Jim Lovell

Jim Lovell born James Arthur Lovell, Jr in 1928 in Cleveland Ohio. He went on to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. He served as a pilot during the Korean War and Experimental Test Pilot. In 1959, he was considered for the Mercury Seven flight but a medical technicality delayed it. Then in 1962 he was selected as a back up pilot for Gemini Four; but wasn't used. Lovell got to pilot the history making Gemini Seven flight that saw two manned spacecrafts rendezvous. Then in 1966 he commands the Gemini 12 with Buzz Aldrin making their maiden voyage to the moon, Lovell served as Command Module Pilot and navigator, on the six day journey of Apollo Eight. On his 4th and final mission Lovell took off in Apollo 13 with Fred Haise and Jack Swigert, on a trip to the moon. But on April 13, 1970, there was a system failure in their cryogenic oxygen system which caused an explosion and rippled the Command Module "Odyssey". The lunar landing mission was aborted and it took all the skills to bring the vessel back to earth with little oxygen to breathe. A book was written by Lovell and Jack Kluger named Lost Moon: The Perilous Flight of Apollo 13. And then there was an Academy award winning movie Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks. Upon his return to earth after the Apollo 13 mishap he was awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom. In 1973, he retired from the Navy and NASA. With his wife, he fathered four children of which one is a chef and now the Lovell's have a fine dining restaurant in Lake Forest, Illinois which houses some of his space artifacts and the other artifacts he has turned over the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago, Illinois.