Jim Loville, who has led Apollo 13 safely to Earth, dies at the age of 97

Astronomer Jim Luville, who led Apollo 13 safely to Earth in 1970, died at the age of 97.

NASA said that he “turned a possible tragedy into success” after thwarting an attempt to land on the moon due to an explosion on the spacecraft while hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth were.

Watch tens of millions on TV while Luville and two other astronauts retreated to the Pacific Ocean, a moment that became one of the most famous in the history of travel to space.

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

Sean Duffy, NASA president, said that Loville helped the American space program “formulate a historic road.”

In a statement, the Luville family said: “We will miss the unusual optimism, the spirit of humor, and the way in which each of us could do the impossible. It was really unique.”

One day, a 16 -year -old transferred a heavy tube three feet in the center of a large field in Wisconsin.

He had persuaded the science teacher to help him make a temporary missile. In some way, he was able to put his hands on the ingredients of gunpowder – potassium nitrate, sulfur and coal.

Pull a welding helmet for protection. He was filled with powder, hitting a match and running like hell.

The missile rose 80 feet in the air and exploded. If the chemicals were slightly different, it would have been detonated into parts.

For Jim Loville, this was more than just a childish ark.

In achieving his dream to be a missile world, he will become an American hero. But it was not easy.

James Arthur Loville Junior was born on March 25, 1928 – just one year after Charles Lindberg has a historical journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

“Children are like dinosaurs or aircraft,” he said. “I was a lot of plane.”

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

His mother, Blanche, throughout the hours – worked struggling to keep the family in clothes and food. The university was out of its financial arrival.

The US Navy, which was hungry for new pilots after World War II. The construction of the missiles was not but at least flying.

Leville signed a program that he sent to the college at the expense of the army during training as a fighter pilot.

Two years later, he gambled and moved to the Marine Academy in Annapolis, on the Chessabic Bay, hoping to work with the beloved Ructas.

It was a lucky decision.

A few months later, the Korean war erupted and his former colleagues from the pilots of the trainees were sent to Southeast Asia. Not a lot got to finish their education.

The marriage was banned in Annapolis and the girlfriends were imprisoned. The navy did not want its Mediterranean men to waste their time in such a vacuum.

But Loville had a lover. Marilyn Geralash was the girl in high school, who was shamefully asked the dancing party.

Women on campus were not allowed and trips abroad were limited to 45 minutes. Somehow the relationship survived.

A few hours after his graduation in 1952, the newly assigned lieutenant married her.

They will be together for more than 70 years, until Marilyn’s death in 2023.

He did everything in his power to announce his love for missiles.

His thesis was at the Marine Academy on the subject of liquid fuel engines. After graduation, he hoped to specialize in this leading new technology.

But the navy has other ideas.

Loverll for a plane carrier plane set flying Banshee Jets off ships at night. It was a white pill, and only high -wire commercial business for Dardevils. But for Loville, that was not enough.

In 1958, he applied to NASA.

The Mercury project was America’s attempt to put a man in orbit around the ground. Jim Loville was one of 110 test pilots that were selected, but the temporary liver condition was pushed to his chances.

After four years, try again.

In June 1962, after arduous medical tests, NASA announced “New Nine”. These will be the men who benefit President Kennedy’s pledge to put American shoes on the moon.

The group of elite was the most of the men who gathered at all. Among them is Neil Armstrong, John Young, and the completion of his childhood dream, Jim Loville.

After three years he was ready.

His first journey to space was on Gemini 7.

Their mission: To see if men can survive two weeks in space. If not, the moon was out of reach.

Full tolerance record, the next trip to Loverll was to drive GEMINI 12 alongside the upward space, Buzz aldrin.

This time they have proven that a man can work outside a spacecraft. Aldrin extends embarrassingly in a vacuum, and spent five hours filming the stars fields.

Now the moon itself.

The APollo 8 crew will be the first to travel beyond the low -Earth orbit and enter the gravitational clouds of another celestial body.

NASA’s mission was the most dangerous so far.

The Saturn V missile was shot at Loverll, Borman and William Anders from Jonah, 25,000 miles per hour – three times larger than anything seen in the Guemi program.

As Navigator, take a lovell with him to take Star readings – if computers fail and they had to find their own way home.

