Jim Lovell in his own words

Editor’s note: The following story ran in our June 2015 issue.

In today’s celebrity-obsessed culture, the word hero gets bandied about far too often. But what other term would you use to describe astronaut James Lovell? A veteran of four spaceflights, his accomplishments paved the way for the first Moon landing and helped define NASA’s can-do attitude.

In December 1965, he and Frank Borman flew on Gemini 7, where they performed the first rendezvous with another manned spacecraft (Gemini 6A). In November 1966, he teamed with Buzz Aldrin on Gemini 12, the final mission of the Gemini program. But Lovell’s main claim to fame came during the subsequent Apollo program. He served as the command module pilot on Apollo 8 — the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth’s gravity and orbit the Moon. And he was commander on Apollo 13, which suffered a crippling explosion on its way to the Moon and barely made it safely back to Earth.

Recently, Astronomy Editor David J. Eicher and I interviewed Captain Lovell about his Apollo missions at Lovell’s of Lake Forest, his restaurant in suburban Chicago. At 86, he remains every bit as sharp and entertaining as he was during his NASA days, when astronauts were this country’s true heroes.

ASTRONOMY:  Thanks, Captain Lovell, we certainly appreciate your being here today and having this interview with us. Apollo 8 was the first of many missions that went to the Moon, and you did a lot of things for the first time. Did it help with your comfort level to have Frank Borman with you, since you had flown with him earlier?

LOVELL:  Yes, Frank and I flew for two weeks on Gemini 7, in a small little container called the Gemini. Some people call it two weeks in the men’s room. I was particularly happy to be on [Apollo 8] because it was the first time that we’d navigated the entire 240,000 miles [385,000 kilo­meters] to the Moon. When I was with Charles Lindbergh on the beach watching Apollo 11 lift off, he said, “You know, Apollo 8 was almost like my flight across the Atlantic [because of] the long distance — all Apollo 11 had to do was land.”

ASTRONOMY:  Your Apollo mission originally was planned to test the lunar module in Earth orbit, but delays in the lunar module program changed those plans. How lucky did you feel that the mission order changed so that you were able to be on the first flight to the Moon?

LOVELL:  Well, I was pretty happy. I had already been up twice, and this would have been three times to go around again doing about the same thing. I was the command module pilot, so I would have been in the command module, not in the lunar module. As a matter of fact, I started out being on the Apollo 11 flight and Mike Collins was on Apollo 8. He had a neck injury that had to be repaired before he could fly, so I replaced Mike on Apollo 8, and he took my spot on Apollo 11.

ASTRONOMY:  I take it you weren’t necessarily disappointed with that?

LOVELL:  No, that’s exactly right. Because on Apollo 11, I would have been the command module pilot, orbiting again. Being the first to go to the Moon on Apollo 8, that was something I really enjoyed.

ASTRONOMY:  What were your thoughts when you became the first people to leave Earth’s gravity behind?

LOVELL:  It was a unique feeling in many respects. First of all, we were like three school kids looking down on the farside of the Moon when we first went around there. The ground was tracking us at this time, and they said that at such and such a time, down to the second, you’ll lose communication with us. By gosh, right on the second, we whipped around the farside and lost communication. You know the Moon has three different shades. In sunlight, it’s quite bright; in earthshine, it looks like snow outside at nighttime here on Earth; and then there’s the part that has no earthshine, no sunshine — you don’t see a thing. And that’s the only time when all the stars came out.

ASTRONOMY:  How were your preparations for Apollo 8? Did they prepare you for what you actually saw at the Moon,
or was it totally different from what you were expecting?

LOVELL:  Well, when we got word that we weren’t going to do Earth orbit on Apollo 8 but go to the Moon, we had to change a lot of things — navigation was the big thing. The training was very good; there was nothing, I would say, that was a complete surprise to us.

The big surprise is the Earth — it’s not a surprise that we thought we’re going to see something else — but just suddenly looking at it and seeing it as a small body that you can completely hide behind your thumb. You’re only 240,000 miles away, but everything that you have ever known is behind your thumb — all the history of the Earth and all the people you knew and all the problems. It is merely a small body that’s orbiting a rather normal star, and it just happens to be at the proper distance with proper mass to support life.

