James Lovell, a member of humanity's first trip to the moon and commander of NASA's ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, has died at the age of 97.
Lovell's death on Thursday was announced by the space agency.
"NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades," said acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy in a statement on Friday. "Jim's character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements."
A four-time Gemini and Apollo astronaut, Lovell was famously portrayed in the 1995 feature film Apollo 13. The movie dramatized his role as the leader of what was originally planned as NASA's third moon landing, but instead became a mission of survival after an explosion tore through his spacecraft's service module.
"I know today when I came out many of you were expecting Tom Hanks, but you're going to have to settle for little old me," Lovell often said at his public appearances after the movie was released.
Credit: collectSPACE.com Astronaut Jim Lovell (right) addressing Tom Hanks at the premiere of Apollo 13: The IMAX Experience at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in November 2002.
Practicing for the moon
Selected with NASA's second group of astronauts in 1962, Lovell first launched aboard Gemini 7, the first mission to include a rendezvous with another crewed spacecraft (Gemini 6). Lifting off on a Titan II rocket on December 4, 1965, Lovell and the mission's commander, Frank Borman, had one goal: to spend two weeks in Earth orbit in preparation for the later Apollo missions to the moon.
"It was very exciting to me," said Lovell in a 1999 NASA oral history interview. "I mean, it was tedious work, you know, two weeks. We did have a break when [Wally] Schirra and [Tom] Stafford came up [on Gemini 6] and rendezvoused with us. And then they were up, I think, 24 hours and they went back down again. And we stayed up there for the full time. But it was quite rewarding."