James A. Lovell

Lovell in 1952 and several years ago

James A. Lovell was the commander of NASA's Apollo 13. Apollo 13 was the name of the mission and the name of the space rocket was the Saturn V(5) Rocket. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 25, 1928. He married the former Marilyn Gerlach, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Together they had four children.

Apollo 8 mission patch

Captain Lovell was selected as an Astronaut by NASA in September 1962. He had served as backup pilot for the Gemini 4 flight and backup Commander for the Gemini 9 flight, as well as backup Commander to Neil Armstrong for the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. On December 4, 1965, he and Frank Borman were launched into space on the history-making Gemini 7 mission. The flight lasted three hundred thirty hours and thirty five minutes and included the first meet up of two manned maneuverable spacecraft.

The apollo 13 mission patch

The Gemini 12 mission, commanded by Lovell with Pilot Edwin Aldrin, began on November 11, 1966. This four-day, fifty-nine-orbit(trip around the Earth) flight brought the Gemini program to a successful close. Lovell served as Command Module Pilot and Navigator on the remarkable six-day journey of Apollo 8 - man's maiden voyage to the moon December 21-27, 1968. Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to be lifted into near-Earth orbit by a seven in a half million pound thrust Saturn V launch vehicle; and Lovell and fellow crewmen, Frank Borman and William A. Anders, became the first humans to leave the Earth's gravitational influence. He completed his fourth mission as Spacecraft Commander of the Apollo 13 flight, April 11-17, 1970, and became the first man to journey twice to the moon. Apollo 13 was supposed to have been ten days long. However, the original flight plan was changed during the voyage to the moon due to a problem of the Service Module (area to eat, sleep, and prepare for the next day’s work), and cryogenic oxygen system (oxygen saving equipment). Lovell and crewmen, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise, working closely with Houston (that’s where they call for help and instructions on their mission) ground controllers, converted their lunar module "Aquarius" (the name of the craft that was supposed to land on the moon) into an effective lifeboat (ship that saved them). Their emergency activation and operation of lunar module systems conserved both electrical power and water in sufficient supply to assure their safety and survival while in space and for the return to Earth. He was appointed deputy director of the Johnson Space Center, Houston, in 1971.

The launch of Apollo 13

Captain Lovell held the record for time in space with a total of seven hundred and fifteen hours and five minutes until surpassed by the Skylab flights. On March 1, 1973, Captain Lovell retired from the Navy and from the Space Program.

The launch of Gemini 12

James A. Lovell is a hero because he saved the lives of his crew members during the flight of Apollo 13 and he has also held the record for the most time in zero-gravity until being recently beat by the Skylab flights. He was put in command of some very expensive equipment and the lives of the members of all his missions. That's a lot of stress. He is my hero because he is the one that inspired me to become interested in space exploration and astronomy. If it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't know what I know today.