November 9, 2017
Superb.
But be aware. This is not human-drama version of the story, a la the movie Apollo 13.
There is almost no mention of worried family, the fretful public entranced by global media coverage, or the personal relationships and tensions among the onboard or ground crews. It’s almost completely missing the standard small pieces of “human interest”.
Instead the story is about the explosion and evolution of technical problems during flight, and the professional work done in space and on the ground to solve mysteries and problems surrounding those technical problems, and to make key decisions using the best understanding they could create as they tried to make sense of what was happening.
It is absolutely a technically oriented book, but it is thoroughly accessible to anyone generally interested in the technical aspects of this drama, and how humans worked through it. It’s written for an interested public, not for engineers and other aerospace professionals.
The technical talk is as accessible as that in The Martian, and I enjoyed this book every bit as much as The Martian even though they’re very different, even beyond the difference in genres (historical technical non-fiction versus hard sci fi).
Yes, they did “science the s#%^ out of it”, in this book,too. But with some exceptions, it’s really about expert collaborative work with engineering-style problem-solving, and not about the individual hero scientist ingeniously creating out-there solutions to the life and death problems, as in The Martian.
Still, the presentation of problems and the paths to their solution was satisfying.
There is little if any “attitude” or other glimpses into the individual. But I didn’t mind. The mission and tone of the book reflected the mission and what seems to be the tone of the real work done at the time by the real people. I appreciated that this was not the dramatized-for-the-public version, as valuable as those are. Instead, it’s a shoulder-level view of what felt like the actual experience.
Also, I’ll say this isn’t an “interesting” read the way we mean when we say something is valuable and intellectually engaging despite being a dry subject and presentation. I found nothing dry about it. Instead I found it gripping and couldn’t wait to get back to it.
Even though the main plot points and ending are obvious to anyone with a rough, even slight, knowledge of Apollo 13, and I already knew much of the technical story even beyond having seen the movie, I felt the suspense from start to finish—will they make it back this time?, and learned quite a bit more of the technical story.
I loved it.
The only thing I’ll complain about is that I listened to this on audio and found the narrator fine overall but, somehow, the man was clueless about how to pronounce “the LM”, a pivotal phrase used hundreds or thousands of times in book. The LM (lunar module) is a character in its own right, and the most powerful piece of symbolism in the story. I can’t imagine anyone with more than the slightest acquaintance with the story, with NASA, with the Apollo program, anything, NOT knowing to just say “the lim”.
I tried hard to block out the error and not let it distract me from the story. But every time I heard “the L, M” my brain went through a rapid “huh, what’s that, oh yeah he doesn’t know, he’s trying to say “lim”, come on dude, say it, it’s the lim”. Every. Time.
My brain never would make the translation without interrupting the flow. It was worse than if he hadn’t known to say “nasa” instead of “N, A, S, A”
Despite that, it’s a great book, as long as you know what kind of book you’re getting and you’re good with that.
But be aware. This is not human-drama version of the story, a la the movie Apollo 13.
There is almost no mention of worried family, the fretful public entranced by global media coverage, or the personal relationships and tensions among the onboard or ground crews. It’s almost completely missing the standard small pieces of “human interest”.
Instead the story is about the explosion and evolution of technical problems during flight, and the professional work done in space and on the ground to solve mysteries and problems surrounding those technical problems, and to make key decisions using the best understanding they could create as they tried to make sense of what was happening.
It is absolutely a technically oriented book, but it is thoroughly accessible to anyone generally interested in the technical aspects of this drama, and how humans worked through it. It’s written for an interested public, not for engineers and other aerospace professionals.
The technical talk is as accessible as that in The Martian, and I enjoyed this book every bit as much as The Martian even though they’re very different, even beyond the difference in genres (historical technical non-fiction versus hard sci fi).
Yes, they did “science the s#%^ out of it”, in this book,too. But with some exceptions, it’s really about expert collaborative work with engineering-style problem-solving, and not about the individual hero scientist ingeniously creating out-there solutions to the life and death problems, as in The Martian.
Still, the presentation of problems and the paths to their solution was satisfying.
There is little if any “attitude” or other glimpses into the individual. But I didn’t mind. The mission and tone of the book reflected the mission and what seems to be the tone of the real work done at the time by the real people. I appreciated that this was not the dramatized-for-the-public version, as valuable as those are. Instead, it’s a shoulder-level view of what felt like the actual experience.
