Jim Lovell obit

Jim Lovell, famed astronaut and Apollo 13 mission commander, dead at 97

 

He was not on the list.

Famed astronaut Jim Lovell, best known his work on Gemini and Apollo missions, died on Aug. 7, NASA announced.

Lovell, 97, died in Lake Forest, Illinois. He served as the command module pilot for the Apollo 8 mission to the moon and, along with his crew, became the first to lift off on a Saturn V rocket and orbit the moon. During the nearly disastrous Apollo 13 mission, Lovell helped his crew return safely to Earth.

“NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jim’s character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount," acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said in a statement. "We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements."

NASA announced his death Friday and included this statement from his family: "We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight. But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind."

The Apollo 13 mission almost ended in catastrophe after an explosion crippled the spacecraft and took a herculean effort to bring home the three-astronaut crew.

Lovell's NASA career was peppered with firsts. His first flight — Gemini 7 in 1965 — set a space endurance record of almost 14 days. After Lovell commanded Gemini 12, he'd flown in space longer than any other person at that point. His next flight, Apollo 8, was the first time humans left Earth orbit.

That flight was the first to go to the moon, entering lunar orbit on Christmas Eve of 1968. As millions listened in, the crew read a passage from the book of Genesis. In a 2014 NPR interview, he said his greatest impression was not looking down at the moon but seeing the Earth from a quarter-million miles away. "Just a small ball," he said, "blue and white. Like a Christmas tree ball hung in an absolutely black sky. I could put my thumb up and completely hide the Earth. Everything I knew was behind my thumb."

It was Lovell's next mission in 1970 — Apollo 13 — during which he uttered one simple but scary phrase: "Houston we've had a problem..."

Fifty-five hours into the flight, an explosion ripped through the service module after an oxygen tank exploded. Lovell was calm as he radioed back to mission control, "It looks to me, looking out the hatch, that we are venting something. We are venting something out into space. It's a gas of some sort."

The gas was oxygen. The accident and ensuing drama captivated people as NASA refused to fail. For more than three days, the crew and flight controllers labored to solve one problem after another (rising carbon dioxide levels, failing batteries, frigid temperatures) to get the astronauts home as electrical power and flight systems were stretched. Lovell wrote a book about it which was made into the 1995 hit movie Apollo 13. Tom Hanks starred as Lovell.

Lovell told NPR the movie was very realistic and captured the highs-and-lows of the mission almost perfectly. He said the actual flight was a triumph and a "successful failure [that showed how] good leadership fosters teamwork ... to solve a problem."

The near-disaster cost Lovell his only chance to land on the moon, and he said later he was disappointed.

During his life, Lovell learned about perseverance. He was interested in planes and rockets at an early age. He applied to the U.S. Naval Academy but wasn't chosen. He tried again and was accepted. In the Navy, he flew fighters off aircraft carriers. Then he became a test pilot and tried out to be an astronaut in the Mercury program. He wasn't selected (flunked the physical). He did make it for Gemini.

He said, "Apollo 8 was the high point of my career. As a matter of fact, it was the high point of our manned space efforts. Not so much in a technical way but in an emotional way."

The year 1968 was turbulent in the United States. The Vietnam War was raging. Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were both assassinated. Protests roiled college campuses and the Democratic National Convention. But at the end of the year, Apollo 8 reached the moon and took the famous "earthrise" picture showing the blue and white planet soaring over the barren lunar landscape. Lovell said Apollo 8 "gave the year an up beat at the end. I got a telegram from one lady that said, 'You made 1968 because of that.'"

Lovell said one of the enduring legacies of the U.S. space program was how children became interested in science, technology and engineering. Later in life, he lamented that NASA didn't receive enough money to be bold in human exploration of the universe.

An astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the first three astronauts to fly to and orbit the Moon. He then commanded the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970 which, after a critical failure en route, looped around the Moon and returned safely to Earth. He acted in a few movies, such as The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and Apollo 13 (1995; uncredited).

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in the class of 1952, Lovell flew F2H Banshee night fighters. This included a Western Pacific deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La. In January 1958, he entered a six-month test pilot training course at the Naval Air Test Center at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, with Class 20 and graduated at the top of the class. He was then assigned to Electronics Test, working with radar, and in 1960 he became the Navy's McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II program manager. The following year he became a flight instructor and safety engineering officer at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and completed Aviation Safety School at the University of Southern California.

