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Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
‘Ah, Houston, We've Had A Problem' - Astronaut Jim Lovell Gone At 97
Captain Jim Lovell at Earth to America! which airs on TBS Sunday, November 20 at 8 p.m. 10423MC_80036.jpg (Photo by M. Caulfield/WireImage for Temp Account) WireImage for Temp Account The world is mourning the loss of the great Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell dead at 97. What many folks don't know is that Lovell is the only person to have visited the moon twice without setting foot on it. Aboard Apollo 8, his crew became the first to orbit the moon on Christmas eve 1968, a scheduled operation. Then, in 1970 on Apollo 13, trouble caused Lovell and his crew to abandon their scheduled landing, only to loop around the moon and return directly to earth. The catastrophic mission, of course, became the critically acclaimed 1995 film 'Apollo 13,' with Tom Hanks playing the part of Lovell. I was lucky enough to have interviewed Lovell when he was in his 80s. He was a kind man with a wry sense of humor. I thought what he had to say back then might shed some light on his illustrious life. As such, following are edited excerpts from our conversations over the years. Jim Clash: How was it you became an astronaut? Jim Lovell: I was a naval officer and aviator. I tested airplanes, and got selected to be an astronaut later on. It was just a continuation of a type of career I wanted to follow. Clash: What did you think of Tom Hanks' movie, "Apollo 13"? Lovell: Actually, it was pretty good all the way around. It followed the book very closely. There was some artistic license taken to tell the story without it being too long and wordy, though. It appeared that Jack Swigert had to earn his wings every day because he was suddenly put on the flight as the backup, not as primary. Yet he was a very competent astronaut, so we didn't really worry about him in real life. And then, towards the end of the movie, it appears that Ken Mattingly, played by Gary Sinise, is the person who really got us home safely by knowing how to transfer the power. That wasn't exactly true, either. It was four good electrical engineers plus Ken that did the job. Clash: Is there anything in life you thought was failure that later turned out to be success in disguise? Lovell: That's a good question. For some time, I thought Apollo 13 was a failure. I was disappointed I didn't get to land on the moon. But actually, it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. After six successful Apollo flights, including two lunar landings, people were getting bored. Those in the media weren't calling anymore. We sent a TV feed out to the three networks [for Apollo 13] and they never even bothered to carry it. It was, "You've been there, done that - what else can you do?" But when the explosion occurred, it brought out the true value of leadership, teamwork, and initiative at Mission Control and turned an almost certain catastrophe for NASA into a successful recovery. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, and Bill Paxton in zero gravity in a scene from the film 'Apollo 13', 1995. (Photo) Getty Images Clash: You must have experienced fear when that oxygen tank exploded en route to the moon. Lovell: Well, we were all apprehensive. But you have to have a positive attitude, number one. And number two, we were all from test pilot backgrounds, so naturally, this was an adventure. [With Apollo 13] we had to say, "Okay, here's the problem. What do we have to work with? Is it immediate that we have to do something?" We first thought a meteorite had hit the Lunar Module. Had that happened, we'd have been dead in just a few minutes when we lost atmosphere. But that wasn't the case. It turned out that the explosion had crippled the Command Module. So we still had the Lunar Module, which we used as a lifeboat to get home. Clash: On Apollo 8 in 1968, how was it that Bill Anders, the junior crew-member, managed to take the iconic Earthrise photo? Lovell: At the beginning of the flight, he was designated as the camera guy. When the Earth came up from the lunar horizon, I was the first one to really look at it and say, "We've got to take a picture." Bill had a Hasselblad, with ektachrome film. He got the shots, which were great - I'm glad he did. But I always kid him and say, "I directed you on how to shoot that thing.' Clash: Did you guys take photos, too? Lovell: Yeah, but we were handicapped. I think Frank [Borman] took some black-and-whites. Like I said, Bill had the color film, but he also had a telescopic lens. If you look at that picture, the Earth is really bigger than it is when you see it with the naked eye. Bill was the lunar pilot on the flight, and we didn't have a Lunar Module. We had to give him something to do, so we thought photography would be pretty good [laughs]. Clash: Describe your view of the back of the moon, the first-ever by humans, aboard Apollo 8. Lovell: Well, that was quite a thrill, the high point of my space career. We got up there and saw those age-old craters on the far side, which you can't see from down here on Earth. But the real revelation was looking at Earth as it really is in space. It's a very small body when you see it from the perspective of the moon and sun. It has color. - the moon, of course, is only shades of grey. And when you look at it, you realize there are more than six billion people down there. I could put my thumb up to a window and completely hide the Earth. I thought, "Everything I've ever known is behind my thumb.' Clash: There have been differing views about whether our next step in space should be to go back to the moon or go directly to Mars. Lovell: My view is that we should go back to the moon, build up the infrastructure to make flights there commonplace - be comfortable with it - then use that infrastructure to expand and go to Mars. In spaceflight terms, six landings on the moon back in the sixties and seventies doesn't mean much. Mars is a long ways away. The moon is only 240,000 miles, but Mars is in the millions. It's too risky without spending more time going to the moon. Clash: Didn't you meet the great Charles Lindbergh once? Lovell: Yes, before one of my Apollo flights. I remember joking about his fuel load and ours. All the fuel he had put on his airplane to fly to Paris probably wouldn't even light our rocket engines!