And then I thought how insignificant we really all are. The Sun itself is tucked away in the outer edge of a galaxy called the Milky Way, and that’s only one of ­millions of galaxies in the universe. And here’s this little body sitting out there 240,000 miles away, and I thought, “Boy, how fortunate we all are to have a spot like that to go back to, and hopefully, we can make it back home.”

ASTRONOMY:  When you read from the book of Genesis on Christmas Eve, was that a joint decision among all three of you, or did one of you come up with that idea?

LOVELL:  That’s kind of interesting. When we were planning our trajectory, all of a sudden it dawned on us that the day we were shooting to take off, on the 21st of December, we would be orbiting the Moon on Christmas Eve. We decided, gee, it’s going to be Christmas, what can we say? We’ve got to think about something to say. So we thought, well how about changing the words to “The Night Before Christmas”? That didn’t sound too good. Or how about “Jingle Bells”? No, that was even worse. So we were at an impasse.

We knew a friend who said, “I know a newspaper reporter, and they usually have a gift of gab about writing things like this. I’ll ask him.” The story I got was that he spent one night trying to figure out what these three people should say. Around midnight, his wife came down the stairs and said, “What are you doing?” And he told her the story that he was writing this thing for the Apollo 8 crew, but he hadn’t really come up with anything yet. And she said, “That’s simple — why don’t they read from the Old Testament, the first 10 verses of Genesis? I mean, it’s an emotional time, sort of a holy time, but the first 10 verses of Genesis is the structure of most of the world’s religions.” So that’s what we did. Wrote it down and put it on fireproof paper, and it was put in the back of the flight manual. That original flight manual and those words are now down at the Adler Planetarium [in Chicago].

ASTRONOMY:  When you were on the farside of the Moon and getting ready to come back, did you have any concerns about the rocket firing?

LOVELL:  I don’t think anyone who makes these Apollo flights thinks about that rocket not firing. Of course, we were the first ones there. On the ninth orbit, we did Genesis and things like that and talked about the Moon. But on the 10th one, we wanted to make sure everything was ready. We called back [to Houston and asked for] some good words about what they thought we should put in the computer, exactly when we should fire the rocket, and the whole thing. And when we were on the farside, Mission Control never knew if it fired or didn’t fire until we got around to the nearside. Of course, if it didn’t fire, we’d still be in lunar orbit. It fired absolutely perfectly, right where it should. And I said to Mission Control: “Houston, please be informed — there is
a Santa Claus.”

ASTRONOMY:  You mentioned a little bit earlier about seeing Earth rise as you were going around the Moon. Did you have any idea after you got back how iconic that image would become and that it’s been called one of the great images in the history of mankind?

LOVELL:  When the Earth drifted over to my window and I looked at it — Bill [Anders] was the photographer — and saw the composition of the Earth with respect to the lunar horizon, I said, “Bill, this is it. This is the picture.” He had a telephoto lens on the camera, so that brought the Earth closer, where it was more pronounced and made it actually a much better composition, I think. We took lots of pictures, and we didn’t know what picture NASA would actually release — whether the pictures of the Moon on the farside or the Earth in various places. It turns out that [“Earthrise”] was a great picture.

ASTRONOMY:  Now we’ll switch gears and discuss your next mission. Could you talk about how the objectives of Apollo 13 differed from those of Apollo 11?

LOVELL:  Apollo 13 was actually going to be the first scientific Apollo flight. If you remember, there was a great space race between the Russians and ourselves. It started out in 1961 when Kennedy said we’d put a man on the Moon. This was a technical challenge, not so much of a scientific expedition. So 11 was successful. And just to prove that we could do it, because there were a lot of people in this country after Apollo 11 landed that said we faked it in West Texas someplace, we did Apollo 12. And it was successful — they landed within walking distance of the Surveyor [3] spacecraft. So these were all really to prove the technology of going to the Moon and coming back.