Lovell was not selected by NASA as one of the Mercury Seven astronauts due to a temporarily high bilirubin count. He was accepted in September 1962 as one of the second group of astronauts needed for the Gemini and Apollo programs. Prior to Apollo, Lovell flew in space on two Gemini missions, Gemini 7 (with Borman) in 1965 and Gemini 12 in 1966. He was the first person to fly into space four times. One of 24 people to have flown to the Moon, Lovell was the first to fly to the moon twice, and the only human to have done so without landing. He was a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He co-authored the 1994 book Lost Moon, on which the 1995 film Apollo 13 was based. Lovell was featured in a cameo appearance in the film.

Writer

Belleau Wood

Short

Writer

2010

 

Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995)

Apollo 13

7.7

book "Lost Moon"

1995

 

Actor

LateLine (1998)

LateLine

6.5

TV Series

Jim Lovell (as James Lovell)

1998

1 episode

 

Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995)

Apollo 13

7.7

Captain of USS Iwo Jima (uncredited)

1995

 

David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

The Man Who Fell to Earth

6.6

Capt. James Lovell, Commander of Apollo 13 (as Capt. James Lovell)

1976

 

Additional Crew

David Ogden Stiers, David McCullough, and Michael Murphy in American Experience (1988)

American Experience

8.6

TV Series

footage and photos courtesy of

2005

1 episode

 

Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995)

Apollo 13

7.7

technical consultant

1995

 

Thanks

Apollo 13: Twenty Years Later

6.6

Short

special thanks

2015

 

Modern Marvels (1993)

Modern Marvels

8.1

TV Series

special thanks

2001

1 episode

 

Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13 (1996)

Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13

7.2

Video

special thanks

1996

 

Self

Forever Endeavor (2024)

Forever Endeavor

9.8

2024

 

Endurance: The Hunt for Shackleton's Ice Ship (2021)

Endurance: The Hunt for Shackleton's Ice Ship

6.6

TV Movie

Self (as James Lovell)

2021

 

Apollo: The Forgotten Films (2019)

Apollo: The Forgotten Films

7.3

TV Movie

Self - Apollo Program Astronaut (voice)

2019

 

First to the Moon (2018)

First to the Moon

7.8

Self

2018

 

Earthrise (2018)

Earthrise

8.4

Short

Self

2018

 

Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie in Today (1952)

Today

4.6

TV Series

Self - Guest

2018

1 episode

 

Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo (2017)

Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo

7.5

Self

2017

 

Ben Cotton, Clémentine Poidatz, and Jihae in Mars (2016)

Mars

7.4

TV Series

Self - Apollo 13 Commander (as James A. Lovell)

2016

3 episodes

 

Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Jim Lovell, and Alan Shepard in Heroes and Legends Featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame (2016)

Heroes and Legends Featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame

7.5

Short

Self

2016

 

Fight for Space (2016)

Fight for Space

6.9

Self - Astronaut

2016

 

Robin Baumgarten and Larry Potash in WGN Morning News (1994)

WGN Morning News

6.4

TV Series

Self

2016

1 episode

 

Eugene Cernan in The Last Man on the Moon (2014)

The Last Man on the Moon

7.4

Self - Apollo 8 and 13

2014

 

AOPA Live This Week (2012)

AOPA Live This Week

TV Series

Self

2012

1 episode

 

Shane Black, Scott Rosenberg, Damon Lindelof, Álvaro Rodríguez, Eric Heisserer, and Greg Garrett in On Story (2011)

On Story

6.3

TV Series

Self

2012

1 episode

 

The Daily Show (1996)

The Daily Show

8.3

TV Series

Self (as Captain James Lovell [USN Ret.])

2011

1 episode

 

Winston Churchill in History (2000)

History

6.6

TV Series

Self

2009–2010

2 episodes

 

The Apollo Years (2009)

The Apollo Years

7.2

Video

Self

2009

 

Discovering Deerpath (2009)

Discovering Deerpath

Self

2009

 

The Third Foot (an Interview with Buzz Aldrin) (2009)

The Third Foot (an Interview with Buzz Aldrin)

Video

Self

2009

 

When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (2008)

When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions

8.8

TV Mini Series

SelfSelf - Apollo 13Self - Apollo 8 ...

2008–2009

5 episodes

 

NASA: Triumph and Tragedy (2009)

NASA: Triumph and Tragedy

7.0

TV Series

Self - Apollo 13Self - Apollo 8

2009

2 episodes

 

Project Gemini: Bridge to the Moon (2008)

Project Gemini: Bridge to the Moon

7.9

Video

Self

2008

 

Tom Brokaw and Jon Stewart in 1968 with Tom Brokaw (2007)

1968 with Tom Brokaw

7.5

TV Movie

Self

2007

 

Stephen Colbert in The Colbert Report (2005)

The Colbert Report

8.4

TV Series

Self - GuestSelf

2007

2 episodes

 

Situation Critical (2007)

Situation Critical

8.1

TV Series

Self

2007

1 episode

 

