Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed [Paperback]

Henry S.F. Cooper Jr. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801850975 | ISBN-13: 978-0801850974 | Publication Date: August 1, 1995 | Edition: 1

On April 13, 1970 an explosion rocked the moon-bound Apollo 13 craft, 205,000 miles from Earth, damaging engines and life-support systems. This minute-by-minute account of the only manned NASA mission to have malfunctioned outside Earth's orbit describes the entire episode.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Cooper's Thirteen is exciting... Close to what may be an authentic poetry of our period.

(New York Times )

Make no mistake about it. Thirteen tells a marvelous story. A lot of readers will take the book at a single gulp, unable to stop reading.

(Washington Post )

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press; 1 edition (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801850975
• ISBN-13: 978-0801850974
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #827,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly readable, August 21, 2000

By 

C. Lacher "armchaircritic" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed (Paperback)

This is the Apollo 13 story almost exclusively from the Mission Control perspective. It very thorougly and completely details what went on in Houston from the moment of the "accident" to the recovery of the astronauts. This book helped me to understand how critical Mission Control is to space flights, how the astronauts are not necessarily piloting their spacecraft but that it is a joint effort. I was surpised by many facts given here such as that Mission Control had more information about the status of the spacecraft than the astronauts themselves. The author does an outstanding job of expalining the technicalities of what happened and why without making you feel like a dummy.

Through the lens of 25 years, it is very interesting to read this account and feel some of the respect and almost naivete the author and the public felt for NASA and the government at large that has long since been lost. I also enjoyed how the book was divided into three sections "Out" "Around" "Home".

I did feel the book suffered from its narrow focus on Mission Control only during the duration of the "event," and no pictures -- none and only one line diagram. These are small complaints, however. The book makes a wonderful companion to Jim Lovell's account.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Before J. Lovell's "Lost Moon", this was the definitve story, May 9, 2001

By 

Thomas Moody - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed (Paperback)

The first detailed account of the Apollo 13 accident (this book originally came out in the early 70's) and one of the best (second only to Lovell's "Lost Moon"). Cooper tells the entire mission story and uses many of the Mission Control transcripts that (in my opinion) are the difference between a third person telling of a mission story or a feeling of actually being there. This book has been re-printed, so it's availability isn't an issue. Read this along with Lost Moon and you'll see the blatant errors in the movie "Apollo 13". Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read review of the Apollo 13 spaceflight, May 18, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed (Paperback)

I too found this book as a child in the public library some years ago and have remembered it always. In gripping and understandable detail, Cooper successfully recounts how close we came to a space disaster and how the entire NASA team managed to avoid it. Richly textured narrative that allows you to understand how space flights were run and controlled without drowning in minutia.

I've never been able to forget this book. I still remember the feeling that a vast and incredible secret was shared with me. For years, I was the only one who knew anything about the Apollo 13 mission and could recite the details I learned from the book. I knew the astronauts, controllers, and personalities. Watching the movie brought all of that back and confirmed what I knew. This was a compelling and incredible story. A must read for anyone even mildly interested in the Apollo 13 story.