A Successful Failure

Some of the bravest people never left the ground.

In April 1970, a quarter of a million miles from home, an oxygen tank exploded - and the third mission to the Moon became a desperate race to bring three astronauts home alive.

This is the true story of Apollo 13 - and of the young people in Mission Control who saved it. When everything went wrong at once, a frightened young engineer named Marty remembered what his father had taught him beside a broken model rocket: don't panic, and don't try to fix it all at once. Work the problem. One small step at a time.

A Successful Failure is a true space story for ages 7-10 (and space- and history-loving older readers) about calm, teamwork, and the quiet courage of staying and thinking. It explains what really happened-the explosion, the lunar-module "lifeboat," the famous "square peg in a round hole" fix made with a sock and some tape-and why a mission that never reached the Moon is remembered as a triumph.

• Real history, told with wonder: Apollo 13, Mission Control, and the cleverest rescue in the history of space
• A different kind of brave: courage isn't only charging in - sometimes it's staying calm and thinking when everything goes wrong
• The sixth book in The Brave Inside, with a "The History Is Real" fact page and a discussion guide

For young readers who love space, rockets, and true stories of everyday courage.