Sixty -eight hours after taking off, they did so.

The engines fired and APollo 8 fell silently behind the moon. Men heard as hearing headphones with a radio signal stumbled to control the task and then fail.

Young astronauts have suspended themselves for windows, the first human being seeing the far side of our closest heavenly neighbor. After that, from above the advanced horizon, an incredible scene.

“Clarification of the Earth”, shook Burman.

“Get the camera quickly,” Loville said.

It was the eve of Christmas 1968.

America was mired in Vietnam abroad and civil turmoil at home. But at that moment, it seemed that humanity was united.

The world’s residents saw their planet as astronauts saw – fragile and beautiful – shining in the ruin of space.

Leville has read from the Book of Genesis, the basis of many great religions in the world, for the people of the earth.

“And God called on the day of light, and the darkness that the night invited. In the evening and morning, it was the first day.”

For him, it was a picture that changed our world forever. He put his thumb on the window and the whole world disappeared. His life experience was the most move.

With the appearance of the spacecraft from the dark, Luville was the first to announce good news. “Please be text,” he said, while the radio was back to life, “There is Santa Claus.”

At that particular moment, 239,000 miles, a man wearing Blue Rolls -Royce wandered out of Loville’s house in Houston.

Dozens of journalists walked abroad and handed a box to Marilyn.

The typical stereotype paper opened and pulled the Minnk jacket. The card that came with her said, “Happy Birthday” and love from the man in the moon.

They ascended as an astronaut and went down celebrities. The people of the Earth followed every step on TV.

There were marches of indicator strip, honoring Congress and a place on the cover of Time Magazine. They were not until they were on the moon.

This honor, of course, went to Neil Armstrong and Buzz aldrin.

A year later, Kennedy’s dream was after his death. A small step was taken and mankind took a giant leap. The new nine did their work.

In April 1970, Jim Loville was the role of Jim Loville. Fortunately, the Apollo 13 crew did not believe in unpleasant numbers.

Luville, Jack Swigrett and Farid Hayes were science men – highly trained and torrential trained to follow Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon. But things went wrong.

They were 200,000 miles above the ground and closed their target when they spotted low pressure in the hydrogen tank. He needed a sensation to stop the super cold gas that settled in layers.

Swijrt mocked the key. It should have been a routine but the unit of orders, Odysse, shivering. Oxygen pressure and energy closure decreased.

“I think we have faced a problem here,” Swigrett said. Loville was forced to repeat the message to control the amazing task: “Houston, we have faced a problem.”

It was one of the greatest foundations in all ages. The crew was a big problem – a dramatic explosion disrupted their craft.

Hayes and Loville worked in a feverish in the lunar unit, Aquarius.

It was not supposed to be used until they reached the moon. He had no thermal shield, so it cannot be used to re -enter the Earth’s atmosphere. But you can keep them alive until they got there.

The world stopped breathing and witnessed.

For the second time, Jim Loville had collected the world together. The first time that Earthrise was, the second is to witness his battle for survival.

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

The temperatures decreased to freezing, and the food and water were legalized. It was days before their return to the Earth’s atmosphere. They climbed on board Odysse and the heat shield was not damaged.

Radio, which accompanies the re -entry, continued longer than usual. Watch millions on TV, and many were convinced that everything was lost.

After a painful six -minute, Jack Swign’s sound cut through silence.

The team on the ground was his breath until the umbrellas were spread and the crew was safe.

The task was the greatest failure in NASA, and without a question, its best hour.

Leville retired from the navy in 1973 and chose a quiet life, where she worked at Bay-Houston Towing Company, delivering speeches and worked as president of the National Scout Association.

His book, Lost Moon: The Proilous Apollo 13, the famous 1995 movie, starring Tom Hanks in the role of Jim Loville.

As for the film, the director asked him to wear Admiral clothes. It was for a hijab scene, shaking hands with Hanks when the crew was rescued from the sea.

But the old American hero did not have it.

Jim Loville had gone to the moon twice, witnessed the Earth’s clarification and frankly avoided a cold death in space – and he saw no reason to exhaust his autobiography.

Take out his old seafood, and immerse him down and put him in the appearance of a veil.

“I retired as a leader,” insisted, “and the captain will be.”