USA Apollo 13 Astronaut Jim Lovell Dies at 97 After Stellar Life

[webfact]

Picture courtesy of NASA via CNN

 

Legendary astronaut Jim Lovell, credited with the famed Apollo 13 mission, has died at 97. NASA confirmed Lovell's passing on August 7 in Lake Forest, Illinois, though the cause remains unknown.

 

Lovell's family announced their sorrow, calling him a "Navy pilot and officer, astronaut, leader, and explorer", while cherishing his familial role. They hailed his pioneering spirit and unwavering optimism, acknowledging him as a true hero who inspired those around him.

 

Before commanding the challenging Apollo 13 mission in 1970, Lovell had already made history with Gemini 7, Gemini 12, and Apollo 8. On Apollo 13, alongside John Swigert Jr. and Fred Haise Jr., he catapulted to fame when an oxygen tank exploded about 321,869 kilometres from Earth.

 

The mission's pivotal moment was marked by Lovell's famous phrase, "Houston, we've had a problem." With ingenuity, the crew navigated a perilous return to Earth, making a dramatic splashdown in the South Pacific after a three-day ordeal, earning the title of NASA's “successful failure”.

 

The mission was immortalised in the 1995 film “Apollo 13,” bringing Lovell's leadership to the big screen. On Friday, NASA praised his calm under pressure, stating his quick thinking paved the way for future missions.

 

As the first to make four spaceflights, Lovell spent over 715 hours in space. In his second lunar flyby on Apollo 8, he uniquely saw the moon up close twice, experiencing the vastness of space.

 

Reflecting on Apollo 8's journey in a 2018 CNN interview, Lovell shared the profound experience of seeing Earth as a tiny speck, hidden by his thumb, and contemplating life and humanity’s place in the cosmos.

 

Lovell’s legacy remains, not just in NASA's history, but in the hearts of those who admired his courage and vision.

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from CNN 2025-08-09

 

[Chomper Higgot]

RIP 

 

A real hero to millions.

 

Oh and please ‘Death’ not ‘Passing’.

[Tug]

What a man what a hero what an example to try to emulate he had a superb run a long life well lived kudos sir well done!!

[Harrisfan]

Cause was old age

[OneManShow]

One last trip.

RIP. 

[Sydebolle]

Well, in all fairness, it was an excellent display of team work to get the crew back by using the very limited resources they had by combining the Command Module with whatever there was in the LEM; latter never planned for such a rescue flight. Gene Kranz played a pivotal role in "getting the job done" as flight director - in short, an excellent job. 

Lovell's book "Lost Moon" is a worthwhile read as is the movie, which got made 30 years ago; Lovell has a cameo appearance as the captain of the carrier which picked up the capsule from the sea. 

Never met the gentleman but a very inspiring character to some, including me! 

[RayC]

6 hours ago, Harrisfan said:

Cause was old age

 

You don't say!

[RayC]

What a man. 

 

There is an excellent podcast, '13 minutes to the Moon' about space exploration. The second series - eight, 45-minute episodes - is about Apollo 13. Well worth a few hours of anyone's time in my opinion. There are many excerpts of the actual communication between Lowell and Mission Control. How Lowell remained so calm is incredible.

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

9 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Oh and please ‘Death’ not ‘Passing’.

 

I suggest you write to NASA to express your displeasure with their press release verbiage.  I'm sure they'll be very apologetic that they caused you such distress in this most trying time.

[Fortean1]

I saw the movie.  The amazing collage of materials and duct tape saved them from death.  Thank you for your service Jim Lovell.

[Yagoda]

A true American pioneer and hero

[Rimmer]

Troll post removed

[Emdog]

A true great American hero... but I wouldn't say his career was 'stellar' and we haven't quite reached the stars yet

Maybe we could say his career was 'over the moon'?

[Crossy]

Definitely one of those with the Right Stuff.

 

Four missions to space: Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13.

 

God's speed Jim Lovell. RIP

 

 

[still kicking]

On 8/9/2025 at 9:44 AM, Harrisfan said:

Cause was old age

No, your useless answers on AN.

[carlyai]

I worked on that mission (I think it was that one). 

PMG had all these line-of-site microwave towers all over the place and when Honeysuckle tracking station had acquisition we fed the signal back to Huston.

Because of 13s troubles there orbit was changed so (can't remember which) Parks or Honesuccle Creek tracking station had to be switched so temporary new dishes had to be installed on the towers to get the signal back to Huston.

AWA hung the dishes with rope in the day and night time and all the repeater sites were manned and no-break powered up. 

We stayed at our site on a mountain top outside Canberra for 3 or 4 days until 13 arrived back safely.

In those days we had an order wire between sites and Route Control at Redfern in Sydney, so we could listen right back to Huston.

Remember missing the landing as was so tired we all fell asleep.

NASA gave everyone involved a little lapel pic of a tracking station antenna.

Memories.