James Lovell ~ March 25, 1928 - August 7, 2025

One of my all time favorite astronauts died at age 97 on August 7, 2025. He was part of the "New Nine" and was the last of them to pass away.

Lovell flew two Gemini missions (7 and 12) and two Apollo missions (8 and 13).  He may be most remembered for the Apollo 13 flight but Apollo 8 was an incredible mission. It was the first crewed mission to orbit the moon and Lovell, Borman, and Anders took this flight with great risk and many unknowns. They were the first to see the dark side of the moon and returned safely to talk about it. The famous "Earthrise" photo was taken by Anders on this flight. Apollo 11 pushed Apollo 8 out of the limelight but it was a historic mission in so many ways. You can read about all of his missions elsewhere, however. 

Lovell is one of three astronauts who flew to the moon twice (Young and Cernan were the others) but he is the only one of the three who didn't get to walk on the moon.

We never got to meet Jim Lovell but have met his spacecraft 😊

Gemini VII is held in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

Gemini XII is displayed in the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.

The Apollo 8 capsule is housed in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

The famous Apollo 13 capsule is in the Cosmosphere Museum in Hutchinson, Kansas. It was difficult to get good photos of it with so much glass and so many reflections but we were still thrilled to see it.

Mission Control for the Apollo missions was located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. We took a tour in 2024.

Here are a few Lovell items we found in the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

I have one Jim Lovell book which I treasure.

And "Earthrise" has been hanging in my office for many years.

RIP Captain Lovell. You were one of the best 💗