Also, I’ll say this isn’t an “interesting” read the way we mean when we say something is valuable and intellectually engaging despite being a dry subject and presentation. I found nothing dry about it. Instead I found it gripping and couldn’t wait to get back to it.
Even though the main plot points and ending are obvious to anyone with a rough, even slight, knowledge of Apollo 13, and I already knew much of the technical story even beyond having seen the movie, I felt the suspense from start to finish—will they make it back this time?, and learned quite a bit more of the technical story.
I loved it.
The only thing I’ll complain about is that I listened to this on audio and found the narrator fine overall but, somehow, the man was clueless about how to pronounce “the LM”, a pivotal phrase used hundreds or thousands of times in book. The LM (lunar module) is a character in its own right, and the most powerful piece of symbolism in the story. I can’t imagine anyone with more than the slightest acquaintance with the story, with NASA, with the Apollo program, anything, NOT knowing to just say “the lim”.
I tried hard to block out the error and not let it distract me from the story. But every time I heard “the L, M” my brain went through a rapid “huh, what’s that, oh yeah he doesn’t know, he’s trying to say “lim”, come on dude, say it, it’s the lim”. Every. Time.
My brain never would make the translation without interrupting the flow. It was worse than if he hadn’t known to say “nasa” instead of “N, A, S, A”
Despite that, it’s a great book, as long as you know what kind of book you’re getting and you’re good with that.
November 16, 2015
Cooper's telling of the Apollo THIRTEEN mission was originally published in New Yorker Magazine, where he was a staff writer, and it has been reissued as an e-book.
For all the science and human achievement involved in this space mission, the reader is immediately struck by the contrast between standards of 1970 and of today. Observers of the travelling rocket, at Heuston, see a white blip appear on their monitoring TV screen but dismiss it - the screen "had been flickering and blipping badly". They had seen half of the mission's liquid oxygen spilling out into space and forming a huge bubble which reflected sunlight.
The courageous, highly trained Apollo Thirteen astronauts included Captain Lovell who was filming life inside the capsule so that NASA could put out an educational programme. He had circled the moon on Apollo 8 and this time expected to make a landing. Haise was the lunar module pilot and Swigert, who joined the team when another astronaut was exposed to German measles, was the command module pilot.
Cooper describes the technical construction of the oxygen tanks and other systems which supported life and propulsion. A temperature gauge that did not register above eighty-five degrees (I'm guessing Fahrenheit) contributed to the safety shutoff overheating and failing without anyone knowing. Hot wires burned off their coverings and the exposed wires sparked in the oxygen tank, causing an explosion - which NASA engineers like to refer to as a 'tank failure'. As a vacuum does not transmit sound waves, the astronauts felt more than heard the vibration. They and Command immediately sought the problem, though their instrumentation could not tell them directly so they had to work through all the possibilities. The ship began to drop power and the astronauts were clearly in danger.
The astronauts "had to riffle through twenty pounds of instruction sheets" before they found what they were looking for in a procedure manual. Today a gadget the size of a credit card would instantly produce this information. NASA base was then using some of the most powerful computers in the world.
Henry SF Cooper Jr. has condensed the nerve-wracking days and immense amount of teamwork. The book is heavy with initials like FIDO, LM, RETRO, GUIDO, TELMU, and combined with the constant engineering data and the fact that he refers to everyone by surnames it can feel like heavy reading at times. We know that all depends on the human struggle but we do not see the astronauts' family life or anything to make us more concerned about them. However at 110 pages it is not too long. THIRTEEN will certainly be appreciated by engineers and designers, and by readers with a strong interest in the space programme at this time.
For all the science and human achievement involved in this space mission, the reader is immediately struck by the contrast between standards of 1970 and of today. Observers of the travelling rocket, at Heuston, see a white blip appear on their monitoring TV screen but dismiss it - the screen "had been flickering and blipping badly". They had seen half of the mission's liquid oxygen spilling out into space and forming a huge bubble which reflected sunlight.
The courageous, highly trained Apollo Thirteen astronauts included Captain Lovell who was filming life inside the capsule so that NASA could put out an educational programme. He had circled the moon on Apollo 8 and this time expected to make a landing. Haise was the lunar module pilot and Swigert, who joined the team when another astronaut was exposed to German measles, was the command module pilot.
