Jim Lovell, astronaut who guided the stricken Apollo 13 safely back to Earth

[Buster's Uncle]

Jim Lovell, astronaut who guided the stricken Apollo 13 safely back to Earth
Telegraph Obituaries
The Telegraph
Sat, August 9, 2025 at 3:02 AM EDT
7 min read



Jim Lovell: after circling the Moon 10 times in Apollo 8 he named twin peaks ‘Mount Marilyn’ after his photogenic wife - NASA Archive/Alamy


Jim Lovell, the astronaut, who has died aged 97, was commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission in April 1970, which turned into one of the most dramatic in the history of space flight.

Intended to land America’s third spacecraft on the Moon, the mission had to be aborted after there was an on-board explosion 200,000 miles from Earth.

What followed surpassed any science-fiction story. For three days tens of thousands of technicians in the US aerospace industry worked around the clock to bring the crippled spacecraft safely home, a drama witnessed by millions of television viewers around the world.

The remarkable rescue was finally achieved by converting the lunar lander spacecraft and its rocket engines for use as a “lifeboat” to propel Apollo 13 around the Moon and back to Earth. In 1995 the story was the subject of a successful film – starring Tom Hanks as Lovell – which was nominated for nine Oscars, winning the awards for Best Editing and Best Sound.



Lovell, pilot of the Gemini 7 space mission, December 1965 - Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images


A few days before launch, both Lovell’s four-year-old son and Charles Duke, one of the back-up astronauts, went down with measles, and Lovell himself, as well as his two crew members, Ken Mattingly and Fred Haise, were thought to be in danger of developing the disease during the mission. The doctors finally decided that Lovell and Haise should be immune, having had measles in childhood; but Mattingly, who had not had measles, was at risk.

Lovell fought to have the whole mission postponed in order to keep his crew together, but he was overruled. Mattingly was replaced by his back-up, Jack Swigert.

The crisis started just 56 hours into the flight. Mission Control at Houston was listening to soft music being played in Apollo 13 as the crew prepared for sleep, having earlier commented that Lovell appeared to be “running a rest home”.

Suddenly, one of Apollo’s two oxygen tanks exploded – a result of wiring being subjected to very high temperatures during ground tests. As Lovell himself said much later: “Warning signs went unheeded, and the tank, damaged from eight hours’ overheating, was a potential time bomb next time it was filled with oxygen. That bomb exploded on April 13 1970, 200,000 miles from Earth.”



Lovell relaxes in the suiting-up trailer at Launch Complex 16 during the Gemini-7 prelaunch countdown at Cape Kennedy in 1965 - Nasa/Alamy


As commander of Apollo 13, Lovell became the first man to journey twice to the Moon. Although he declared that he harboured no superstitions about the number 13, the mission was dogged by ill luck well before the launch, which took place at 13.13 hours on April 11 1970. The accident itself was sustained on April 13.

A second tank was damaged, and within two hours the spacecraft had lost all its stored oxygen, disabling the electrical power system and crippling the command and service module, Odyssey. Clearly, the mission had to be aborted, and the sole aim became to bring the crew safely back to Earth.

At first it was thought that the lunar lifeboat could provide only half the amount of power, water and oxygen needed to get the craft home. But as engineers and technicians brought their computers and simulators to bear on the problem, techniques were devised and radioed to the crew.

Lovell, Haise and Swigert had to work in increasingly cold and uncomfortable conditions. They powered up the lunar module (LM) Aquarius, powered down the command and service module, and used the LM systems for power and life support. The lunar landing engine was used to send the spacecraft on a free-return trajectory around the Moon before it was brought back to Earth, finally landing safely in the South Pacific.



The crew of Apollo 8 in front of a simulator in 1968, l-r, Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman - The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images


The crew’s calmness and stoicism as they patiently fought for survival was not matched by the frenetic worldwide media coverage at Mission Control.

After recovery by the aircraft carrier Iwo Jima, the astronauts were flown to Hawaii to be hailed by President Richard Nixon, who described it as the most exciting day of his life. All three astronauts declared that they were willing to make another moon flight, but were never given the opportunity.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 25 1928, James Arthur Lovell was an only child brought up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In boyhood he constructed and launched model rockets, and on leaving high school he applied unsuccessfully to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in Maryland.

After he had spent two years at the University of Wisconsin and had a spell at the Naval Air Training Station in Florida, he was accepted at Annapolis, where he took a science degree and wrote a paper on liquid-fuelled rockets. Lovell then served as a Navy test pilot, flight instructor, and programme manager for the F-4 Phantom jet fighter, before being accepted by Nasa as an astronaut in September 1962.



Deke Slayton (checked jacket) shows the adaptor devised to make use of Command Module lithium hydroxide canisters to remove excess carbon dioxide from the Apollo 13 lunar module cabin - Nasa


The astronauts training during this period were eager to be the first to reach the moon, and Lovell was no exception. His first venture into space was the two-man Gemini 7 mission in 1965 (Gemini preceded the Apollo programme, which would successfully land men on the Moon). On December 4 Lovell and his commander, Frank Borman, began a 14-day flight in Earth orbit during which they successfully carried out a rendezvous with Gemini 6. For five hours the two spacecraft flew together, sometimes only 3ft apart, at 17,500mph.

A year later Lovell commanded the Gemini 12 mission, during which his pilot, Buzz Aldrin (later to be the second man on the Moon), spent more than five hours spacewalking.

The Gemini programme taught the astronauts how to operate in a weightless environment; to live in cramped conditions for long periods; how to rendezvous and dock with other spacecraft; and how to manage re-entry – all requirements for a successful mission to the Moon.



Lovell addresses a press conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, pointing to the spot on the service module where an explosion ripped a panel loose - Dave Taylor/AP


In December 1968 Lovell was the command module pilot and navigator aboard Apollo 8. He and his two companions, Frank Borman and William Anders, became the first humans to leave the Earth’s gravitational influence.

They circled the Moon 10 times, and the whole world was riveted on Christmas Day when they took turns to recite the verses of Genesis before wishing “all of you on the good Earth” a Merry Christmas. Before returning, the crew gave names to landmarks on the Moon as future reference points. Lovell named twin peaks “Mount Marilyn” after his photogenic wife, who was already a favourite with media photographers.

Lovell was a popular, easygoing personality who never suffered from the post-flight malaise that afflicted some of his fellow astronauts. On occasions such as the Paris Air Show and visits to Britain he cheerfully provided his autograph to space fans, who sometimes formed an orderly queue of 100 or more.



Jim Lovell in 2013 at the Science Museum in London - Paul Grover


He retired from Nasa in 1973 to join the Bay-Houston Towing Company, which was involved in coastal towing and mining. In 1977 he became president of Fisk Telephone Systems, which marketed business communications.

He also served for 11 years as consultant and then chairman of the President’s Physical Fitness Council with the objective of making US citizens aware of the importance of being physically fit.

Among many honours and awards, Jim Lovell received the Nasa Distinguished Service Medal, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Along with his crewmates from Apollo 13, Lovell still holds the human altitude record set when they passed over the back side of the moon.

He married, in 1952, Marilyn Gerlach, with whom he had two sons and two daughters; Marilyn died in 2023.

James Lovell, born March 25 1928, died August 7 2025

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