James A. Lovell, Jr. was born March 25th, 1928 in Cleveland,
Ohio. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952 and
became a test pilot in 1958. In 1962 he was selected for
astronaut training in the Gemini and Apollo programs.
Lovell made two flights in each of the Gemini and Apollo
programs. In Gemini 7, with Frank Borman, he made the first
space rendezvous with Gemini 6. He flew in Gemini 12, the
final Gemini flight, with Buzz Aldrin.
On December 21st, 1968, Lovell, Frank Borman and
William Anders became the first men to leave Earth's
gravity and orbit the moon. Apollo 8 gave us our
first close-up view of the lunar surface and of the
moon's back side. Most significantly, Apollo 8 confirmed
the technology which permitted succeeding crews to land
on the moon.
In 1970, with Fred Haise, Jr. and John Swigert, Jr., he
returned the crippled Apollo 13 safely to Earth after an
in-flight emergency.
James Lovell retired from the Navy and NASA in 1973 to enter
the business world.
|