One O'Clock News (1986)

One O'Clock News

5.1

TV Series

Self - Apollo 13 Commander

2007

1 episode

 

In the Shadow of the Moon (2007)

In the Shadow of the Moon

8.0

Self (as James Lovell)

2007

 

Apollo 13: The Inside Story (2006)

Apollo 13: The Inside Story

6.9

TV Movie

Self - Commander of Apollo 13

2006

 

John Allen Williams in Pritzker Military Library Presents (2006)

Pritzker Military Library Presents

8.3

TV Series

Self

2006

1 episode

 

Earth to America (2005)

Earth to America

5.5

TV Special

Self

2005

 

David Ogden Stiers, David McCullough, and Michael Murphy in American Experience (1988)

American Experience

8.6

TV Series

Self - Apollo 8 Astronaut

2005

1 episode

 

Conquering Space: The Moon and Beyond (2005)

Conquering Space: The Moon and Beyond

6.4

Video

Self - Captain, NASA Astronaut (as James A. Lovell Jr.)

2005

 

Failure Is Not an Option (2003)

Failure Is Not an Option

8.7

TV Movie

Self - Astronaut

2003

 

Charlie Rose in Charlie Rose (1991)

Charlie Rose

7.5

TV Series

Self - Guest

2002

1 episode

 

AFI Life Achievement Award (1973)

AFI Life Achievement Award

5.6

TV Mini Series

Self

2002

1 episode

 

Modern Marvels (1993)

Modern Marvels

8.1

TV Series

Self - Apollo 13 Commander (as James Lovell)

2001

1 episode

 

David Letterman, Regis Philbin, Barbara Gaines, Biff Henderson, Alan Kalter, and Paul Shaffer in Late Show with David Letterman (1993)

Late Show with David Letterman

7.0

TV Series

Self

1998

1 episode

 

The Unexplained (1996)

The Unexplained

8.0

TV Series

Self

1998

1 episode

 

Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13 (1996)

Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13

7.2

Video

Self - Apollo 13 Commander

1996

 

American Dreamers

TV Movie

Self

1996

 

Apollo 13: For the Record

3.8

Self

1995

 

Dateline NBC (1992)

Dateline NBC

7.3

TV Series

Self

1995

1 episode

 

Conan O'Brien in Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993)

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

8.2

TV Series

Self - Guest

1995

1 episode

 

Network First (1994)

Network First

7.1

TV Series

Self - Pilot, Apollo 8Commander, Apollo 13

1994

1 episode

 

Apollo 13: To the Edge and Back (1994)

Apollo 13: To the Edge and Back

7.9

TV Movie

Self (as James Lovell)

1994

 

Moon Shot (1994)

Moon Shot

8.9

TV Movie

Self - Astronaut CandidateAstronaut

1994

 

For All Mankind (1989)

For All Mankind

8.1

Narrator - Apollo 8, Apollo 13 (voice, as James A. Lovell Jr.)

1989

 

Spaceflight

8.0

TV Series

Self

1985–1987

4 episodes

 

Our World (1986)

Our World

9.0

TV Series

Self - American astronaut (as James A. Lovell Jr)

1986

1 episode

 

Where Are They Now?

TV Series

Self

1980

1 episode

 

Project Apollo

TV Series

Self (as Capt. Jim Lovell)

1979

2 episodes

 

The Apollo File (1978)

The Apollo File

Self

1978

 

V.I.P.-Schaukel (1971)

V.I.P.-Schaukel

7.3

TV Series

Self

1977

1 episode

 

ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961)

ABC's Wide World of Sports

7.6

TV Series

Self

1974

1 episode

 

Johnny Carson in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

8.5

TV Series

Self

1970

1 episode

 

Manned Space Flight Film Report

Short

Self (as James Lovell)

1969

 

Archive Footage

Apollo 13: Survival (2024)

Apollo 13: Survival

7.3

Self - Apollo 13 Commander (archive footage)

2024

 

Hazardous Journey: The Apollo 11 Moon Landing (2023)

Hazardous Journey: The Apollo 11 Moon Landing

Short

Self - Backup Commander (archive footage)

2023

 

Fly Me to the Moon (2023)

Fly Me to the Moon

TV Movie

Self (archive footage)

2023

 

Josh Gates in Tales from the Explorers Club (2022)

Tales from the Explorers Club

7.7

TV Series

Self - Apollo 13 Astronaut (archive footage)

2022

1 episode

 

Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space (2021)

Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space

7.8

TV Mini Series

Self - Astronaut (archive footage)

2021

1 episode

 

Le Sense of Wonder

TV Mini Series

Self (archive footage)

2021

1 episode

 

Ancient Aliens (2009)

