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Here's a look at the life of astronaut James Lovell.
Birthdate: March 25, 1928
Place of birth: Cleveland Ohio
Birth name: James Arthur Lovell Jr.
Father: James Lovell Sr.
Mother: Blanche Lovell
Marriage: Marilyn (Gerlach) Lovell (1952-present)
Children: Jeffrey, Susan, James III and Barbara
Education: Attended University of Wisconsin, 1946-1948; US Naval Academy, B.A., 1952
Military: US Navy, 1952-1973, Captain (retired)
He First astronaut to make four space flights, including Apollo 8 and Apollo 13.
He is the astronaut known for the phrase “Houston, we've had a problem” during the Apollo 13 mission.
He has more than 715 hours of space flight.
On Christmas Eve, the Apollo 8 astronauts described the moon and then read the book of Genesis during a live television broadcast from space.
1958-1962 – He works as a test pilot at the Maryland Naval Air Test Center.
September 1962 – He is selected by NASA to be an astronaut.
December 4 to 18, 1965 – He serves as a pilot on Gemini 7 under the command of Commander Frank Borman. They are joined in space by Gemini 6; It is the first meeting of manned spacecraft.
November 11-15, 1966 – He serves as commander of Gemini 12, with pilot Buzz Aldrin.
December 21-27, 1968 – Along with crew members Borman and William Anders, Lovell serves as the command module pilot of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon.
April 11-17, 1970 – He serves as commander of Apollo 13 with crew John Swigert and Fred Haise. An explosion two days into the flight causes the mission to be aborted and the remaining time he dedicates himself to working to return to Earth safely.
April 18, 1970 – Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
1971-1973 – He serves as deputy director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
March 1, 1973 – He retires from the Navy and NASA. He begins working at Bay-Houston Towing Company.
January 1977 – Appointed president of Fisk Telephone Systems, Inc.
1981 – He is named executive vice president of Centel Corporation, which acquired Fisk Telephone Systems in 1980.
1991 – Retires from Centel Corporation.
March 19, 1993 – Lovell is inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame.
1994 – Lovell's book, co-written with Jeffrey Kluger, “Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13” is published.
nineteen ninety five – The movie “Apollo 13” is released. Lovell's character is played by Tom Hanks.
July 26, 1995 – Receives the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton.
1998 – He is enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
1999 – Lovells of Lake Forest restaurant opens in Lake Forest, Illinois.
October 2010 – Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center established in Chicago.
November 2011 – An Apollo 13 checklist that Lovell used for calculations is sold at auction for $388,375. After the sale, NASA questions whether Lovell had the right to sell the checklist.
January 2012 – NASA chief Charles Bolden meets with Lovell and other astronauts to discuss the question of ownership of the artifacts. No agreement is reached.
September 2012 – President Barack Obama signs a bill giving NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts full ownership rights to artifacts they collected on their missions.
September 8, 2018 – He is honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Adler Planetarium.
July 20, 2019 – Sotheby's is offering a “space exploration” auction that includes many personal items of Lovell and the other astronauts involved in the Apollo lunar missions. Days later, three original NASA moon landing videos sell for $1.82 million at auction.