By the time Apollo 13 came around, we realized that we better start looking at getting the science in the Apollo program. We were designated to land around a crater called Fra Mauro because [lunar scientists] thought that maybe there’s ejecta [there that was dug out by big meteorite impacts]. We did a lot of geology fieldwork, and, if you look at the insignia of Apollo 13, it says “Ex Luna, Scientia” [From the Moon, knowledge] — that was the whole point of that mission.

ASTRONOMY:  Can you describe the liftoff of Apollo 13, and how did you feel heading to the Moon for a second time?

LOVELL:  I was a lot more comfortable for the liftoff on 13. I had two rookies with me; this was their first time. Occasionally, they would look at me, and I would tell them what that noise was — when the valves opened up and the fuel started running down toward the main engine, you could hear that rumble. I was very comfortable on 13 because I knew what to expect, up until the second stage engine shut down [about two minutes early]. We wondered whether we had enough fuel to go all the way to the Moon, but we did.

ASTRONOMY:  This was your second trip to the Moon, your fourth flight into space overall. Were you used to the sights, the sounds, the smells, and how the stars appeared? Was it a familiar experience
for you?

LOVELL:  Yeah, to me, it was very familiar. They all came back, even the smells. There was no problem. Of course, when we got off the free-return course [a midcourse correction required to change the trajectory for the upcoming lunar landing], that kind of worried us a little bit because that put us in a position whereby we wouldn’t be able to get back to a safe landing on the Earth. But we had to do that to get the Sun in the proper position [for lunar orbit] so we could see the shadows of the rocks and boulders on the lunar surface. Because there is no atmosphere on the Moon, if you look straight down at noontime, it all washes out. You don’t see anything. You had to have shadows to get a good perspective — a 3-D picture of where you’re going.

ASTRONOMY:  Can you describe the moment that you heard, in your words, a hiss-bang explosion?

LOVELL:  Well, I was wondering what it was. There was an occasion beforehand where Fred [Haise] would turn the “repress valve” all the time, and it had a bang to it. I thought he was just trying to scare us, but he didn’t do that. I wasn’t too concerned at that time. I saw that we had an electrical problem at first, and I thought it might have been one of the batteries that we heard through the lunar module. But it turned out when we saw the oxygen escaping, that told us we were in serious trouble.

ASTRONOMY:  How did you hold your composure in such an extraordinary and unprecedented moment of crisis?

LOVELL:  Well, if you want to get in this business, you better be optimistic. I was a test pilot, and I had problems with airplanes before where I had to suddenly figure out what to do. I wasn’t too sure at the time of the explosion that we were in danger until we saw the oxygen leaking. Then, we just had to figure out what to do. I thought our chances were probably pretty low at that time of getting back because we didn’t know exactly what the problem was back there — did we lose two oxygen tanks or did we just lose one? When we saw that two fuel cells had died and, of course, when we lost the oxygen, we then knew the other fuel cell was going to die because it uses oxygen and hydrogen to produce electricity and water.

That put us in a very tight spot. We were 90 hours and about 200,000 miles from home. And our lunar module, which was eventually used as a lifeboat to get home, was designed to only last 45 hours and support two people. Counting the crew — there were three people there.

ASTRONOMY:  What was it like using the lunar module for propulsion and maneuvering? The craft was in an unprecedentedly tricky operation, was it not?

LOVELL:  The lunar module had never been used [for this purpose]. It had been studied to use this technique but never had really been simulated. Of course, we’re happy we had it. It had the landing engine on it, had its own fuel, its own oxygen — to last 45 hours and to support two people. The one thing we ran into was the fact that it was attached to the command/service module. The command module had the only heat shield that would get us through the atmosphere of the Earth after we would jettison everything else.

We found out when we tried to maneuver using the lunar module’s control systems that we had not figured nor had the lunar module been designed to be maneuvered with this mass attached to it. It’s about a 60,000-pound [27,000 kilograms] dead mass that put the center of gravity way out in left field someplace. With the way the attitude jets were on the lunar module, [firing them] gave us a false movement. Put us someplace else. So, I had to learn to maneuver all over again. I had to know that when I maneuvered the handle somehow, what would happen to get me back into proper position.

ASTRONOMY:  It was really an experi­mental process.