Ancient Aliens

7.0

TV Series

Self - Astronaut (archive footage)

2021

1 episode

 

How the Future Began: A Space Flight History Documentary (2020)

How the Future Began: A Space Flight History Documentary

Video

Self (archive footage)

2020

 

Astronogeek (2015)

Astronogeek

4.5

TV Mini Series

Self (archive footage)

2020

1 episode

 

Apollo: Missions to the Moon (2019)

Apollo: Missions to the Moon

7.5

Self - Command Module Pilot, Apollo 8 (archive footage)

2019

 

Speed (2019)

Speed

8.1

TV Series

Self (archive footage, uncredited)

2019

1 episode

 

Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins in Apollo 11 (2019)

Apollo 11

8.1

Self - Backup Commander (archive footage)

2019

 

Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed the World (2018)

Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed the World

8.2

TV Movie

Self (archive footage, uncredited)

2018

 

Johnny Cash in ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black (2018)

ReMastered: Tricky Dick and the Man in Black

7.1

TV Movie

Self (archive footage)

2018

 

1968: The Year That Changed America (2018)

1968: The Year That Changed America

7.7

TV Series

Self (archive footage, as Captain Jim Lovell)

2018

1 episode

 

Mysteries at the Museum (2010)

Mysteries at the Museum

8.0

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2010–2018

2 episodes

 

Emily Calandrelli in Xploration Outer Space (2014)

Xploration Outer Space

8.2

TV Series

Self - Astronaut (archive footage, uncredited)

2017

1 episode

 

Dianna Cowern in Physics Girl (2012)

Physics Girl

8.3

TV Mini Series

Self (archive footage)

2015

1 episode

 

Brian Cox in Human Universe (2014)

Human Universe

8.6

TV Mini Series

Self (archive footage, uncredited)

2014

1 episode

 

The Sixties (2014)

The Sixties

8.4

TV Mini Series

Self - US Astronaut (as James Lovell, Jr.) (archive footage)

2014

1 episode

 

John F. Kennedy in The Saturn V Story (2014)

The Saturn V Story

7.3

Self (archive footage)

2014

 

Neil Armstrong in Neil Armstrong: One Small Step (2012)

Neil Armstrong: One Small Step

Self - Witness (archive footage)

2012

 

The Decade You Were Born: The 1970's (2011)

The Decade You Were Born: The 1970's

6.5

Self - Astronaut on Apollo 13 (archive footage)

2011

 

Apollo Zero

5.2

Self - Gemini 7 Pilot, Gemini 12 CDRApollo 8 CMP, Apollo 13 CDR (archive footage)

2009

 

40 Years on the Moon

8.0

TV Movie

Self - Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 (archive footage, as James Lovell)

2009

 

Moon Machines (2008)

Moon Machines

8.7

TV Series

HimselflSelf (archive footage)

2008

2 episodes

 

History's Secrets (2007)

History's Secrets

6.9

TV Series

Self (archive footage, uncredited)

2007

1 episode

 

Secrets of the Moon Landings

7.3

TV Movie

Self (archive footage)

2007

 

Hit Celebrity TV Commercials (2004)

Hit Celebrity TV Commercials

1.4

TV Movie

Self - for Tang Breakfast Drink (archive footage)

2004

 

What Happened on the Moon? - An Investigation Into Apollo (2000)

What Happened on the Moon? - An Investigation Into Apollo

6.5

Video

Self - Apollo 13 Astronaut (archive footage, uncredited)

2000

 

Great Mysteries and Myths of the Twentieth Century (1998)

Great Mysteries and Myths of the Twentieth Century

7.4

TV Series

Self (Episode: Apollo 13) (archive footage)

1998

 

A Science Odyssey (1998)

A Science Odyssey

8.6

TV Series

Self - Astronaut (archive footage)

1998

1 episode

 

Was It Only a Paper Moon? (1997)

Was It Only a Paper Moon?

7.2

Self - Apollo 13 Astronaut (archive footage, uncredited)

1997

 

Houston, We've Got a Problem (1994)

Houston, We've Got a Problem

7.2

Short

Self (archive footage)

1994

 

Memories of 1970-1991 (1991)

Memories of 1970-1991

7.0

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

1991

1 episode

 

MARRS: Pump Up the Volume (1987)

MARRS: Pump Up the Volume

6.4

Music Video

Self (archive footage)

1987

 

Jaromil Jires in The Rock 'n' Roll Years (1985)

The Rock 'n' Roll Years

8.6

TV Series

Self (archive footage, as James Lovell)

1986

1 episode

 

Archive Sound

Mix Radio (2022)

Mix Radio

Podcast Series

Self - astronaute (archive footage)

2022