Apollo 13 Astronaut Jim Lovell Dies At 97 (cnn.com)
- Reference: 0178617936
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/08/211245/apollo-13-astronaut-jim-lovell-dies-at-97
- Source link: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/science/jim-lovell-dead-nasa-apollo
> Lovell was already well-known among NASA astronauts, having flown to space on the Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8 missions, before he was selected to command Apollo 13, which would have marked the third successful crewed moon landing for NASA. But during the ill-fated mission -- which carried Lovell as well as astronauts John Swigert Jr. and Fred Haise Jr. on board -- an oxygen tank located on the crew's service module exploded when they were about 200,000 miles (322,000 kilometers) away from Earth.
>
> Lovell delivered the news to mission control, saying "Houston, we've had a problem." With the damage effectively taking out the crew's power source and other life support supplies, the Apollo 13 crew had to abruptly abandon their trek to the lunar surface and use several engine burns to swing around the far side of the moon and put themselves on a course back toward Earth. The three-person crew made a high-stakes splashdown return in the South Pacific Ocean about three days after the tank explosion, marking the conclusion of what has come to be known as the "successful failure" of the Apollo missions. The ordeal was fictionalized in Ron Howard's 1995 film "Apollo 13." [...]
>
> Lovell was the first astronaut to make four spaceflights, totaling more than 715 hours in space. He was part of NASA's second-ever astronaut class, selected in September 1962 and nicknamed the "New Nine." And joining the Apollo 13 crew after having first served on Apollo 8, which intentionally circumnavigated the moon but did not land on its surface, made Lovell the first human ever to see the moon up close for a second time.
Further reading: [2]Acting NASA Administrator Reflects on Legacy of Astronaut Jim Lovell (Source: NASA)
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/science/jim-lovell-dead-nasa-apollo
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/acting-nasa-administrator-reflects-on-legacy-of-astronaut-jim-lovell/
RIP, seems like a good guy. (Score:2)
Thanks for your service. That is all I have to say.
The best of America (Score:1)
Compare this man's heroism and character to the current oligarchy of the US.
The American people deserve better than their current administration. Celebrate your heroes America, Lovell showed the best Americans can be, Trump's government shows the worst.
Re: (Score:1)
> The American people deserve better than their current administration.
I'd say that Americans always get the administration they deserve.
People have the option to vote, so if they made a bad choice of candidate, or chose not to vote at all, then they got what they deserved. Voting for a candidate that lost is still getting what they deserve because there's no knowing if that candidate won that things would have been any better, and there's the matter that with the right to vote comes the responsibility to influence how other people vote.
> Celebrate your heroes America
Sure, I can agree to that. Just don't
Godspeed (Score:2)
Hell of a legacy.
Was it fictionalized? (Score:2)
Was the movie fictionalized? I read Lost Moon back in the 90s and I can't recall anything that the movie made up or changed. Seemed like the movie just shortened some parts like the burn after coming around the moon.
Re: (Score:2)
There were some minor things changed and added for movie storytelling, and some things done by a team compressed into a single character, but it was basically accurate. It wasn't documentary-level accuracy, but better than typical Hollywood-level "based on a true story" accuracy.
Re: Was it fictionalized? (Score:2)
"Based on a true story" is about the only truth in a Hollywood movie. I dont know why, the story could be so much better, give proper credit to those who deserve it, and cement a place in history for future generations to learn about factual events possibly immortalizing the film. But no
The more things change the more they stay the same (Score:2)
I was watching a video the other day where there was a mention on how the USA underwent a big push for rural electrification in the 1950s. That got me thinking just how rapidly we can see technology advance and yet so much of our lives can stay much the same.
Jim Lovell was born in 1928, which meant he'd likely have remembered a time when aircraft were still a new idea and "barnstorming" was a thing. He'd have remembered WW2 where so many soldiers and sailors would be first introduced to electric lights, i
11 years old when Apollo 13 launched (Score:1)
I saw every launch from John Glenn all the way through to the space shuttle's first launch. Apollo 11 is still etched in my memory. Back then, most people didn't have AC in their homes. Living in the Missouri mid-west, that HOT July when they landed... When Apollo 13 lifted off, it was a Saturday, and everything was good! Then came the explosion. Before, almost no one was coving it. After the explosion, everyone was glued to the tv, radio listening for updates. Lovell and his crew turned a tragedy into
Re: 11 years old when Apollo 13 launched (Score:2)
They couldn't have made it without the NASA guys on the ground figuring out how to make it all happen.
Re: (Score:1)
> They couldn't have made it without the NASA guys on the ground figuring out how to make it all happen.
There's no doubt this was a team effort, Neil Armstrong is known to repeatedly point out how he got to the moon only because of a team of people getting him there. The Apollo 11 mission patch is somewhat unique in that it lacked the names of those on the crew. This was not an oversight, or a contingency against a last minute change in crew, this was to avoid focus on any individuals. The Apollo 13 patch also had no names, rather "Ex luna, scientia" (From the Moon, knowledge).
Re: 11 years old when Apollo 13 launched (Score:2)
Yes, i favor that german engineering as much as anyone, i just wish we could have gotten some nicer people.
Re: (Score:1)
Not all buildings (and therefore elevators) are missing the 13th floor.
Obligatory xkcd (Score:2)
[1]https://xkcd.com/893 [xkcd.com]
Too sad . . .
[1] https://xkcd.com/893
Re: Obligatory xkcd (Score:3)
Though he isn't actually part of that graph, since he never landed. Still it's sad that the cohort of lunar astronauts is only shrinking.
Re: (Score:2)
There are currently 4 still alive, which puts us pretty dead-on for the 95th percentile on that chart.
Re:13 is unlucky (Score:4, Interesting)
In Asia the number four is commonly skipped on an elevator control panel because it's also considered unlucky.
Re: (Score:2)
Some buildings skip 0 (ground), 4 and 13. So the 14th floor is really only 11 above ground.
Re: (Score:1)
> Some buildings skip 0 (ground), 4 and 13. So the 14th floor is really only 11 above ground.
That's not universal. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
By my estimation the most common tactic is to keep the floor numbering accurate and use the 13th floor for mechanical operations, like pumps to push water to higher floors, elevator mechanisms, backup generators, fire suppression devices, and workshops.
> Uninhabited 13th floor: sometimes, the floor is put to some other use, such as a mechanical floor.
I don't recall hearing the tactic of skipping floors to avoid "unlucky numbers" but it makes sense to use the need to keep elevator travel efficient by skipping floors as a means to skip numbered floors
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskaidekaphobia#Methods_of_avoiding
Re: 13 is unlucky (Score:2)
"In Chinese culture, the number 4 is considered unlucky because its pronunciation (sÃ, å) is very similar to the word for "death" (sÇ, æ). This phonetic similarity leads to a strong association of the number 4 with death and misfortune, a phenomenon known as tetraphobia. "