ABSTRACT

A look into the career of NASA astronaut Jim Lovell

Sara Gonzales
Television in the Space Age

JAMES A. LOVELL
NASA Astronaut
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Table of Contents

Introduction and Early Life

NASA Career and Missions

Pages: 2 - 4

Later Life and Business Ventures

Page: 5

Conclusion
Pages: 5 - 6

References
Page: 7
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Introduction and Early Life

His contributions to science and society have been chronicled through television and film time and

time again; however, he is more than a persona on-screen he is a trail blazer in history and has

numerous accomplishments and a life so expansive it cannot be summarized in such few words.

However, I attempt to look at his life and achievements in an in-depth perspective, providing more

than glimpses into his very successful missions but break downs about his time at NASA and an

overall summary of his business ventures afterward.

Born on March 25, 1928 James Arthur Lovell Jr. was raised as an only child with his mother

Blanche after the death of his father at age five. The pair relocated to Milwaukee Wisconsin soon after

where Jim Lovell would attend Juneau High School and meet his eventual wife, Marilyn. Lovell

worked hard in high school and developed an early love for science and astronomy. According to

Lovell in Air and Space Magazine (2016), I was interested in rockets and astronomy long before the

Glenns and the Shepards of the world could spell rocket (p. 15). He became an Eagle scout which

heighten his interest in serving his country (NASA Biographical Information Archive). During his

duration at the University of Wisconsin he transferred into the US Naval Academy where he earned his

Bachelor of Science in 1952. Soon after he pursued his dreams in the sky, becoming a test pilot for the

Naval Air Test Center (NASA Biographical Information Archive).

NASA Career and Missions

Initially, Lovell had applied for the Mercury program with intentions of being amongst the now

infamous Mercury Seven, however he was not chosen. Lovell, who had dreamed of seeing space all his

life, applied for Gemini and Apollo programs and in September of 1962 Lovell was selected by NASA.

His career with NASA began as serving as a backup commander for Gemini 4, Gemini 9 and Apollo
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11. Lovell gained notoriety after his first launch into orbit on the Gemini 7 mission. Lovell was teamed

with Frank Borman in December 1965 to fulfill the first rendezvous of two manned maneuverable

spacecraft mission. It was highly successful and totaled a flight time of 330 hours and 35 minutes

(NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive). The mission was proved to be a success and

cemented Lovell as a key player for NASA.

The Gemini program closed with Lovell commanding (and Edwin Buzz Aldrin piloting) a

four-day 52 revolution flight in November 1966 (NASA SSDCA). Its objective was to rendezvous and

conduct a three-day station keeping exercise; this consisted of performing docking and automatic

reentry. One of Lovells biggest accomplishments was his role as command module pilot and navigator

on the Apollo 8 mission. His tasks included determining the crafts position (this included measuring

the positions of stars) in order to calculate course corrections and navigation (NASA SSDCA). Apollo

8 was highly successful in its six-day journey scouting potential landing sites and navigating/orbiting

around the lunar surface. In an interview with Forbes magazine Lovell was quoted, Well, that was

quite a thrill, the high point of my space career. We got up there and saw those age-old craters on the

far side... But the real revelation was looking at Earth as it really is in space. When you look at it, you

realize there are more than six billion people down there. I could put my thumb up to a window and

completely hide the Earth. I thought, Everything I've ever known is behind my thumb (Clash, J.

2016). He, along with his crew can be heard on the infamous TV recording reciting from the book of

Genesis.

Houston, we have a problem, Lovell and Swigert proclaimed when the fans in the cryogenic

oxygen tank caused a short circuit in fuel cell 3 (fueling power to tank 2 and its fans). The electrical

shorts in the fans resulted in temperature and pressure to increase within the cryogenic oxygen tank 2.

The tribulation was summarized as a fault in the electrical system due to one of the services modules
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oxygen tanks producing an explosion leading to electrical power loss (Goll, J. 2006 p. 57-58). The

mission was aborted, and the new objective of Apollo 13 was to return safely to Earth (Cosgrove, B.