Cooper describes the technical construction of the oxygen tanks and other systems which supported life and propulsion. A temperature gauge that did not register above eighty-five degrees (I'm guessing Fahrenheit) contributed to the safety shutoff overheating and failing without anyone knowing. Hot wires burned off their coverings and the exposed wires sparked in the oxygen tank, causing an explosion - which NASA engineers like to refer to as a 'tank failure'. As a vacuum does not transmit sound waves, the astronauts felt more than heard the vibration. They and Command immediately sought the problem, though their instrumentation could not tell them directly so they had to work through all the possibilities. The ship began to drop power and the astronauts were clearly in danger.
The astronauts "had to riffle through twenty pounds of instruction sheets" before they found what they were looking for in a procedure manual. Today a gadget the size of a credit card would instantly produce this information. NASA base was then using some of the most powerful computers in the world.
Henry SF Cooper Jr. has condensed the nerve-wracking days and immense amount of teamwork. The book is heavy with initials like FIDO, LM, RETRO, GUIDO, TELMU, and combined with the constant engineering data and the fact that he refers to everyone by surnames it can feel like heavy reading at times. We know that all depends on the human struggle but we do not see the astronauts' family life or anything to make us more concerned about them. However at 110 pages it is not too long. THIRTEEN will certainly be appreciated by engineers and designers, and by readers with a strong interest in the space programme at this time.
December 30, 2015
Concise, factual, and engrossing. I do wish there had been some sort of epilogue and/or analysis of how the Apollo 13 mission had an impact on future missions to space. The ending felt quite abrupt, but otherwise a solid read.
February 11, 2020
Written shortly after the incident, this is a fairly technical timeline of the challenges faced by the crew and ground controllers. The recent Tom Hanks movie educated a new generation about this event, but didn't do as good a job of explaining the solutions and the teamwork involved.
Author Henry S.F. Cooper, a descendant of James Fennimore Cooper, was a prolific science writer. I read his account of the Magellan spacecraft (The Evening Star) and rated it 5 stars - it also focused on problem solving and teamwork.
This book is comparable to Mars Rover Curiosity and the fictional The Martian, in that each introduces problem, thought process, then resolution. That is definitely a niche I enjoy reading, and if you do also, I would recommend this fairly short book. Now it's time to re-watch the movie :)
Author Henry S.F. Cooper, a descendant of James Fennimore Cooper, was a prolific science writer. I read his account of the Magellan spacecraft (The Evening Star) and rated it 5 stars - it also focused on problem solving and teamwork.
This book is comparable to Mars Rover Curiosity and the fictional The Martian, in that each introduces problem, thought process, then resolution. That is definitely a niche I enjoy reading, and if you do also, I would recommend this fairly short book. Now it's time to re-watch the movie :)
February 17, 2014
(I was offered a copy of Thirteen by the publisher and downloaded it via NetGalley.)
There was something about the style and structure of this book that I couldn't quite put my finger on; about a third of the way through I remembered that it was originally published in 1972, and that explained it. It's not sensationalized or heavily dramatized, nor is it structured like a novel in short punchy chapters; instead it's a very factual, linear account, chronicling every minute of the mission in a style that reminded me of the newscasts of the day, allowing the drama of the story to come through without forcing it. But the biggest difference is that the Apollo 13 story did not yet have the legendary status in 1972 that it has today, so there are no star players or big Hollywood moments in this version of events; every minute and every person is equal, from the astronauts and mission control directors to the random guys in the back room chain-smoking over flight plans. That was pretty refreshing, actually. I learned a lot from this book, and was absorbed from beginning to end. I'm grateful I was offered a copy -- it's a valuable addition to my space history library.
There was something about the style and structure of this book that I couldn't quite put my finger on; about a third of the way through I remembered that it was originally published in 1972, and that explained it. It's not sensationalized or heavily dramatized, nor is it structured like a novel in short punchy chapters; instead it's a very factual, linear account, chronicling every minute of the mission in a style that reminded me of the newscasts of the day, allowing the drama of the story to come through without forcing it. But the biggest difference is that the Apollo 13 story did not yet have the legendary status in 1972 that it has today, so there are no star players or big Hollywood moments in this version of events; every minute and every person is equal, from the astronauts and mission control directors to the random guys in the back room chain-smoking over flight plans. That was pretty refreshing, actually. I learned a lot from this book, and was absorbed from beginning to end. I'm grateful I was offered a copy -- it's a valuable addition to my space history library.
