James A. Lovell

James Lovell
NASA astronaut
Nationality	American
Status	Retired
Born	(1928-03-25) March 25, 1928 (age 88) Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Other occupation	Test Pilot
Rank	Captain, USN
Time in space	29d 19h 03m
Selection	1962 NASA Group
Missions	Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, Apollo 13
Mission insignia

James Arthur "Jim" Lovell Jr. (born March 25, 1928) is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission control. Lovell was also the command module pilot of Apollo 8, the first Apollo mission to enter lunar orbit. He is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, the first of only three people to fly to the Moon twice, and the only one to have flown there twice without making a landing. Lovell was also the first person to fly in space four times.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1928, Lovell was the only child of his mother Blanche, who was of Czech descent, and his father, who died in a car accident in 1933. For about two years, he and his mother resided with a relative in Terre Haute, Indiana. His mother then moved them to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Juneau High School and became an Eagle Scout.

As a child, Lovell was interested in rocketry, and built flying models. From the fall of 1946 to the spring of 1948, he attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison for two years under the "Flying Midshipman" program, where he joined the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity.