Commander of NASA's Apollo 13 mission Jim Lovell dies aged 97

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

Legendary astronaut Jim Lovell, who commanded the almost-doomed Apollo 13 lunar mission has passed away, aged 97.
Lovell helped turn the 1970 failed moon mission into a success by safely returning the crew back to Earth after an oxygen tank exploded.
NASA's Sean Duffy announced the commander's passing, and said the astronaut's life and work 'inspired millions of people across the decades'.
Duffy said: '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. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements.
'From a pair of pioneering Gemini missions to the successes of Apollo, Jim helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the moon and beyond.'
Lovell was a veteran of spaceflights Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo 8, and Apollo 13.
The 1968 Apollo 8 crew, with Lovell, Frank Borman, and William Anders, was the first manned mission to leave Earth's orbit, and the first to fly to and circle the moon.
Though they could not land on the lunar surface, their mission still put the U.S. ahead of the Soviets in the space race.
Letter writers said the crew's historic 'pale blue dot' photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and their Christmas Eve reading from the Bible's Genesis helped lift America during the turbulent year.
Tom Hanks played Lovell in director Ron Howard's acclaimed 1995 film Apollo 13.
The movie was inspired by Lovell's 1994 book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage Of Apollo 13.
Lovell recalled a meeting with Howard, in which the director asked him which actor he would want to play him.
Lovell added: 'I said, Kevin Costner and Hanks never lets me forget that... But Hanks did a great job.'
Lovell made a cameo appearance in the film as the commander of the U.S. Navy ship that retrieves the astronauts and shakes hands with Hanks.
Lovell, who had a moon crater named in his honor, retired as an astronaut in 1973, working first for a harbor towing company and then in telecommunications.
He had four children with his wife Marilyn, who died in 2023.