February 5, 2018
I liked Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed. It reminded me a bit of The Martian. Both books are about astronauts who suffer disasters that hadn't been anticipated and who then have to improvise their way to survival (with the help of mission control on Earth). The big difference being that the events described in Thirteen really happened.
Cooper has dealt with his subject in a strangely clinical way. We don't hear about the families of the astronauts back home, we aren't given sentimental reasons to pull for the survival of these men (the book tells us almost nothing about them), and the events aren't deliberately ramped up to increase nail biting by the reader. It's a very straightforward account, and yet, it's still very readable.
Bringing Apollo 13 back to Earth was like solving a puzzle. The initial explosion of an oxygen tank caused a cascade of malfunctions that had to be dealt with, and it is fascinating to read about how the astronauts, aided by scientists and engineers back home, were able to solve the problems one by one (while enduring cold, sleeplessness and dehydration) and safely return to earth. This book may not be as exciting as the Ron Howard movie about the Apollo 13 mission, but in its way it's every bit as enjoyable.
I read the kindle edition of this book with whispersynch. The reader for the audiobook did a solid job.
Cooper has dealt with his subject in a strangely clinical way. We don't hear about the families of the astronauts back home, we aren't given sentimental reasons to pull for the survival of these men (the book tells us almost nothing about them), and the events aren't deliberately ramped up to increase nail biting by the reader. It's a very straightforward account, and yet, it's still very readable.
Bringing Apollo 13 back to Earth was like solving a puzzle. The initial explosion of an oxygen tank caused a cascade of malfunctions that had to be dealt with, and it is fascinating to read about how the astronauts, aided by scientists and engineers back home, were able to solve the problems one by one (while enduring cold, sleeplessness and dehydration) and safely return to earth. This book may not be as exciting as the Ron Howard movie about the Apollo 13 mission, but in its way it's every bit as enjoyable.
I read the kindle edition of this book with whispersynch. The reader for the audiobook did a solid job.
August 20, 2018
The story of Apollo 13 is fascinating and dramatic, although you couldn't tell it from this audio book. If you took the movie Apollo 13 and took away all the suspense and then dragged out and embellished every boring technical detail, you'd have this audio book. I gave it 2 stars because I didn't abandon it altogether. So, I guess one of those stars is for me! LOL
November 29, 2016
This is a solid play-by-play of the Apollo mission, offering lots of detail about what transpired both in the lunar modules and back here on Earth. But don't expect dramatic storytelling or a lot of background about any of the key players--Cooper skews away from the somewhat obvious emotional angles and more towards logistical coverage. All of which means this book is probably best suited for readers looking to understand how the Apollo 13 mission unfolded in a technical/logistical sense and, perhaps even more so, the very real science behind it all.
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February 18, 2020Anyone who has had an association with the sea and life-boat drills will find the story of this lifeboat an incredible tale of how help from hundreds of thousand miles away brought a crew home safe. Decisions made were not down to individuals but by teams and high-lighted the need to revise designs of components in order to provide inter-changeability of parts between systems and manufacturers. As we await a return to the Moon, this story gives inspiration and possible reassurance to those who would be part of this next great adventure.
February 1, 2014
Most of us probably think we know all we need to know about the Apollo 13 mission – after all, we’ve seen the movie (which isn’t bad at all) – but inevitably the Hollywood treatment skims over a lot of fascinating detail, while this book, written just two years after the event, gives us the true nitty gritty.
I found it absolutely fascinating, seeing the disaster unfold in slow motion, with all the messiness of real life. For instance, the ground controllers, unaware that an explosion had taken place and had disabled a lot of the equipment went quite a while making incorrect assumptions, still hoping they could get the mission to the moon. In fact what the book makes clear is that in some ways the astronauts were just bit part players and it all the different individuals on the ground who were making the decisions and calculations and generally trying to sort things out.