LOVELL:  Quick learning.

ASTRONOMY:  Mission Control frantically worked on plans and communicated with you to test plans for a return. You were working on the immediate crisis, and they were contemplating and communicating with you. What was the dynamic talking
to them and working through it in that first period?

LOVELL:  Well, at the beginning, it was very close. The one thing that we always had was the radio. And [Mission Control] were the ones that got us back on the free-return course while we were still married together with the two spacecraft. They were also involved with the speed-up. When we found out where we were, how much time we had to get home, we realized that we would not have enough electrical power to go around the Moon and get home safely before the power died. So they figured out how to speed up the spacecraft, first of all as we approached the Moon so that when we went around it we could light the lunar module engine and speed up to go back home again.

The one thing that I sort of complained about [was that] they had a hard time trying to figure out the final power-up of the command module — because it was dead. The guidance system had never been intended to be shut off for the entire flight. But we didn’t have the [power to keep it warm]. And so they were trying to figure out the best way of powering up the command module to do the job.

They did a very good job, though, because we were being poisoned by our own exhalation. The lithium hydroxide canisters [on the lunar module] were designed to remove only carbon-dioxide exhalation from two people for two days, and we were three people for four days. It meant that we had to take a square canister, which had plenty of room in the command module, and sort of rig it into the environmental system of the lunar module that used round canisters that went into round holes. And you can’t put a square canister into a round hole, obviously. So we ended up using duct tape, plastic, a piece of cardboard, and an old sock to sort of jury-rig this square canister on the outside of the lunar module system to remove the carbon dioxide. They did a very excellent job, and it kept us from being poisoned.

ASTRONOMY:  Is it true that Jack Swigert and Fred were enamored with taking photos of the lunar farside?

LOVELL:  About the time we were approaching the Moon, they wanted to take a picture of the farside. And, of course, I was waiting to get the instructions on how to start the engine and all that. In case I missed something, I was hoping that they would pick it up. And I said, essentially, “If we don’t get home, you won’t get those pictures developed.” And they said, “Well, you’ve been here before, and we haven’t.” So they wanted to get pictures.

ASTRONOMY:  What was the feeling of reentry through Earth’s atmosphere like?

LOVELL:  Well, as far as the spacecraft performing, it appeared just like it should because we managed to get all the power up on the command module again and with that we got the guidance system back up again. We realigned the guidance system — something which we learned on Apollo 8. [On that mission,] I inadvertently punched in the wrong program in the guidance system and had to do a manual realignment. Very, very fortunate, because in Apollo 13, we shut off the command module guidance system. And so we had to realign that guidance system with respect to the stars again so we’d have the proper attitude to come back in with respect to the atmosphere. So something like fate, that comes in handy.

ASTRONOMY:  What were the thoughts you had once you splashed down? You must have been incredibly relieved
and happy.

LOVELL:  Yeah, I was incredibly relieved to think that we got back. And then I thought to myself as I was bobbing around and before I got out of the spacecraft — you know we are kind of fortunate because if that explosion had occurred just after we committed ourselves to that high velocity to go to the Moon, we would never have had enough electrical power to get all the way home again. We would have been out of electrical power. And if that explosion had occurred after we got into lunar orbit or Fred and I were on the lunar surface and came up, we’d never have enough fuel to get out of lunar orbit and to get back home again. So if we had to have an explosion on the way to the Moon, that was the time to have it.

ASTRONOMY:  One final question I have on a somewhat lighter note. What was the experience like of being in the film Apollo 13 and appearing in it, as well as your association with the making of the film?

LOVELL:  With respect to the movie, I enjoyed being in it. It was a cameo spot. Actually, [the director] Ron Howard came up to me and said, “Would you want to be the admiral?” There was an admiral on board the regular ship. I said, “No, I retired as a captain — I’ll dig out my old uniform, and I’ll look at the ribbons that he had, and I’ll put those on.” So it duplicated him, and that’s the way we’ll go.

Former Astronomy Senior Editor Richard Talcott watched with rapt attention as Jim Lovell twice journeyed to the Moon and back during the Apollo program.