RIP: James Lovell Dead at 97
mcgrew writes:
James Lovell, one of the original Apollo astronauts in the infant NASA under President Eisenhower, died yesterday (August 9) at age 97. And here I thought outer space was supposed to be bad for you!
He flew on Gemini 7 and 12. Lovell, along with Commander Frank Borman and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders, were the first people to ever orbit the moon. Commander Lovell was to return to the moon, slated to walk on it this time on Apollo 13, but an oxygen tank exploded. They were incredibly lucky to return alive. It was chronicled in Lovell's book Lost Moon (with co-writer Jeffery Kruger) and the "based on a true story" movie Apollo 13.
The mishap happened a couple weeks after my eighteenth birthday. The news of the accident and their miraculous news outdid all other news, even the Vietnam war and the protests against it.
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