Jim Lovell
Jim Lovell
James Arthur "Jim" Lovell, Jr.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...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAstronaut
Date of Birth25 March 1928
CountryUnited States of America
The Earth from here is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.
I was born a year after Lindbergh made his historic trip across the Atlantic. Boys like either dinosaurs or airplanes. I was very much an airplane boy.
Err Houston, we've had a problem. [pause] We've had a main B bus undervolt.
I never thought I didn't have a card to play.
It looks to me, looking out the hatch, that we are venting something. We are venting something into the-into the space.
The real friends of the space voyager are the stars. Their friendly, familiar patterns are constant companions, unchanging, out there.
Houston, we've had a problem here
The lunar flights give you a correct perception of our existence. You look back at Earth from the moon, and you can put your thumb up to the window and hide the Earth behind your thumb. Everything youve ever known is behind your thumb, and that blue-and-white ball is orbiting a rather normal star, tucked away on the outer edge of a galaxy.
Please be informed, there is a Santa Claus.
The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth.
Well, Frank, my thoughts are very similar. The vast loneliness up here at the moon is awe-inspiring, and it makes you realize what you have back there on earth. The earth from here is a grand oasis in the big vastness of space.
You need to be a person who makes things happen.
We learned a lot about the Moon, but what we really learned was about the Earth. The fact that just from the distance of the Moon you can put your thumb up and you can hide the Earth behind your thumb. Everything that you've ever known, your loved ones, your business, the problems of the Earth itself-all behind your thumb. And how insignificant we really all are, but then how fortunate we are to have this body and to be able to enjoy loving here amongst the beauty of the Earth itself.
When I circled the moon and looked back at Earth, my outlook on life and my viewpoint of Earth changed... Earth is a spaceship, just like Apollo - and just like Apollo, the crew must learn to live and work together. We must learn to manage the resources of this world with new imagination.