On the whole this works very well – by relaying the conversations on the ground, the arguments between the different specialists and so on, we get a real, in-depth feel of what really happened here. This makes it a genuine page turner, as the reader feels to be present as the disaster unfolds. The only downside of this is that we are showered with with acronyms for all the different controllers, referred to, for instance, as CAPCOM, TELMU, FIDO, EECOM, GUIDO, RETRO and so on. To add to the confusion, because there are four shifts of controllers, there are four persons per title, leading to a cast that it is very difficult to keep sorted in the mind.
I have two niggles with the book – one small and one significant. The small one is the author’s affectation of spelling re-entry as reëntry, which is for some reason very irritating. The big one is the science, which the author clearly hasn’t got a clue about. Two specific examples. He says ‘One amp-hour on the spacecraft’s twenty-eight volt current (sic) would keep a 40-watt bulb burning for one hour.’ Anyone with high school science should be able to see at least two things wrong with that. But the biggest howler is ’so it was difficult for the computer to work out vectors, a vector being a point in space where the spacecraft was known to have been’. It’s not rocket science. Well, okay, it is rocket science, but it is not exactly postgrad physics to realise that a vector is not a point in space.
The book doesn’t suffer particularly from its age – in fact it is only apparent in two ways. One is that it thinks the computers of the day are impressive bits of kit (dwarfed as they now are by any smartphone), and the other is that when the book was written it seems that one of the most iconic quotes of modern times (misquoted though it often is) had not become well-known. There is no direct reference to Swigert’s ‘Okay Houston, we’ve had a problem here.’ (Or Lovell’s near repeat ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem.’) All Cooper says is ‘First, Swigert reported over the radio that the seemed to have a problem.’
Although I can only give it three stars because of the bad science, I have no doubt that anyone interested in the history of space flight should give this book a go.
I found it absolutely fascinating, seeing the disaster unfold in slow motion, with all the messiness of real life. For instance, the ground controllers, unaware that an explosion had taken place and had disabled a lot of the equipment went quite a while making incorrect assumptions, still hoping they could get the mission to the moon. In fact what the book makes clear is that in some ways the astronauts were just bit part players and it all the different individuals on the ground who were making the decisions and calculations and generally trying to sort things out.
On the whole this works very well – by relaying the conversations on the ground, the arguments between the different specialists and so on, we get a real, in-depth feel of what really happened here. This makes it a genuine page turner, as the reader feels to be present as the disaster unfolds. The only downside of this is that we are showered with with acronyms for all the different controllers, referred to, for instance, as CAPCOM, TELMU, FIDO, EECOM, GUIDO, RETRO and so on. To add to the confusion, because there are four shifts of controllers, there are four persons per title, leading to a cast that it is very difficult to keep sorted in the mind.
I have two niggles with the book – one small and one significant. The small one is the author’s affectation of spelling re-entry as reëntry, which is for some reason very irritating. The big one is the science, which the author clearly hasn’t got a clue about. Two specific examples. He says ‘One amp-hour on the spacecraft’s twenty-eight volt current (sic) would keep a 40-watt bulb burning for one hour.’ Anyone with high school science should be able to see at least two things wrong with that. But the biggest howler is ’so it was difficult for the computer to work out vectors, a vector being a point in space where the spacecraft was known to have been’. It’s not rocket science. Well, okay, it is rocket science, but it is not exactly postgrad physics to realise that a vector is not a point in space.
The book doesn’t suffer particularly from its age – in fact it is only apparent in two ways. One is that it thinks the computers of the day are impressive bits of kit (dwarfed as they now are by any smartphone), and the other is that when the book was written it seems that one of the most iconic quotes of modern times (misquoted though it often is) had not become well-known. There is no direct reference to Swigert’s ‘Okay Houston, we’ve had a problem here.’ (Or Lovell’s near repeat ‘Houston, we’ve had a problem.’) All Cooper says is ‘First, Swigert reported over the radio that the seemed to have a problem.’
Although I can only give it three stars because of the bad science, I have no doubt that anyone interested in the history of space flight should give this book a go.
June 21, 2014
This is a rather captivating, if clinical, look at the Apollo 13 moon flight, which didn't quite go as planned. The account is entirely from the inside: At Mission Control and from the damaged spacecraft itself. Even with the multitude of acronyms and nicknames and high-tech (for then) talk, the book is a very interesting look at the event, which was perhaps popularized for a new generation in the sketchy though more dramatic Ron Howard film. This work was based on transcripts of the communications between the spacecraft and Earth, and there's a good level of tension and action throughout. A very good afternoon read for the history or science (and science fiction) fan.
