The Apollo 13 mission / $ c Judy L. hasday; introduction by James Scott Brady

This businesslike profile of the spacecraft's anything-but-routine course won't keep readers riveted the way the Tom Hanks movie will, but it does put the mission into historical context while providing a compact history of the first decade or so of our space program. Hasday describes that program's genesis and development, introduces the astronauts assigned to Apollo 13, and then takes readers through the disastrous mission, from liftoff to reentry. Her tone is, to say the least, dispassionate: "[Haise] wandered over to the LM's window, hoping to get a good view of the receding moon, when suddenly he heard a 'thump-bang-shudder' similar to the one they'd heard during the explosion. ... As it turned out, the battery had exploded. But even counting the sharp reduction of power, this latest problem was not life threatening." Black-and-white photos include formal portraits, slightly blurry shots taken aboard the spacecraft, and views of calm-looking, crewcut men working the boards at Mission Control. Unlike other accounts for young people, this is not all recycled material; the author appends a transcript of an interview with Apollo 13's Lead Flight Director, Gene Kranz. His sometimes-unexpected comments about the mission and his role in its rescue may prompt older readers to look up his book, Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond (S & S, 2000). Students more interested in information than an adrenaline rush will find Hasday's title valuable. __________ Это деловое описание насыщенного событиями полёта "Аполлона-13", наверно, не так увлекательно, как знаменитый фильм с участием Тома Хэнкса, однако оно рассматривает эту экспедицию исключительно с исторической точки зрения и вместе с тем приводит сжатую историю первого десятилетия космической программы США. Автор описывает зарождение и развитие программы, знакомит читателя с членами экипажа "Аполлона-13" и затем переходит к этой, едва не ставшей трагичной, экспедиции, начиная с запуска и заканчивая приводнёнием. Книга содержит множество иллюстраций и фотографий. В приложении приводится интервью с Джином Кранцом - ведущим директором полёта во время миссии "Аполлон-13". Contents......Page 6 On Facing Adversity......Page 8 1: An Ill-Fated Mission Number......Page 12 2: "We Choose to Go to the Moon"......Page 22 3: "One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind"......Page 36 4: The Pinnacle of an Astronaut's Career......Page 52 5: "Houston, We've Had a Problem"......Page 60 6: A Lifeboat for Apollo......Page 74 7: "Odyssey, Houston Standing By, Over"......Page 88 8: A Successful Failure......Page 102 Chronology......Page 109 Appendix......Page 111 Bibliography......Page 117 Index......Page 118 Picture Credits......Page 121 On facing adversity / James Scott Brady An ill-fated mission number "We choose to go to the moon" "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" The pinnacle of an astronaut's career "Houston, we've had a problem" A lifeboat for Apollo "Odyssey, Houston standing by, over" A successful failure Chronology Appendix: An interview with Gene Krantz, lead flight director for the Apollo 13 mission. Describes the ill fated flight of Apollo 13 when an explosion forced the crew to abandon plans for a lunar landing and embark on a dangerous journey back to Earth. The 1970 mission became more dramatic than any story when an explosion put the astronauts' lives in peril