James A. Lovell

Notable people · Aviation · Space

James A. Lovell

Cleveland-born astronaut who flew Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8, and commanded Apollo 13.

Born March 25, 1928, Cleveland
Died August 7, 2025, Lake Forest, IL

Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born: March 25, 1928, Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) source
Died: August 7, 2025, Lake Forest, IL source
Buried: United States Naval Academy Cemetery, Annapolis (beside his wife, Marilyn) source
Also known as: Jim Lovell, James A. Lovell
Education: University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 1946-1948
: US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, to 1952, B.S.
Known as: Aviation, Space
Organizations: NASA

Life story

Jim Lovell was born in Cleveland in 1928. After his father died in 1933 his mother moved the family to Milwaukee, where he grew up. He studied at the University of Wisconsin in the Navy's flying midshipman program and graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1952.

He married Marilyn Gerlach that year; they had four children. After test pilot school at Patuxent River he was selected as a NASA astronaut in September 1962.

He flew Gemini 7 (1965), Gemini 12 (1966), Apollo 8 (1968), the first crewed trip around the Moon, and commanded Apollo 13 in April 1970, which returned safely after an in-flight explosion. He died in Lake Forest, Illinois, on August 7, 2025.

Ohio ties

Cleveland (1928)
birthplace Cuyahoga County · source
Cleveland (2008)
one of 19 Ohio astronauts honored at NASA's 50th-anniversary gathering, August 29, 2008 Cuyahoga County · source

Timeline

1928 Born March 25 in Cleveland, Ohio, only child of James Lovell Sr. and Blanche Masek Lovell. source
1946 Graduated from Solomon Juneau High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. source
1958 Reached the final 32 candidates for NASA's first astronaut group but was disqualified over elevated bilirubin levels. source
1962 Selected for NASA's second astronaut group, the 'New Nine.' source
1965 Flew Gemini 7 with Frank Borman, a two-week endurance mission, in December. source
1968 Served as command module pilot of Apollo 8, the first crewed flight to the Moon. source
1970 Commanded Apollo 13, launched April 11 and aborted after a service module oxygen tank exploded; the crew returned safely. source
2008 Joined John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Kathryn Sullivan and 15 other Ohio astronauts in Cleveland on August 29 for NASA's 50th anniversary. source
2025 Died August 7 at his home in Lake Forest, Illinois, aged 97. source

What James is known for

Apollo 8 command module pilot, 1968, first crewed flight around the Moon
Apollo 13 commander, 1970; crew returned safely after in-flight explosion
Flew Gemini 7 and Gemini 12 as well; first person to fly to space four times
Apollo 8, Apollo 13, Gemini 7, Gemini 12

Stories

Ohio's astronauts in one room

On August 29, 2008, NASA marked its 50th anniversary with a gathering of astronauts in Cleveland, the home of its Glenn Research Center. Four headliners were featured: John Glenn of New Concord, Neil Armstrong of Wapakoneta, Cleveland-born Jim Lovell, described by NASA as a veteran of two Apollo missions, and Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space. Fifteen more astronauts with Ohio ties joined them, including Kenneth Cameron, Nancy Currie, Carl Walz, Michael Foreman and Suni Williams. NASA's group photo put Lovell in the front row with Glenn, Armstrong and Sullivan.

Source

Honors and things named for them

Congressional Space Medal of Honor
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Lunar crater Lovell, far side, 1970
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, 2010

Family

wife: Marilyn Gerlach Lovell
child: Barbara
child: James
child: Susan
child: Jeffrey

Ohio places

Where James A. Lovell was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Born: Cleveland, Cuyahoga County ZIP 44114 · Cleveland · Cuyahoga County

Myths and corrections

Things often said about James A. Lovell, and what the record shows.

Often said Lovell's father died in 1933, when Jim was five.

The record Sources disagree. Wikipedia and the Shepherd Express give 1933. The Armstrong Air & Space Museum says James Lovell Sr. died June 21, 1940, in a car accident at Roneys Point, West Virginia, after which 12-year-old Jim went to relatives in Terre Haute; the ww2online.org oral-history biography says he was 11 and that the family had first moved around Pennsylvania. The date is unresolved. source

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

Jim Lovell as an Annapolis midshipman
Public domain
A group of officials standing before a Mercury-Redstone booster at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Am...
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A group of officials standing before a Mercury-Redstone booster at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Am...
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Members of the U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard from Washington, DC present the Colors during a memorial service cel...
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Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell, left, former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, Sen. John Glenn, third from left, ...
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Jim Lovell's Apollo 13 spacesuit on display at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas.
CC0
The original finding aid described this as: Capture Date: 5/27/1976 Photographer: COPY NEGATIVE Keywords: c197...
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Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and Veterans Administration Secretary Eric K. Shinseki pose for photos wi...
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Former CNN space correspondent John Zarrella, left, interviews Gemini and Apollo astronauts Jim Lovell, center...
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Former "Good Morning America" host David Hartman and Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Gene Cer...
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A host of U.S. and other NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan coalition servicemembers listen intently as former ...
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middle row Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (6th from right), Jim Lovell (4th from right), Gene Cernan (3rd from right), Ne...
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