He was 97.
Lovell was the commander of the 1970 Apollo 13 mission that was slated to be the third moon landing. After launch, an oxygen tank onboard the service module exploded, leading to a scramble to get the astronauts home. He previously served as the command module pilot for 1968's Apollo 8 mission, which went to the moon but did not land.
Lovell was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 1995 film about the heroic men and women who helped get the crew home safe. The phrase "Houston, we have a problem" comes from a misquote of both Lovell and command module pilot Jack Swigert when they realized something was wrong.
Lovell retired from the Navy and the space program in 1973 and worked as the CEO of a towing company in Houston, then as an executive with several telephone companies, before retiring in Illinois. His wife Marilyn passed away in 2023 at age 93.
They had been married since June 1948 and have four children. A mountain on the moon is named in her honor.
Doug Collins, the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, had the chance to meet Lovell just a week ago.
A statement from his family said,
We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight. But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind.
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