Jim Lovell

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Jim Lovell
Jim Lovell
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on September 17, 1962
(2nd NASA Group)
Calls: 4 space flights
Start of the
first space flight:
4th December 1965
Landing of the
last space flight:
April 17, 1970
Time in space: 29d 19h 03min
EVA inserts: No
retired on March 1973
Space flights

James Arthur "Jim" Lovell, Jr. (* 25. March 1928 in Cleveland , Ohio ) is a former American NASA - Astronaut . He was in command of the Apollo 13 space flight , which had to be canceled due to an explosion on the way to the moon.

Start of career

Lovell studied mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin and at the United States Naval Academy science and engineering and graduated from these studies in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science . His thesis dealt with the topic of rocket flight in interplanetary space. He served as a pilot in the U.S. Navy before attending test pilot school in Patuxent River , Maryland . From 1958 to 1962 he served in the American Navy as a test pilot.

During this time he also took part in NASA tests for future astronauts . He was shortlisted but did not make it to the Mercury Seven selected for the Mercury program .

Gemini

When NASA was looking for a second group of astronauts, Lovell applied again and was accepted this time. On September 17, 1962, he was presented to the public with the second group of astronauts. As a specialty during the training, he was given the task of recovering the landing capsule after dumping .

He received his first assignment for a space flight in June 1965: He was assigned as a replacement pilot for Gemini 4 . Had Edward White failed, Lovell would have been the first American to leave his spacecraft in orbit for a space exit.

On July 1, 1965, he was nominated as a pilot for Gemini 7 . On December 4, 1965, he started this long-term flight together with Frank Borman . With a stay of 14 days in space , the two set a new record, which was only broken in June 1970 with 17 days by the crew of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 9 .

When the crew assignments for the Gemini flights were rescheduled after the fatal plane crash of the astronauts Elliot See and Charles Bassett in March 1966, Lovell was given the post of substitute commander of Gemini 9 . At Gemini 8 in March and at Gemini 9 in June 1966, Lovell worked as a liaison officer ( Capcom ) in the flight control center in Houston .

Shortly after the landing of Gemini 9 on June 17, 1966, Lovell received the nomination for his second space flight and his first command of his own. Together with Buzz Aldrin , he was to do the last Gemini flight. Gemini 12 was performed in November 1966.

Lovell had become one of NASA's most skilled astronauts in less than a year.

Apollo

As part of the Apollo program , he was first assigned to the replacement crew for the third manned Apollo flight, Mission E , in November 1967 . During the preparations for the Apollo flights, Lovell carried out a simulated ditching from April 5 to April 7, 1968 together with Stuart Roosa and Charles Duke , during which they floated for two days in an Apollo landing capsule in the Gulf of Mexico .

Due to health problems Michael Collins had to undergo an operation from the main team of Mission E, so that Lovell moved up to the main team in the summer of 1968. But because the lunar module was not yet available, missions and crews were rescheduled. Mission E was drawn as Mission C ′ (C prime) before Mission D, numbered as Apollo 8 and got a new goal: a flight to the moon without a lunar module. The public was only informed of these plans after the successful end of Apollo 7 .

The flight of Apollo 8 took place from December 21 to December 27, 1968. It was the first manned launch of the Saturn V rocket and the first flight to the moon.

Shortly thereafter, Lovell was nominated as the replacement in command of Apollo 11 . Had Neil Armstrong failed, Lovell would have had the chance to be the first person to set foot on the moon.

Lovell was initially scheduled to be in command of Apollo 14 , while Alan Shepard , who had been absent for a long time for health reasons, was to lead Apollo 13 . The NASA management wanted to give Shepard more time, so Shepard took over Apollo 14, and Lovell was nominated as Apollo 13 commander on August 6, 1969. He was therefore intended to be the fifth person to step on the moon. With the flight of Apollo 13, Lovell also became the first human to complete four space flights.

The launch took place on April 11, 1970. However, an explosion on board the spaceship forced the crew to only orbit the moon without landing. Lovell and his crew ( Fred Haise and Jack Swigert ) narrowly escaped death. Lovell never set foot on the moon as a result.

For a long time Lovell held the endurance record for manned space flights of 715 hours, which was only broken in 1973 by the Skylab 2 crew . A record that he still holds today with Haise and Swigert is the greatest distance a person is from the earth: 401,056 km.

According to NASA

Frank Borman with Jim Lovell and William Anders in December 2008

Lovell left NASA and the Navy on March 1, 1973 and joined the Bay-Houston Towing Company, where he was named Managing Director on March 1, 1975. On January 1, 1977, he moved to Fisk Telephone Systems. When Fisk was taken over by Centel in 1981, he got a position as division manager for corporate communication systems. In 1991, Lovell retired.

Together with Jeffrey Kluger , Lovell wrote the book Apollo 13 (in the original: Lost Moon ). Even before the book was finished, the film rights were sold to Imagine Entertainment, a company owned by director Ron Howard . The Universal Studios produced the film Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks in the role of Jim Lovell. He himself has a cameo as the captain of the ship that holds the landing capsule.

In 1999 Lovell opened the gourmet restaurant "Lovell's" in Lake Forest , a suburb of Chicago , in which some artifacts from his time with NASA and the film Apollo 13 were on display. At times, his son "Jay" Lovell III was the head chef there. In 2015 the restaurant was closed.

Special features and records

  • first person to be in space four times
  • first flight to the moon (together with Frank Borman and William Anders ) ( Apollo 8 )
  • Together with Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, the furthest distance a person is from Earth during Apollo 13
  • 1965–1970 together with Frank Borman record holder for the longest space flight ( Gemini 7 )
  • 1965–1973 record holder for the longest time in space, including 1965–1966 together with Frank Borman
  • first person with two flights to the moon (Apollo 8 and Apollo 13) and to this day the only person who flew to the moon twice without landing on it

Honors

Immediately after landing, Lovell, like the other two Apollo 13 astronauts, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon , one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States.

In 1995, Lovell became the ninth astronaut to receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor .

In 1998 he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame .

In 1968 he was with his comrades of Apollo 8 Man of the Year of the Time Magazine .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Jim Lovell  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lovell Restaurant Mural Finds New Home . Daily North Short, Nov. 21, 2015.