Jim Lovell reading the newspaper evoking the perilous rescue of Apollo 13 on April 17, 1970, aboard the USS IWO (NASA / HANDOUT)
The American astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the famous Lunar Mission Apollo 13, who had narrowly escaped the disaster and held the world in suspense, died at the age of 97, NASA announced on Friday.
This former Navy pilot, which has become an emblematic figure in space history, died Thursday in Illinois, the American space agency said in a statement.
His “life and (his) work inspired millions of people over the decades”, insisted NASA, welcoming her “unwavering character and courage”.
“There are people who dare, who dream and who lead others to places where they would not go alone. Jim Lovell (…) was part of it,” reacted the famous actor Tom Hanks, who embodied the astronaut in the cinema, in a message on Instagram.
Jim Lovell had made the journey to the Moon twice, without ever walking on the star. However, the American marked history by his participation in one of the most mythical space odyssey, in the middle of the race for the Moon during the Cold War.
Launched on April 11, 1970, nine months after the first historic steps of Neil Amstrong on the Moon, the Apollo 13 mission commanded by Jim Lovell, and in which astronauts Fred Haise and Jack Swigert participated, could have passed under radars.
But that was without counting the explosion of an oxygen tank that occurred in full flight.
– Perilous rescue –
From this spectacular misadventure comes the famous phrase “Houston, we have a problem”, launched by astronauts at the NASA command center in Texas.
America, which already considered these flights as a routine, was then projected live in an unprecedented tragedy, three men risking staying forever in space.
Thanks to Jim Lovell’s composure as well as the professionalism and ingenuity of NASA, the trio miraculously came out, succeeding in returning safely on Earth by transforming the lunar module into a rescue canoe.
This perilous operation was broadcast by televisions around the world and then adapted by Hollywood in the eponymous blockbuster “Apollo 13” released in 1995, with Tom Hanks featured and in which Mr. Lovell himself makes an appearance.
The epic, which earned the astronaut a medal of honor, however cost him his moon dream.
He who should have set foot there during the Apollo 13 mission, who was to be the third to allow men to tread the lunar soil, has never left in space again.
A small crater of the star was however appointed in his honor in 1970 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Born on March 25, 1928 in Cleveland in Ohio, Jim Lovell had led a pilot career at the Navy before joining NASA.
He was one of the first astronauts to fly in orbit around the moon and observe an “earth rise”, named after the famous shot captured in December 1968 and showing the blue planet standing out from the darkness of space.
“He was our hero. His unshakable optimism, his sense of humor and his way of giving us everyone the feeling that we could accomplish the impossible we will miss,” reacted his family in a press release shared by NASA.