February 28, 2021
In 1970 I was in U.S. Navy boot camp when Apollo 13 made its flight. Since then I’ve read many of the books and articles that purport to tell the story of the flight of Apollo 13. I’ve also read a few official reports that address specific aspects of the response to the near-disaster. And in 1985 I got to attend a Jim Lovell speaking engagement where he told some of the story from his perspective.
Cooper’s well-focused look at the activity in the flight control center in the course of Apollo 13’s aborted mission has been much to my liking. He wasn’t bogged down in detail but still painted a clear picture of the tension and pressure, much of it self imposed, that the engineers dealt with at the time.
From the Acknowledgements:
“Many others have had a hand in this book. In particular, William Shawn, the Editor of The New Yorker, first had the idea that the Apollo 13 mission might offer the best glimpse into the anatomy of a spaceflight and especially into the workings of ‘those men who sit at those desks’ in the Mission Control Room—the flight controllers, whom nobody seemed to know much about.”
Thanks to Wallace Shawn for once more seeing a side of a story that needed telling and for assigning it to Cooper. This brief book, which I believe reprints what Cooper originally wrote for The New Yorker magazine, is a very worthwhile addition to any space flight bookshelf.
Cooper’s well-focused look at the activity in the flight control center in the course of Apollo 13’s aborted mission has been much to my liking. He wasn’t bogged down in detail but still painted a clear picture of the tension and pressure, much of it self imposed, that the engineers dealt with at the time.
From the Acknowledgements:
“Many others have had a hand in this book. In particular, William Shawn, the Editor of The New Yorker, first had the idea that the Apollo 13 mission might offer the best glimpse into the anatomy of a spaceflight and especially into the workings of ‘those men who sit at those desks’ in the Mission Control Room—the flight controllers, whom nobody seemed to know much about.”
Thanks to Wallace Shawn for once more seeing a side of a story that needed telling and for assigning it to Cooper. This brief book, which I believe reprints what Cooper originally wrote for The New Yorker magazine, is a very worthwhile addition to any space flight bookshelf.
January 13, 2022
This is pretty much a nonfiction procedural following both the astronauts and the ground crew at NASA during the Apollo 13 accident and subsequent successful finish to the mission. But this is what I actually was thinking I would get. I now have a much clearer picture of what was going on both in Texas and in the modules in space.
My original goal was to see if they mentioned my uncle anywhere. I've been told he was one of the contractors' engineers that was trying to figure out workarounds during the flight. This didn't really mention many of those fellows (I'm betting there weren't any women) in the book by name, however. But if Uncle Don was actually working on the problems in some capacity that week I now understand better what that would have meant.
My main complaint is the wrap-up of the book. After spending so many pages telling readers about all the worries about splashdown location, whether the capsule would still be able to stand the re-entry heat, whether there would be a problem with the signal for finding the capsule, etc., the book seemed to end like, "They came down the right place, they picked them up, and all was right with the world." I exaggerate somewhat, but that's how it felt.
My original goal was to see if they mentioned my uncle anywhere. I've been told he was one of the contractors' engineers that was trying to figure out workarounds during the flight. This didn't really mention many of those fellows (I'm betting there weren't any women) in the book by name, however. But if Uncle Don was actually working on the problems in some capacity that week I now understand better what that would have meant.
My main complaint is the wrap-up of the book. After spending so many pages telling readers about all the worries about splashdown location, whether the capsule would still be able to stand the re-entry heat, whether there would be a problem with the signal for finding the capsule, etc., the book seemed to end like, "They came down the right place, they picked them up, and all was right with the world." I exaggerate somewhat, but that's how it felt.
September 24, 2020
Some may see Apollo 13 as NASA's biggest failure, but in many significant ways, it was actually its greatest success.
Apollo 13 was supposed to land on the moon, but an explosion and subsequent rupture of an oxygen tank early on in the voyage jettisoned the mission so that the goal quickly became focused on one thing only: get the astronauts home safely.
