Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 moon mission, dies at 97

India Today

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Jim Lovell, the American astronaut who led the harrowing Apollo 13 mission and turned the near disaster into one of NASA's greatest survival stories, died on Friday at the age of 97.'Jim's character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turn a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount,' NASA said in a statement. "We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements.' One of NASA's most travelled astronauts in the agency's first decade, Lovell flew four times Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 with the two Apollo flights riveting the folks back on Earth.advertisementBorn in Cleveland in 1928, Lovell's journey to the stars wasn't easy. But he carved his name into history with missions like Gemini 7 and Apollo 8 the first crew to orbit the moon. Still, it was Apollo 13 in 1970 that made him a legend.
What was meant to be NASA's third moon landing turned into a fight for survival after an oxygen tank exploded, leaving the crew stranded 200,000 miles from Earth. 'A 'successful failure' describes exactly what Apollo 13 was,' Lovell told Reuters in 2010. 'Because it was a failure in its initial mission — nothing had really been accomplished. But the outcome was a great success in the ability of people to take an almost-certain catastrophe and turn it into a successful recovery.'Lovell and his crewmates Jack Swigert and Fred Haise battled freezing temperatures, hunger, and a rapidly draining life support system for nearly four days. Their famous radio call, 'Houston, we've had a problem here,' delivered by Swigert, was immortalized by Tom Hanks in the 1995 movie Apollo 13 — a role Lovell himself chuckled about. 'I said, 'Kevin Costner' should play me,' he once said. 'But Hanks did a great job, and he never lets me forget it.' Lovell made a cameo appearance in the film as the commander of the US Navy ship that retrieves the astronauts and shakes hands with Hanks.After safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, Lovell's story became a symbol of calm under pressure and human ingenuity. He retired from NASA in 1973 but stayed close to space history, co-writing Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, which inspired the Hollywood film. He graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1952 and became a test pilot before being selected as a NASA astronaut in 1962. He and his family ran a now-closed restaurant in suburban Chicago, Lovell's of Lake Forest. His wife, Marilynn, died in 2023. Survivors include four children. In a statement, his family hailed him as their 'hero.' 'We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humour, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible,' his family said. 'He was truly one of a kind.'- EndsInputs from Reuters, Associated Press