Never Panic Early

An Apollo 13 Astronaut's Journey

By: Fred Haise

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

The extraordinary autobiography of astronaut Fred Haise, one of only twenty-four men to fly to the moon.

In the gripping Never Panic Early, Fred Haise, Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 13, offers a detailed firsthand account of when disaster struck three days into his mission to the moon. An oxygen tank exploded, a crewmate uttered the now iconic words, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” and the world anxiously watched as one of history’s most incredible rescue missions unfolded. Haise brings listeners into the heart of his experience on the challenging mission—considered NASA’s finest hour—and reflects on his life and career as an Apollo astronaut.

In this personal and illuminating memoir, Haise takes an introspective look at the thrills and triumphs, regrets and disappointments, and lessons that defined his career, including his years as a military fighter pilot and his successful twenty-year NASA career that would have made him the sixth man on the moon had Apollo 13 gone right.

Many of his stories navigate fear, hope, and resilience, like when he crashed while ferrying a World War II air show aircraft and suffered second and third-degree burns over sixty-five percent of his body, putting him in critical condition for ten days before making a heroic recovery. In Never Panic Early, Haise explores what it was like to work for NASA in its glory years and demonstrates a true ability to deal with the unexpected.

©2022 Fred Haise (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Great book

Thank you for your excellent behind the scenes story. I’ve always been interested in NASA and anything space. So this book was right in my wheelhouse.

Expected just a little more

I was excited for the book to come out and hear the "never panic early " stories. But the book started out a little slow and i had a hard time getting in to it. The story itself didn't end up being bad by the narrator is very monotone and does not capture the true adrenaline of an emergency situation in aviation.

The alright or Ok stuff

Had to spend the last hour of the book, on 1.2 speed, probably won’t return to this book

Really interesting and I wish I want to know more.

This is really interesting and I wish I could meet this astronaut in person and interview his life.

I was expecting more from the book

I really like Fred Haise, I have seen him at Houston Space Center and at the Cradle of Aviation speaking on Apollo 13 and his work on the Enterprise approach and landing tests. I was hoping for more of what i heard at the lectures in the book. He had a very interesting career. The book starts out a little slow, but once you he gets into the Space Program the book picks up the pace. I also found his post NASA career really interesting.