“Houston, we have a problem.” The man behind this famous phrase, Jim Lobel, is no longer here. Legendary astronaut her NASA And the conquest of space, he remained in history because he managed to safely bring back his two colleagues after the explosion of a tank at Apollo 13, more than 300,000 kilometers from Earth.
NASA bid him farewell to him as an astronaut who “turned a possible tragedy into success”, in front of the eyes of millions of viewers around the world.
Born in 1928 in Wisconsin, Lovel grew up with a passion for the Air Force and the rockets. As a US Navy officer, he joined NASA in 1962, along with Neil Armstrong and John Yang.
A statement from the family of Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell on his passing:
“We are saddened to announce the passing of our beloved father, USN Captain James A. “Jim” Lovell, a Navy pilot and officer, astronaut, leader, and space explorer. He was 97.
We are enormously proud of… pic.twitter.com/rz6kbvJ9oa
– In (@nasa) August 8, 2025
The first astronaut to travel twice around the Moon without being hired, participated in the Apollo 8 mission, the first to show the invisible side of our satellite and immortalized the famous “Earthrise” photo, which became a symbol of our planet’s fragility.
The rescue of Apollo 13
In April 1970, as it headed to the Moon along with Jack Swigkert and Fred Hays, an explosion was seriously destroyed by the Odyssey spacecraft. Lobel improvised a survival plan, using the lunar model as a “lifeboat” to keep the crew alive until returning to Earth. After four days of extreme intensity, polar temperatures and prolonged silence when entering the atmosphere, the crew was safely adapted to the Pacific.
This achievement, which NASA described as “the most beautiful time” of its history, despite the failure of the mission, remains one of the most emblematic moments of space exploration.
After his retirement from the Navy in 1973, Lobel worked in the private sector, gave numerous lectures and wrote Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, the narrative of this Odyssey in space. The book inspired the movie Apollo 13 (1995) with Tom Hanks.
For the film, the director asked him to dress admiral for a brief appearance, where he would greet Hanks when the crew was rescued at sea. But he refused.
Jim Lobel had traveled twice to the Moon, saw the historic “Earthrise” and had escaped death in space – so he had no need to “decorate” his resume. He pulled out his old naval outfit from the closet, dusted it and wore it for the stage.
“I have been demobilized as a master,” he said with emphasis, “and I will remain a master.”