Astronaut Jim Lovell, whose history-making leadership as commander of a near-disastrous 1970 mission to the moon is one of the most celebrated tales of the U.S. space program and was chronicled in the hit Ron Howard film Apollo 13, died Thursday in Illinois. He was 97.
His death was announced by his family and by NASA.
“We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight,” the Lovell family said in 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. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind.”
Acting NASA Administration Sean Duffy said in a statement, “NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim 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. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements.”
The Apollo 13 mission – Lovell’s fourth spaceflights following Gemini VII, Gemini XII and Apollo 8 – launched on April 11, 1970, with the intention of a moon landing, but two days into the mission an oxygen tank exploded disabling crucial electrical systems. Supported by backup systems, commander Lovell and his astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise successfully pulled off a dramatic return to Earth by looping around the moon.
The incident – which included the often-misquoted statement by both Swigert and Lovell, “Houston, we’ve had a problem” – has been depicted in numerous films, documentaries and TV series, most famously in Howard’s 1995 film in which Tom Hanks played Lovell. The film, which received high marks for its relative accuracy, did take some license on the famous “Houston” phrase. While the film depicts Hanks’ Lovell as first uttering the statement, it was actually Swigert (played by Kevin Bacon) who first said it. After the initial “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” the crew was asked by mission control to repeat, at which time Lovell said, “Ah, Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
In the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Tom Hanks and Michael Bostick, Lovell was portrayed by Tim Daly.
