Jim Lovell

About Jim Lovell

James "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., (born March 25, 1928) is a former NASA astronaut and a former captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered an explosion en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission control. Lovell was also the command module pilot of Apollo 8, the first Apollo mission to enter lunar orbit. Lovell is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, and the only person to have flown to the Moon twice without making a landing.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio to a Czech mother, Lovell's family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Juneau High School and became an Eagle Scout. His father died in a car accident when Jim was young and, for about two years, he resided with a relative in Terre Haute, Indiana. Later he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for two years, joining the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity. He continued on to the United States Naval Academy and, after graduating in 1952, entered the United States Navy where he served in the Korean War. He spent four years as a test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center (now the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School) in Patuxent River, Maryland, using the call sign "Shaky" (a nickname given him by Pete Conrad). Lovell was considered for the Mercury Seven but was ultimately turned down due to a medical technicality later deemed insignificant. He was then selected in 1962 for the second group of NASA astronauts.

Lovell was the backup pilot for Gemini 4, and his first spaceflight was as pilot of Gemini 7 in December 1965, which was the first flight to spend a fortnight in space, and also conducted the first space rendezvous with Gemini 6A. Lovell was originally scheduled to be the backup commander of Gemini 10, but after the deaths of Elliot See and Charles Bassett, he became backup commander of Gemini 9A, and in November 1966 made his second flight into space as commander of Gemini 12. After these two flights, Lovell had spent more time in space than any other human.