Book - Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13

By Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger Hardback, 1994. 378 pages includes 14 pages of black-and-white photos. This copy is in excellent used condition, particularly for its age, no flaws. National bestseller. This is one of the two missions most of us have heard about, the one that inspired Ron Howard to smush Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon into a tin can for our amusement and angst. (Which, by the way, is a fabulous movie. If you haven't seen it or if it's been a while, think about it....) The real story in this book that the movie was based on, is amazing. These astronauts were all set, the plan going okay, the measles problem was handled, every obstacle and pre-challenge has been solved, and the moon is getting closer by the minute. They're flying at an insane speed through space and clicking all their little buttons and switches. And then, while they're stirring the oxygen tanks as part of the regular routine, an eensy little explosion happens. Never mind landing on the moon, they're not even AT the moon yet, they still have to swing around that sucker before even THINKING about crash landing on Earth--and meanwhile the oxygen is oh, I don't know, just VENTING OUT INTO SPACE. All pretty and sparkly, too. So now the crew and the ground crew basically have to figure out how to create an air scrubber out of duct tape and inner tubes and chewing gum while not losing power AND they're also kinda-sorta starting to freeze to death. NO BIGGIE. Astronauts blow my mind. 🧑‍🚀