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Tom Hanks Pays Tribute to ‘Apollo 13' Astronaut Jim Lovell: ‘God Speed You, on This Next Voyage'
Tom Hanks paid tribute to Jim Lovell, the astronaut he portrayed in Apollo 13, following news of Lovell's death Friday at the age of 97. 'There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own. Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone farther into space and for longer than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy,' Hanks wrote on social media. More from Rolling Stone Trump Super PAC Raises $200 Million From Elon Musk and People Who Want Stuff From Him Man Afraid to Ride Subway Named Head of NASA Wes Anderson's 'The Phoenician Scheme' Is One of His Best 'His many voyages around Earth and on to so-very-close to the moon were not made for riches or celebrity, but because such challenges as those are what fuels the course of being alive – and who better than Jim Lovell to make those voyages.' Lovell, who was among the first astronauts to orbit the Moon as part of the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, was immortalized on the big screen in director Ron Howard's Best Picture Oscar-nominated 1995 film Apollo 13, which retold the story of the ship's aborted 1970 lunar mission and how Lovell — as the mission commander, played by Hanks —and his crew made their way back to Earth after an oxygen tank explosion disabled their electrical and life support systems. NASA also paid tribute to 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.' '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,' NASA's statement added. 'As the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 8, Jim and his crewmates became the first to lift off on a Saturn V rocket and orbit the Moon, proving that the lunar landing was within our reach. As commander of the Apollo 13 mission, his calm strength under pressure helped return the crew safely to Earth and demonstrated the quick thinking and innovation that informed future NASA missions. Hanks' tribute concluded Friday, 'On this night of a full Moon, he passes on – to the heavens, to the cosmos, to the stars. God speed you, on this next voyage, Jim Lovell.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Best 'Saturday Night Live' Characters of All Time Denzel Washington's Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best 70 Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Attention stargazers! It's time for one of the best meteor showers of the year — the Perseids
You know that summer is winding down when it's time for the Perseid meteor shower. The shower is considered one of if not the best of the year, mainly due to it being summer in the northern hemisphere, when the skies tend to be clear (unless there's smoke) and the weather is warmer. This is contrary to the Geminid meteor shower, which rivals the Perseids in terms of how many meteors can be seen per hour, but occurs in December when it tends to be cloudier and much colder. You can catch a meteor on any given night, particularly if you're outside of a city, away from light pollution. But meteor showers are special. Instead of the periodic streak against the starry sky, you can potentially see a dozen or more an hour. When to watch We get this stunning and typically reliable shower each year thanks to debris left over from Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which has an orbit of 133 years and was last in the inner solar system in 1992. Every year, Earth plows through the comet's debris, which in turn enters Earth's atmosphere, burning up as beautiful streaks in the sky. Try this interactive map that shows how Earth passes through the meteor shower: Most meteor showers get their name from the constellation from which the meteors seem to originate, called the radiant. In this case the radiant is the constellation Perseus, which begins to rise in the northeast around 9 p.m. local time. But it's important to note that you don't have to look directly at the constellation. Just look up. This year, the shower runs from July 17 to Aug. 23, but it peaks on the night of Aug. 12-13. On this night, under ideal conditions — dark, cloud-free, smoke-free, clear skies — the shower could produce roughly 100 meteors per hour. However, you're unlikely to see that many or even half of them this year due to one major problem: the moon. Down but not out The moon will be roughly 84 per cent illuminated, which means it will wash out all but the brightest meteors. "This year, the moon just kills them," said Peter Brown, Canada Research Chair in Planetary Small Bodies and professor at Western University's department of physics and astronomy in London, Ont. The other issue is smoke from wildfires. "It's just like cloud. It's going to decrease the the amount of light that gets through," Brown said. "So, you know, if you have the full moon and there's still quite a bit of smoke or high cloud, you're probably only looking at a handful of meteors an hour." But the great thing about the Perseids is that they tend to produce very bright meteors and even some fireballs. As well, you can get some really good "earth grazers" — meteors that skim our atmosphere. These last longer than a typical meteor streaking across the sky. "On the 12th, and even better, on the 13th, there'll be an hour or two right after sunset where the moon either won't be there [or] it'll be low and the radiant is low, but the activity is high enough and you'll see the grazers," Brown said."You're not going to see 50 of those an hour, but you might see a handful, and they last a long time. They're super spectacular. If ever a meteor looks like fireworks, it's a grazing Perseid meteor." So, the message is, don't give up. Grab a blanket, lie down — with the moon behind you — and look up. The Perseids rarely disappoint. "Yes, the moon will be up. It'll be bright, but there'll be so many meteors and bright ones, you'll still see a pretty decent show," Brown said. WATCH | It's time for the Perseids, one of the best meteor showers of the year Solve the daily Crossword
