We are saddened by the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 and a four-time spaceflight veteran.
— NASA (@NASA) August 8, 2025
Lovell's life and work inspired millions. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyond—a journey that continues today. https://t.co/AjT8qmxsZI pic.twitter.com/jBlxzgrmSk
I think there are only five left, four of whom walked on the Moon. Lovell was the only one who circled it twice, but never set foot on it. It’s getting increasingly possible that they’ll all be gone before another person does, thanks to Congress and feckless administrations over the decades.
[Update a while later]
Bob Zimmerman has an obituary.
[Saturday-afternoon update]
Here’s the obit from the New York Times. I don’t think this is right, though: “In a nation battered by domestic turmoil and devastated by Vietnam War casualties, the safe return of the astronauts lifted American spirits and renewed attention to the space program, which had drifted in the aftermath of the first two manned landings on the moon.”
Not really. In fact, it was a wake-up call that if they continued to do lunar missions, it was not unlikely that they would lose a crew, and Apollo 13 was part of the impetus to not fly 18 and 19.
It’s hard to imagine we are not that far off from all the moon walkers and Apollo astronauts to no longer be with us.
One of my saddest bits of Moon trivia is that the youngest person to have ever walked on the Moon was born in 1936.
He was also the last of NASA’s second group of astronauts, the “New Nine”.
RIP
It is funny how many of these guys, who had plenty of opportunity to die in their careers seem to live to a ripe old age.
97 is a good innings.
Jerry Pournelle used to say that he was sure he’d see the first man on the Moon but didn’t expect to live to see the last. He did, so far.
Ad Astra….
One of my guilty pleasures is watching first time watching reaction videos on Youtube of classic movies, and one of the most prominent ones is Apollo 13. Yeah, I know there are inaccuracies, but it’s a finely crafted film that mostly gets the story right and maintains suspense for an incredible amount of time. Many people don’t know the story and they are in edge of your seat mode for almost an hour.
The movie highlights what could be accomplished with what now appears to be incredibly crude technology. My favorite scene is when the flight controllers confirm Lovell’s calculations with slide rules. I’m from the last slide rule generation, so it hits home.
Everyone knows about the real Jim Lovell’s cameo on the deck of the carrier at the end of the film, but if you look closely at a brief clip just after the launch, I think there might be another one. For a couple of seconds, the “actor” in the CMP seat, which should be Hanks, looks suspiciously like Jim Lovell. The LMP seat is Paxton, but I’m not convinced that the center seat is Kevin Bacon.
Jim Lovell was the real deal. He flew two Gemini missions: Gemini 7, which was a grueling mission with Frank Borman that lasted almost 14 days in a capsule with the interior volume roughly that of a phone booth, and Gemini 12 with Buzz Aldrin which demonstrated EVA techniques essential for the upcoming Apollo missions.
He also flew on Apollo 8, a bold mission that was the first Saturn V to carry a crew. They were the first to leave Earth orbit for lunar orbit. There was no Lunar Module, so if the explosion that happened on Apollo 13 happened on Apollo 8, the crew would have died. He’s most famous for Apollo 13. He is one of only 3 men to fly on a Saturn V twice (Apollos 8 & 13). The other two were John Young (Apollos 10 & 16) and Gene Cernan (Apollos 10 & 17).
Jim Lovell has always been my favorite astronaut. With all he accomplished in life, and with the fame that accompanied it, he still seemed to be a humble, decent human being. I’m sorry he is gone, but he lived a long, good life. I am grateful for that.
My personal favorite Apollo astronaut was Pete Conrad. He was just cool in so many ways. The early LMs all had weight issues. In the months leading up to Apollo 11, NASA reportedly offered a big reward for every suggestion that saved even a single pound from the LM. Conrad, who was the smallest of the astronauts, yelled out, “Send me!” He weighed about 20 pounds less than Neil Armstrong.
He needed some camera savvy… Otherwise definitely the coolest & funniest… I think he did a cameo as the “veteran astronaut” in some SF TV series about life on a moon base. Can’t think of the name of it. Also so Conrad…
That was “Plymouth”, which was a pilot but never made it to series.
Wish that movie was available on disk. I have a home-made DVD, but it’s from a VHS recording, and so is of limited quality.
I was 9 in July of ’69 and remember the whole Apollo 11 mission vividly. We’re close to losing all of the men who walked on the moon. How close are we to losing everyone who was alive when it happened. 30 years. 40? 50? I’d like to see it happen again, but my faith in the government screwing up any chance of doing so in my lifetime is at 100%.
Tim Allen should have played him in “Apollo 13.” They look much more alike than Lovell and Hanks, and Allen was more interested in space than Hanks was.
RIP. Don’t know what else to say. What a man.
As a boy, astronauts and cosmonauts are what I had instead of actors, actresses, and ball players. Although I admit, Fess Parker was my kiddie idea of what a spaceman should look like. And yes, I did have a coonskin cap…