Lovell, James, Jr.

Born Mar. 25, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio. American astronaut; captain first class in the US Navy.

Lovell studied at the University of Wisconsin and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., graduating from the latter in 1952. He served as a test pilot at the Navy Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Md. After his graduation from the Aviation Safety School of the University of Southern California, he worked as a flight instructor and safety officer at the Naval Air Station in Oceana, Va. He was selected to be an astronaut by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the USA in 1962.

As second pilot, Lovell completed a space flight from Dec. 4 to 18, 1965, with F. Borman on the Gemini 7 spacec aft, which remained aloft for 330 hr 35 min, completing 206 revolutions around the earth and totaling about 9,200,000 km. From Nov. 11 to 15, 1966, he completed a space flight as commander of Gemini 12, with E. Aldrin, Jr. The spacecraft made 59 orbits around the earth in 94 hr 35 min, flying more than 2,600,000 km. From Dec. 21 to 27, 1968, as navigator, Lovell, together with F. Borman and W. Anders, made the first flight to the moon on the Apollo 8 spacecraft, which was injected into a selenocentric orbit. The spacecraft returned to the earth after completing ten revolutions around the moon. The flight lasted 147 hr 01 min. From Apr. 11 to 17, 1970, Lovell, as commander, made a flight to the moon with J. Swigert, Jr. and F. Haise, Jr. on the Apollo 13 spacecraft. Because of an accident aboard the spacecraft, the moon landing was canceled and, after circling the moon, Apollo 13 returned to the earth. The flight lasted 142 hr 55 min. On his four space voyages, Lovell flew a total of 715 hr 6 min.

In 1971, Lovell was appointed deputy director of the science and applications directorate at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. A crater on the far side of the moon has been named after him.