Key Takeaways:
- James Lovell, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and veteran test pilot, passed away at age 97.
- His NASA career included missions on Gemini 7 and 12, and command module pilot for Apollo 8, where he orbited the Moon.
- Lovell's leadership during the Apollo 13 crisis, navigating the crew to safety, is considered a defining moment of his career and widely documented.
- His experiences profoundly impacted his perspective on Earth, as evidenced by his reflections in interviews with Astronomy magazine.
Legendary astronaut James “Jim” Lovell, whose steady command during the harrowing Apollo 13 mission captivated the world, died Friday in Lake Forest, Illinois. He was 97. A veteran of four spaceflights, his career was defined by an extraordinary composure and leadership in the face of unprecedented danger.
Born in 1928, Lovell was a proud U.S. Naval Academy graduate and test pilot before being selected for NASA’s second group of astronauts in 1962. In a statement, acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said Lovell “embodied the bold resolve and optimism of both past and future explorers, and we will remember him always.”
Lovell’s NASA career began with flights on Gemini 7 and 12 before he made history as command module pilot for Apollo 8, becoming one of the first humans to orbit the Moon. A longtime friend of Astronomy magazine, Lovell later recalled the transformative experience of seeing our planet from afar. “The big surprise is the Earth,” he told Astronomy in a 2015 interview, describing how he could hide the entire planet behind his thumb. “I thought, ‘Boy, how fortunate we all are to have a spot like that to go back to.’”
But it was his command of Apollo 13 in 1970 that cemented his place in history. After an oxygen tank exploded two days into the flight, Lovell’s composure as a former test pilot held steady. “We were in a dying vehicle,” he recalled in a 2020 interview with Astronomy. The crew famously used their lunar module as a lifeboat. The ordeal was later immortalized in Lovell’s book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 and the Oscar-winning film Apollo 13.
Lovell is now reunited with his high school sweetheart and wife of 71 years, Marilyn, who passed away August 27, 2023. An active member of the Astronaut Wives Club, she was a steadfast supporter of his career. During his historic Apollo 8 flight, Lovell cemented her place in lunar history by giving a prominent mountain on the shore of the Sea of Tranquility the name Mount Marilyn. Lovell’s contributions to space exploration have left an indelible mark on history.
Read more of Astronomy’s interviews with Jim Lovell from our archives:
December 2023: The ‘Earthrise’ image and the impact of the Apollo 8 mission
April 2020: Jim Lovell recounts the Apollo 13 disaster
