Jim Lovell RIP

[GTX]

Astronaut Jim Lovell, famed Apollo 13 commander, dies at 97

Lovell was also the first astronaut to go to space four times and part of the Apollo 8 crew, the first to launch on the Saturn V rocket and first to orbit the moon.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Marcel]

RIP hero.

 

[fubar57]

 

[rochie]

 

[Gnomey]

 

[Airframes]

 

[pinehilljoe]

Very sad when I saw the news. Lovell and Armstrong were first among equals.

 

[Capt. Vick]

RIP

 

[Viking1066]

RIP

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

 

[MIflyer]

Apollo 13 was a close-run thing and in some respects it was even closer than people realize.

A friend of mine worked on the Apollo program for NASA and they took a detailed look at the Apollo 13 command module. Someone had made some in-flight changes in it.

It was probably Jack Swigert that decided that too many things were going wrong and that he needed to rig up a manual parachute deployment switch, in case the automatic system was not working. But they found that he had apparently wired a manual switch that would have activated the parachute jettison function. Fortunately the automatic system worked OKay.

So when we sat in the school auditorium and watched that seemingly very long descent under the chutes, it could have ended in a much less happy splashdown.

Good Job, "Old Shakey"! You brought them all back!

 

[GTX]

Jim Lovell here walks on his way to his first mission to the elevator at Pad 19 before Gemini VII launch.

 

[buffnut453]

Lovell was an absolute hero (as were all the crew and the teams on the ground who helped bring them home). It was a classy touch that they brought Lovell in for a cameo role in the Apollo 13 movie.

Two of my most treasured possessions are signed copies of the books "Lost Moon" and "Failure Is Not An Option" by Jim Lovell and Gene Kranz respectively.

 

[GTX]

From NASA:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EP0qaBo-tc

 

[GTX]

View: https://twitter.com/TheRealBuzz/status/1953951245745442984

 

[fannum]

Only man to go to the moon twice ... and never get there!

IMHO, his words on rounding the moon "Roger, please be informed there is a Santa Claus!" and the astronauts reading from the book of Genesis said more of the American spirit of peace and faith than the pompous, scripted bombast we got from Russians on their appreciable feats.

As memorable as Armstrongs words were, Lovell's mean more to me.

 

[mikewint]

Just happened to see this today...

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine;
Et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace.

 

[dcasey33]

 

[Checkertail20]

R.I.P. Jim

 

[KLS&C 85]

I grew up during Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. I followed every manned space flight I could.
Lovell described Gemini VII as drawing the short straw. Imagine spending two weeks in that small capsule with NO bathroom.
I was at the Cape to watch the launch of Apollo 8. A sight beyond words for me.
I remember the tension of Apollo 13 trying to get home. I didn't know then how close things really were.
I have the Directors cut of the movie Apollo 13. In it is a voice over by the Lovell's. That is more interesting than the movie. If you can find a copy, get it and listen.

Rest in Peace, Sir!
SALUTE!