2013). The control module was powered down and the craft was configured with the lunar module to

supply power Lovell calculated (previous knowledge he had gained on his Apollo 8 mission) the

adjustments of the course in order to make a free return trajectory back into Earth and its orbit

(Smithsonian Air & Space Museum). By manually controlling the Lunar Modules thrusters and

engine Lovell returned his crew and himself safely back to Earth. The mission was named the

successful failure (Smith, Y. 2017).

In the same interview with Forbes Magazine mentioned Lovell commented on his iconic

Apollo 13 mission saying you have to have a positive attitude, number one. And number two, we

were all from test pilot backgrounds, so naturally, this was an adventure (Clash, J. 2016). Regarding

his after thoughts on the missions Lovell said he thought Apollo 13 was a failure. I was disappointed I

didnt get to land on the moon. But actually, it turned out to be the best thing that could have

happened (Clash, J. 2016). Due to his actions on Apollo 13 he was awarded the medal of freedom by

then president Richard Nixon.

Up until Skylab flights Lovell held the record for most time in space, clocking in 715 hours and

5 minutes. Lovell has flown twice to the moon but did not get the chance in his NASA career to ever

land. He is also the first person to have flown in space four times in four separate missions. He would

set the standard for various astronauts to follow. Lovel continued to work for NASA for three years

following Apollo 13s flight. He served as deputy director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He

retired from his duties in 1973.

Later Life and Business Ventures

Jim Lovell began working for the Bay Houston Towing Company. Lovell then worked for Fisk

Telephone Systems Inc. where he eventually became president growing Fisk Telephone Systems

outreach. After Fisk was acquired by Centel Corporation in 1981 Lovell was promoted to executive

vice president. He served as vice president for Centel Corporation until 1991 when he retired. He

served as vice president for Centel Corporation until 1991 when he retired (Gilpin, K. 1985). He was

inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993 in honor of his accomplishments.

Jim Lovell now has returned to a semi quiet life. He has since his retirement been inducted in

the National Aviation Hall of Fame and been on several boards of organizations (National Space

Society Board). In 1994 he and Jeffrey Kluger co-wrote a book titled Lost Moon: The Perilous

Voyage of Apollo 13 which would serve as the basis for the film Apollo 13. Leading into the films

production Tom Hanks would visit Lovell in his Houston home in order to properly and objectively

convey Lovell onscreen. (Jim Lovell now gives speeches and lectures to various universities covering

not science topics but also business ventures. He discusses his life as a successful business man

working for the Towing Company and shifting over to Centel Corporations where he worked his way

into being vice president. However, in his traveling college lectures, nothing beats his fondness of the

time he was a US astronaut.

Conclusion

Jim Lovell may have gained some of his fame through his on-screen personas, however his

accomplishments through NASA and his outstanding career speaks for itself outside of fictional

portrayals on screen. Lovell as I mentioned before set a standard for other astronauts and held the

record for many notable records. Lovell is the personification of someone who dares to dream and does

not rest until the missions is an accomplished. This trait of his is most evident in his handlings on
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Apollo 13. His business ventures were successful as well his speeches and interviews prove he is also a

humble man who appreciated all his team members. I chose Lovell because of his successes and how

compelling his career has been.

References

Clash, C. (June 2016). Astronaut Jim Lovell Tells How He Dealt with Dear Aboard Apollo 13.

mjjjjjjjjjForbes.

Cosgrove, B. (April 2013). Apollo 13: LIFE with the Lovell Family During NASAs Finest

ssssssssHour. Time.

Gilpin, K. (June 1985). Centel Changes Involve Ex-Apollo Astronaut. New York Times.

Goll, J. j., Schiebel, A., & Ley, J. L. (2006). Teaching science using the movie Apollo 13.

ssssssssScience Scope, 29(8), 57-58.

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2017). A

cccccccSuccessful Failure. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/a-successful-

cccccccfailure

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center: National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (1994).

cccccccNational Aeronautics and Space Administration Biographical Data. Retrieved from

ccccccchttps://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lovell-ja.html

Maksel, R. (April 2016). Jim Lovell, From Carriers to the Moon. Air and Space Smithsonian

ccccccMagazine.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (1967, 1969, 1970). NASA Space Science Data

ccccccCoordinated Archive. Retrieved from https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. (1970). Apollo 13 AS-50. Retrieved from

cccccchttps://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-

ccccccmissions/apollo13.cfm