Jim Lovell dies, the heroic astronaut who managed to take Apollo 13 safe

Astronaut Jim Lovell, who successfully guided the mission of Apollo 13 back to Earth in 1970, died Friday at age 97.

NASA declared that Lovell “made a potential tragedy into a success” after an attempt to land on the moon was aborted due to an explosion aboard the spacecraft, while it was hundreds of thousands of kilometers of the earth.

Dozens of millions of people watched on television how Lovell and two other astronauts warranted in the Pacific Ocean, a moment that has become one of the most iconic in the history of space travel.

Lovell, who was also part of the Apollo 8 mission, was the first man to travel twice to the moon.

NASA's interim boss Sean Duffy said Lovell helped the American space program to “forge a historical path.”

On a Saturday, a 16 -year -old dragged a heavy tube one meter long to the center of a large field in Wisconsin.

He had convinced his science professor to help him build an improvised rocket.

Somehow, he had achieved the ingredients to manufacture gunpowder: potassium, sulfur and coal nitrate.

A welder helmet was placed as protection. He filled the tube with gunpowder, lit a phosphorus and ran as quickly as he could.

The rocket amounted 24 meters and exploded. If the chemicals had been packaged differently, he would have flown in pieces.

For Jim Lovell, this was more than a teenage mischief.

James Arthur Lovell Jr. was born on March 25, 1928, just one year after Charles Lindbergh's historic flight over the Atlantic.

“Children are interested in dinosaurs or airplanes,” he said. “I was totally a child of airplanes.”

But when he was 5 years old, his father died in a car accident.

His mother, Blanche, worked tirelessly to pay for clothes and food for the family. The university was out of economic reach.

The response was the US Navy, which was looking for new pilots after World War II. I would not build rockets, but at least there I could fly.

Lovell enrolled in a program that sent him to the university with expenses paid by the armed forces while training as a combat pilot.

Two years later, he opted to change to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, hoping to work with his beloved rockets.

It was a lucky decision.

A few months later the Korean War exploded and its former teammates were sent to Southeast Asia. Many did not finish their studies.

The marriage was prohibited in the academy and the brides were discouraged.

But Lovell had a girlfriend: Marilyn Gerlach, the high school girl whom she timidly invited the graduation dance.

Hours after graduating in 1952, the newly appointed Alférez Lovell married Marilyn.

They were together for more than 70 years, until her death in 2023.

After graduating, Lovell was assigned to a group of aircraft carriers to fly from ships at night.

It was a dangerous task, only suitable for reckless. But for him, it wasn't enough.

In 1958, he requested to enter NASA.

The Mercury project was the US attempt to place a man in orbit. Lovell was one of the 110 test pilots considered, but a temporary liver condition frustrated its possibilities.

Four years later, he tried again.

In June 1962, after rigorous medical tests, NASA announced to the “new nine.” These would be the men responsible for fulfilling President Kennedy's promise to bring Americans to the moon.

It was the most select group of aviators ever gathered. It included Neil Armstrong, John Young and, fulfilling his childhood dream, Jim Lovell.

Three years later, I was ready.

His first trip to space was aboard the Gemini 7, along with astronaut Frank Borman.

Your mission: Check if humans could survive two weeks in space. If not, the moon would be unattainable.

After completing the resistance record, Lovell commanded the Gemini 12 next to the rookie Buzz Aldrin.

This time they showed that the human being could work outside a spacecraft. Aldrin went on a vacuum and spent five hours photographing star fields.

Now, the goal was the moon.

The Apollo 8 crew would be the first to travel beyond the Earth's orbit and enter the seriousness of another celestial body.

It was NASA's most dangerous mission until then.

The Saturn V rocket that launched to Lovell, Borman and William Anders at 40,000 km/h was huge, three times larger than any other of the Gemini program.

Sixty -eight hours after takeoff, they succeeded: Apollo 8 slipped silently behind the moon.

The astronauts, fascinated, hit the windows, the first humans to see the hidden side of our heavenly neighbor. And then, on the horizon, an incredible view appeared.

“Dawn on earth!” Borman exclaimed.

“Fast, the camera!” Lovell replied.

It was Christmas eve of 1968.

USA was immersed in the Vietnam War and social disturbances. But at that time, it seemed that humanity was united.

The world saw its planet as astronauts saw it: fragile and beautiful, shining in the desolation of space.

For Lovell, it was the most moving experience of your life.

At that precise moment, at 385,000 kilometers away, a man in a blue rolls stopped in front of Lovell's house in Houston. He walked and handed a box to Marilyn.

She opened the silk paper with stars and pulled out a mink jacket. “Merry Christmas,” said the card that accompanied her, “with love of man on the moon.”

They climbed as astronauts and went down into celebrities.

There were parades with paper ribbons, tributes of the Congress and a place on the cover of the magazine Time. And they hadn't even stepped on the moon.

That honor, of course, was for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

A year later, Kennedy's dream was fulfilled posthumously. There was a small step and humanity made a great leap. The “new nine” had fulfilled their mission.

In April 1970, Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise were determined to follow the footsteps of Armstrong and Aldrin towards the lunar surface in Apollo 13.

But things went very bad.

They were 320,000 kilometers from the earth and approaching their goal when they detected low pressure in a hydrogen tank. It was necessary to stir it to prevent the superfrío gas from settling in layers.

Swigert activated the switch. It should have been a routine procedure, but the command module, Odyssey, shook. The oxygen pressure fell and the energy went out.

“I think we have a problem here,” Swigert said.

Lovell had to repeat the message for a stunned mission control: “Houston, we have a problem.”

It was one of the greatest underestimations of all time.

The crew was in serious problems: a dramatic explosion had left its ship useless.

Haise and Lovell worked frantically to activate the lunar module, Aquarius.

It was not designed to use until it reached the moon. He had no thermal shield, so it could not be used to re -enter the Earth's atmosphere. But I could keep them alive until then.

The world held his breath and observed.

For the second time, Lovell had joined the world as one.

“For four days,” said Marilyn, “I didn't know if he was a wife or widow.”

Temperatures fell to the freezing point, and had to ration food and water.

They spent days before they slowly returned to the limits of the Earth's atmosphere.

They returned aboard the Odyssey and prayed so that the thermal shield was not damaged.

The radio silence that accompanies the re -entry was extended much more than normal. Millions looked on television, many convinced that everything was lost.

After six agonizing minutes, Swigert's voice broke the silence.

The team on the ground held breathing until the parachutes were deployed and the crew came safe.

The mission was NASA's greatest failure and, without a doubt, its most glorious time.

Lovell retired from the Navy in 1973 and opted for a quiet life.

His book, Apollo 13became the famous 1995 film, starring Tom Hanks like Jim Lovell.

For the film, the director asked him to be dressed as an admiral for a scene in which he shake Hanks's hand when the crew was rescued from the sea.

But the old hero did not accept. He saw no reason to falsely decorate his curriculum.

He took out his old navy uniform, dusted it and put it for the special appearance.

“I retired as a captain,” he insisted, “and Captain will continue to be.”

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