Expertly written and researched by Henry S.F. Cooper, this short book is a detailed and somewhat technical explanation of exactly what happened. Primarily focused on Mission Control at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, the book details the heroic, extraordinary ways these engineers used all their training and a lot of imagination to bring Apollo 13 and its three astronauts safely home.
Readers who have an engineering bent will likely enjoy this far more than anyone else, but it's written in clear and understandable language so even liberal arts majors (as I was) can comprehend it.
That said, this is far more of a technical story than it is a human story. For that latter point of view, watch the movie "Apollo 13," starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon.
Apollo 13 was supposed to land on the moon, but an explosion and subsequent rupture of an oxygen tank early on in the voyage jettisoned the mission so that the goal quickly became focused on one thing only: get the astronauts home safely.
Expertly written and researched by Henry S.F. Cooper, this short book is a detailed and somewhat technical explanation of exactly what happened. Primarily focused on Mission Control at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, the book details the heroic, extraordinary ways these engineers used all their training and a lot of imagination to bring Apollo 13 and its three astronauts safely home.
Readers who have an engineering bent will likely enjoy this far more than anyone else, but it's written in clear and understandable language so even liberal arts majors (as I was) can comprehend it.
That said, this is far more of a technical story than it is a human story. For that latter point of view, watch the movie "Apollo 13," starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon.
February 19, 2024
A fairly straightforward, play-by-play account of the Apollo 13 disaster and recovery with a focus on the technical problems and solutions. However, for someone apparently experienced in reporting on space exploration, NASA, and the Apollo missions in particular, Cooper is oddly unfamiliar with certain basic technical terminology and jargon, as evidenced in the way he presents them to the reader as though he were relaying terms he had never heard before. And some of his explanations are flat-out wrong, as when he calls a vector “a point in space,” or seemingly garbled, as in the following exchange:
“Aaron now told Kranz he would like to get Swigert to test Main Bus A by plugging one of the reëntry batteries into it and taking a Voltage reading. … A couple of minutes later, Swigert passed word back that he was getting a reading of two amps on the bus, and Kerwin said that sounded good to him.” Amps, of course, are a measure of current, not voltage.
Hopefully the more specialized domain knowledge of space flight was handled more accurately!
“Aaron now told Kranz he would like to get Swigert to test Main Bus A by plugging one of the reëntry batteries into it and taking a Voltage reading. … A couple of minutes later, Swigert passed word back that he was getting a reading of two amps on the bus, and Kerwin said that sounded good to him.” Amps, of course, are a measure of current, not voltage.
Hopefully the more specialized domain knowledge of space flight was handled more accurately!
October 11, 2023
"Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed" by Henry S. F. Cooper is a gripping exploration of one of NASA's most dramatic and perilous missions. Cooper's meticulous research and storytelling prowess provide readers with an in-depth understanding of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which was intended to be the third lunar landing but turned into a harrowing struggle for survival. The book offers a detailed account of the technical challenges, human resilience, and the heroic efforts of the astronauts and the ground control team that transformed a potential disaster into a triumph of teamwork and ingenuity. "Thirteen" is a testament to human courage and determination in the face of adversity and serves as an engrossing narrative for space enthusiasts and history buffs alike. Cooper's work reminds us of the incredible feats achieved during the Apollo program and the indomitable spirit of exploration that defines our quest for the stars.
June 22, 2024
13 the Flight that Failed by Henry S.F. Copper,Jr. Is a minute by minute account of the explosion on the way to what should have been the 3rd moon landing. Apollo 13 became a fight for survival for 3 astronauts to just get home just befor reaching the moon. I Think it Is the best book in print showing the part each flight Controlers played in getting the astronauts back to earth alive. You will see how the moon lander became a life boat with its limited supply of resources was stretched almost to the end. And the team work it took in addressing each problem along the way. It was not possible to just turn around and come home. No others book shows the working of Nasa's mission control in Houston better then, 13 The Flight that Failed. I found it more exciting then the Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13 witch tries very will to tell the hectic 5 day story in about 2 hours.
