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RIP Jim Lovell (1928–2025) 🚀 The man who said “Houston, we've had a problem” #Apollo13

James Arthur Lovell Jr. (1928 –2025) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the first three astronauts to fly to and orbit the Moon. He then commanded the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970 which, after a critical failure en route, looped around the Moon and returned safely to Earth. He acted in a few movies, such as The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and Apollo 13 (1995; uncredited). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lovell

 

“He had persuaded his science teacher to help him make a makeshift rocket. Somehow, he had managed to get his hands on the ingredients for gunpowder -potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal.

 

He pulled on a welder's helmet for protection. He packed it with powder, struck a match and ran like hell.

 

The rocket rose 80 feet into the air and exploded. Had the chemicals been packed slightly differently, he would have been blown to pieces.”

 

Jim Lovell, who guided Apollo 13 safely back to Earth, dies aged 97

www.bbc.com/news/articles/cl7y8zq5xpno

 

Public domain image from Wikipedia Commons w.wiki/EyfR

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Uploaded on August 8, 2025
Taken in December 1969