US astronaut Jim Lovell, the commander of the Apollo 13 moon mission which nearly ended in disaster in 1970 after a mid-flight explosion, has died at the age of 97, NASA announced on Friday.
The former US Navy pilot, who was portrayed by actor Tom Hanks in the 1995 movie Apollo 13, died in a Chicago suburb on Thursday, the US space agency said in a statement.
The astronaut’s “life and work inspired millions of people across the decades,” NASA said, praising his “character and steadfast courage.”
Photo: Reuters
Lovell traveled to the moon twice, but never walked on the lunar surface.
Yet he is considered one of the greats of the US space program after rescuing a mission that teetered on the brink of disaster as the world watched in suspense far below.
“There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own,” Hanks said in an Instagram post. “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.”
Launched on April 11, 1970 — nine months after Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon — Apollo 13 was intended to be humanity’s third lunar landing. The plan was that Lovell would walk on the moon.
The mission, which was also crewed by astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, was already considered fairly routine.
Then an oxygen tank exploded on the way there.
The disaster prompted Swigert to famously tell mission control: “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
Lovell then repeated the phrase, which is slightly different to the one used in the Ron Howard movie, according to NASA.
The three astronauts and crew on the ground scrambled to find a solution. The US followed the chaotic odyssey from the ground, fearing that the country could lose its first astronauts in space.
About 321,869km from Earth, the crew was forced to shelter in their lunar module, slingshot around the moon and rapidly return to Earth.
The composed leadership of Lovell — who was nicknamed “Smilin’ Jim” — and the ingenuity of the NASA team on the ground managed to get the crew safely back home.
Lovell was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, but never returned to space.
Born on March 25, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovell worked as a US Navy pilot before joining NASA.
He was one of three astronauts who became the first people to orbit the moon during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The mission also took the famous image Earthrise, in which the blue planet peeks out from beyond the moon.
Lovell’s family said they were “enormously proud of his amazing life and career,” according to a statement released by NASA.
“But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero,” the statement said. “We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible.”
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS