Jim Lovell, Legendary Commander Of Apollo 13, Dead At 97

Jim Lovell, the legendary commander of the fateful Apollo 13 mission to the Moon, died on August 7 in Lake Forest, Illinois at the age of 97. Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said in a statement, “NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell… Known for his wit, this unforgettable astronaut was nicknamed Smilin’ Jim by his fellow astronauts because he was quick with a grin when he had a particularly funny comeback.“

James A. Lovell Jr was born on March 25, 1928. He began his career in the Navy as an aviator, eventually becoming a test pilot. In that capacity, he was made the Program Manager for the F4H Phantom fighter project. After four years of that, he was selected to become a NASA astronaut for the Gemini program in 1962.

As one of America’s Space Age space men, Lovell forged a legacy by setting a number of remarkable firsts. On Gemini 7, he was part of the first crew ever to dock two manned maneuverable spacecraft in orbit. As commander of Gemini 12, he successfully completed the entire Gemini project, allowing NASA to transition to the Apollo program. His time on Apollo 8, the first time astronauts used the Saturn V rocket, was one of humanity’s greatest moments, as Lovell and his crewmates became the first human beings ever to leave Earth’s orbit, and then immediately became the first people ever to travel to (though not set foot on) the Moon.

In fact, Jim Lovell was only one bad cough away from becoming the first man ever to set foot on the Moon. He was the backup commander for Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11, so if Armstrong had caught a cold, Lovell would have been one of history’s most famous names.

In 1970, Lovell did get his chance to walk on the surface of another world when he was made commander of a future mission. Unfortunately, and famously, it was Apollo 13, which never reached its destination. The good news was, Lovell became the first man ever to travel to the Moon twice. The bad news was, during the voyage, the Service Module’s cryogenic oxygen system sparked and exploded, badly damaging the spacecraft.

Lovell and his two fellow astronauts, with the help of the Flight Control team down in Houston, had to figure out how to limp a wounded vessel back to Earth. They ended up converting (in space, with no training for this scenario) the lunar lander into an emergency shelter, solving one problem after another as they arose. Through determination and discipline, in one of spaceflight’s truly greatest stories, all three astronauts safely made it back home.

The whole saga was immortalized in the classic 1995 film “Apollo 13,” starring Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell in one of the actor’s most iconic roles.

Lovell never flew in space again. He went to Harvard Business School a year later, and one can only imagine what it must have been like to take a test with that guy sitting next to you. After that, he went into the private sector, joining a series of businesses in senior executive positions; none of the companies had anything to do with lifting off the ground.

After finally retiring, he moved to Lake Forest, Illinois. Not one to sit idle, he opened a restaurant filled with his personal NASA memorabilia, though it has since closed. He stayed in the town for the rest of his life.

Apart from his astonishing career, Lovell’s legacy includes four children, eleven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Of the 30 married astronauts in the Gemini and Apollo programs, only seven never got divorced; Lovell was one of them. A man who served his country and his family faithfully on land, air, sea, and space, Capt. Jim Lovell was and still is an inspiration across generations.

And if you’re wondering: like many of his fellow astronauts, Jim Lovell was a Corvette man. His is on display at the National Corvette Museum.