December 13, 2020
Book 93/100: Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed by Henry S.F. Cooper Jr.. While my friends all gave me ideas on what to read next (or continue reading), I went against everyone and decided to tackle this edge of my seat disaster of 1970. Minute by minute, edge of my seat read, especially since I have no idea what happened to Apollo 13 in the first place (no I haven't seen the movie yet but I just might now). The astronomical fear and intensity the people in that space shuttle must've felt is traumatizing in itself. I have no words. Well written and worth the read for those interesting
May 20, 2017
The unfortunate story of Apollo 13 was told amazingly in the movie. The book didn't seem to excite as much. Many of the major incidents for example, separation of the lunar module during the re entry procedure was described in less than a sentence, but certain less important events took half a page.
But throughout the book, you will feel like you're inside the command module, which I think is the whole point
But throughout the book, you will feel like you're inside the command module, which I think is the whole point
October 5, 2018
Don't read this expecting any focus on the people, or on painting a picture for you. This is almost literally a moment by moment recap of events and the responses that were chosen, from just before the accident until the astronauts are safely home again. And yet, the bare facts themselves are suspenseful enough to carry you quite a ways ... it's worth reading, especially if you're interested in the science and the space of it all.
February 18, 2018
This amazing little book is a bit technical in a few places, but it is an amazing account of the miraculous return of the Apollo flight that 'failed.' IMNSHO this was more of an achievement than the flights that 'succeeded.' If you are a fan of space history, especially if you are old enough to remember this bohok you will enjoy it.
October 29, 2018
Even if you've seen the great movie this is still a very suspenseful story. And it offers a lot more details of the technical challenges the mission faced.
(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})
(Note: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book. 3 = Very good; 4 = Outstanding {only about 5% of the books I read merit this}; 5 = All time favorites {one of these may come along every 400-500 books})
February 24, 2019
A book about the Apollo-13 mission that nearly escaped total disaster.
The book is from 1972 and hence free of the modern dramatizations of this event (). Even the famous 'Houston, we have a problem' is only hinted at. The book is a rather technical description of everything that happened, which I appreciated.
The book is from 1972 and hence free of the modern dramatizations of this event (). Even the famous 'Houston, we have a problem' is only hinted at. The book is a rather technical description of everything that happened, which I appreciated.
November 26, 2019
Fastest book I've ever read despite that its very technical when it comes to the science of space travel. A very detailed look at the Apollo 13 disaster that almost killed 3 astronauts had it not been for the hard work and determination of the engineers and NASA employees at mission control. A must read for any Apollo Era fanatic
March 22, 2020
Great Read for a space fan!
This book was a thriller that detailed the behind the scenes specifics of bringing home Apollo 13. Rarely does a non-fiction text bring so much energy and flavor to what are considered facts and figures. If you are a space history fan then this book is for you.
This book was a thriller that detailed the behind the scenes specifics of bringing home Apollo 13. Rarely does a non-fiction text bring so much energy and flavor to what are considered facts and figures. If you are a space history fan then this book is for you.
June 27, 2017
Ended by Falling Off Cliff
With a Kindle, one sometimes may be unaware how near to finishing a book one might be. But most books wind down toward a conclusion and often have an epilog to flesh out the aftermath. "Thirteen" simply stops without any real sense of wrapping up the story of the events. It left me wanting to know the answer to the questions of "and then....?"
With a Kindle, one sometimes may be unaware how near to finishing a book one might be. But most books wind down toward a conclusion and often have an epilog to flesh out the aftermath. "Thirteen" simply stops without any real sense of wrapping up the story of the events. It left me wanting to know the answer to the questions of "and then....?"
July 25, 2017
I thought this was an excellent book. I remember when this happened. Even though it was written from the perception of the ground crew, I'll confess to getting teary eyed at the end even though I knew the outcome. Extremely well written, technical without being unfathomable.
February 2, 2019
Space Misson Story
This is a good book. It is for the person who is fascinated Appolo 13 but the movie is not quite enough. This book gives the details and the moods of the astronauts and the controllers while not glossing over the story. It is very suspenful.
This is a good book. It is for the person who is fascinated Appolo 13 but the movie is not quite enough. This book gives the details and the moods of the astronauts and the controllers while not glossing over the story. It is very suspenful.
June 7, 2019
Someone asked me once if I would read a book that I knew how it ended. Well, I knew how this one was going to end but it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way.
Today they have Ironman, The Black Panther, Captain Marvel and such. My generation had these guys and they were real. Boldly Go!!
Today they have Ironman, The Black Panther, Captain Marvel and such. My generation had these guys and they were real. Boldly Go!!
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