Astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon, died in Illinois, his family announced. Lovell, 97, flew on three other NASA missions.
Aug. 8 Astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon, died Thursday in Illinois, his family announced. He was 97.
Lovell also flew on three other missions: Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8 in the 1960s, and was the first astronaut to go into space that many times.
He died in Lake Forest, a northern Chicago suburb.
«We are saddened to announce the passing of our beloved father, USN Captain James A. ‘Jim’ Lovell, a Navy pilot and officer, astronaut, leader and space explorer», his family said in a statement Friday.
«We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight. But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family», the statement read.
«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.»
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.
«From a pair of pioneering Gemini missions to the successes of Apollo, Jim helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the moon and beyond.»
Lovell was on the three-man crew in 1970 that was scheduled to become the third group to walk on the moon. But on April 13, about 56 hours into the flight and 200,000 miles from Earth, there was an explosion.
