Jimmy Lovell, the American astronaut who brought the Apollo 13 back to Earth in 1970 after a failed mission and, according to NASA, “converted a potential tragedy into a success”, died at the age of 97. He died on Thursday in his hometown Lake Forest in the US state of Illinois, reported The American space organization Friday.
Lovell was one of NASA’s most prominent astronauts in an important period for American space travel. Between 1965 and 1970 he participated in four missions: Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13. Especially after that last mission he became world famous.
‘Houston, we have a problem’
During the mission, Lovell and Fred Haise were 320,000 kilometers above the earth together with astronauts and they had almost arrived at the moon – It should have ever been the third moon landing – Then an oxygen tank exploded in the spacecraft. “We heard a loud bang, the capsule shocked back and forth and then it was quiet again,” said Lovell in a later interview.
Swigert converted a switch, but therefore ensured that the electricity in the mother ship fell out and the oxygen pressure fell. Although the three astronauts were in danger of life, Lovell Koelblood spoke the words: “Houston, we had a problem.” That announcement to the flight guide center was in the film Apollo 13 From 1995 wrongly quoted and is known as: “Houston, we have a problem”.
The three astronauts are forced to go to the Moonlander Aquarius, actually intended for two people. They spent four cold days in it. Tens of millions of people watched on television how Lovell and the two other astronauts eventually landed safely in the Pacific. It became one of the most iconic moments in the history of space travel.
Life lessons
After the failed mission, to his own regret, Lovell would never have the chance to land on the moon. LoVell did get life lessons out. In an interview with CNN In 2020 he said that “you can’t suddenly have a problem, and then just close your eyes and hope that a miracle will happen. The miracle is something you have to perform yourself, or people who help you.”
Lovell stopped his work at NASA in 1973. Eventually he retired in 1991 as director of a telecommunication company. Lovell, born in Cleveland, married his wife Marilyn in 1952, with whom he would have four children.
In a reaction, his family calls their “hero” with an “unprecedented optimism.” According to NASA, Lovell is an embodiment of ‘the determination and optimism of both former and later explorers’.