Famous Scientist or Inventor: James Arthur Lovell (Jim Lovell)

PRONOUNCIATION KEY:   Ja-me-s Love-ll

  Jim wanted to pursue a career in rocketry and receive a good education after highschool, however, with the lack of money he didn't think he would be able to go to college. However, Jim found a way; he applied for the Navy and after his second try at applying he was accepted. So, Jim attended Wisconsin University, then he went to the U.S. Naval Academy. Following this, Jim joined the United States Navy and served in the Korean War. After serving in the war Lovell spent four years at the Naval Air Test Center as a test pilot, in Patuxent River, Maryland. It was here that he was introduced to the possibilities of joining NASA. A representative of NASA came and spoke to some of the men at the Test Center about an opportunity to join NASA as an astronaut and take part in the Mercury Program. Most of the test pilots didn't want to have anything to do with it because they knew that America was losing in the race for space, they felt that there was no way of knowing if NASA would ever catch up to the Soviet Union. However, there were a group of men who decided that they were willing to take the risk and apply to be an astronaut for NASA. Among these men were Jim Lovell also among them were Pete Conrad, Wally Shirra and Alan Shepard. Those applying to be astronauts had to first under go a week of medical testing. Astronauts had to be in tip top shape, the slightest defect may prevent them from getting the job. At the end of the week, Jim Lovell was denied the job because the tests showed that he had too much bilirubin in his liver. They told Jim that bilirubin indicates recent illness therefore he was not fit to be an astronaut, however Lovell knew he hadn't been sick recently. He was very upset about this loss, but there was nothing he could do, he went back to his job at the test pilot center. About three years later, Lovell was still working as a test pilot and he watched as those men who had been accepted in to NASA made the legendary flights he had been denied. Then, one day while working Lovell received a call from Deke Slayton, who at the time was director of Flight Crew Operations.

 "I was just calling about the new astronaut team," Deke said to Jim

  "Uh-huh," Lovell replied

  "And I was wondering if you would like to come and work for us," said Deke.

  "Would I? Yes, yes," replied Lovell.

  So Lovell joined NASA in 1962, he served as backup Pilot for Gemini 4, backup Commander for the Gemini 9 flight, as well as back up Commander for Neil Armostrong for Apollo 11, the legendary flight that brought an American to the moon. Lovell, with Frank Borman flew in Gemini 7, which was the first flight to perform a redezvous with another spacecraft. He served as Commander for Gemini 12, Command Module Pilot for the epic flight of Apollo 8, and probably most notably, Lovell was Commander of the "successful-failure" Apollo 13, the flight in which the cryogenic oxygen system of the Service module  endured an explosion resulting in the failure of many of the most important systems. The crew had to power down the Command Service module and use the Lunar Excursion module as a lifeboat. They made it home, but barely, and in the process, the Apollo 13 crew, along with all of the Mission Control technicians and engineers overcame some of the most difficult issues ever faced in manned space flight. Although Apollo 13 was an extremely challenging flight, like Jim Lovell said "Be thankful for problems. If they were less difficult, someone with less ability might have your job." Leaders of several nations offered America help with recovering the crew after splashdown according to where they happened to land, and all over the world millions prayed for the safe homecoming of the three astronauts. This situation is an example of the fact that when united by a cause, the people of our Nation, not just our nation but our world can accomplish anything. 

  In March of 1973, Lovell retired from the space program and went on to join a company that specializes in harbor and coastwise towing and mining and marketing peat and ranching, known as Bay-Houston Towing company. Lovell, now 80 years old, has still displayed his love for traveling. In 2000 he traveled to Antarctica  and the South Pole with planetary scientist Paul Sipiera, and on April 13 of 1987 he traveled to the North Pole, this was the 17 year (exactly 17 years) anniversary of the day Apollo 13 was crippled in deep space. Jim Lovell and his many experiences and accomplishments will forever remain a imprinted upon the history and the future of space exploration.

Apollo 13.doc <--  READ!!  An Essay I wrote about Apollo 13, also includes lots of pictures (all pics from www.apolloexplorer.org) 

 Jim Lovell                                                         

                                          The Apollo 13 patch           James A. Lovell            The Apollo 13 crew coming off of the

                                                                                                                        plane after being recovered from splash-

                                                                                                                        down, in the south Pacific. Jim Lovell in 

                                                                                                                        the center. 

     Jim Lovell and Frank Borman aboard                Gemini patch                       Lost Moon, by Jim          Jim Lovell at the South Pole

     Gemini  7 in 1965. Gemini 6 and 7                                                               Lovell and Jeffrey        in 2000, he was 72 years old

     were the first manned spacecraft                                                                Kluger

     to rendezvous with eachother.  

    Jim Lovell did a lot for Manned Space Exploration. He, and the astronauts he worked with, were some of the first astronauts that took part in going into space. Jim took part in the Gemini program and Apollo program and prior to working for NASA Jim served in the Korean war. Without him and the several other astronauts, engineers and technicians he worked with, we would not be nearly as far as we are today in space exploration. Today, we dream of someday, hopefully in the near future, having a human reach the surface of Mars and beyond. If it weren't for those first few groups of astronauts. engineers and technicians then we would never have been able to so much as ponder the thought of venturing into the depths of space. These people got NASA up on its feet and were the ones who made it possible to finally outshine the Soviet Union in space exploration, although that wasn't the only reason for further exploring the solar system. The reason came from the passion and knowledge that those astronauts, engineers and other technicians held, their yearning for humans to have a relationship with the cosmos and all of their mysteries. Therefore we must be appreciative of the accomplishments of people such as James Lovell, for all that they contributed in the past, to the goals we are headed for in the future.

"Biographical Data: James A. Lovell." www.jsc.nasa.gov. December, 1994. NASA. 4 Apr 2008 <http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lovell-ja.html>.

 Chaikin, Andrew. "Jim Lovell: Still an Explorer." www.space.com. April 20, 2000. space.com. 4 Apr 2008 <http://www.space.com/peopleinterviews/apollo13_lovell_profile_000415.html>.

 Lovell, Jim, and Kluger, Jeffrey. Lost Moon:The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.

                Image sources

www.interspacenews.com/.../Jim%20Lovel.html

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html

www.wilhelm-aerospace.org/.../lovell.html

www.apolloexplorer.co.uk/apollo13.htm

www.where-is-area-51.com/ufo-picture.html

 www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/.../gemini/gemini-goals.htm

www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Moon-Lovell/dp/0395670292

www.space.com/peopleinterviews/apollo13_lovel...