One of the United States' courageous astronauts having participated in
both the Gemini and Apollo programs, James Lovell was an excellent
astronaut candidate; a Naval Academy graduate in 1952 and a test pilot
--- he finished at the head of his class in the test pilot training course at
the Naval Test Center, all that after he had built his first rocket at the
tender age of sixteen.
And the confidence that people had in Lovell were well rewarded.
On the Apollo 8 mission, he was a crew member of the team that was
the first to orbit the moon having positioned the craft such that crew
member William Anders could take the iconic and breathtaking
"Earthrise" photograph of the Earth floating above the moon's surface.
On Apollo 13 in 1970 Lovell reported back upon finding that the lunar
module had been compromised by an explosion to mission control
("Houston, we've had a problem"). The Apollo 13 crew went about
fixing the problem, Lovell commanding everything, miraculously
returning to Earth with safety and without further difficulty.
Oh, by the by, the aforementioned quote by Captain Lovell is
indeed correct; "Houston, we have a problem" is how the quote
has been passed along to the public and has been oft repeated as
such, being almost but not quite right.
Having retired from the Navy and NASA in 1973, having been for
a time in charge of Houston along the way, he provided for his wife
Marilyn and their four children working in the telecommunications
industry and ran a Chicago-area restaurant. Marilyn passed away in
2023, Lovell having gone to join her mere weeks ago aged 97.
A long and full life, to be sure. Requiescat in pace, James. Bravo!
MEM
