page_title: Jim Lovell
section_title: Later career
hierarchical_section_title: Jim Lovell / Later career
caption_attribution_description: English: Jim Lovell at a press conference at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill, NC on April 6, 2017
context_page_description: James Arthur Lovell Jr. is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became one of the first three humans to fly to and orbit the Moon. He then commanded the 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission which, after a critical failure en route, circled around the Moon and returned safely to Earth through the efforts of the crew and mission control.
  Lovell had previously flown on two Gemini missions, Gemini 7 in 1965 and Gemini 12 in 1966. He was the first person to fly into space four times.
  One of 24 people to have flown to the Moon, Lovell was the first person to fly to it twice. He is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and co-author of the 1994 book Lost Moon, on which the 1995 film Apollo 13 was based.
context_section_description: Lovell retired from the Navy and the space program on March 1, 1973 and went to work at the Bay-Houston Towing Company in Houston, Texas, becoming CEO in 1975. He became president of Fisk Telephone Systems in 1977, and later worked for Centel, retiring as an executive vice president on January 1, 1991. Lovell was a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He was also recognized by the Boy Scouts of America with their prestigious Silver Buffalo Award.
  Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger wrote a 1994 book about the Apollo 13 mission, Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. It was the basis for the 1995 Ron Howard film Apollo 13. Lovell's first impression on being approached about the film was that Kevin Costner would be a good choice to portray him, given the physical resemblance, but Tom Hanks was cast in the role. In order to prepare, Hanks visited Lovell and his wife at their home in Texas and even flew with Lovell in his private airplane.
  In the film, Lovell has a cameo as the captain of the USS Iwo Jima, the naval vessel that led the operation to recover the Apollo 13 astronauts after their successful splashdown. Lovell can be seen as the naval officer shaking Hanks' hand, as Hanks speaks in voice-over, in the scene where the astronauts come aboard the Iwo Jima. Filmmakers initially offered to make Lovell's character an admiral aboard the ship. However, Lovell said "I retired as a Captain and a Captain I will be." He was cast as the ship's skipper, Captain Leland E. Kirkemo. Along with his wife Marilyn, who also has a cameo in the film, he provided a commentary track on both the single disc and the two-disc special edition DVD.
  He has served on the Board of Directors for several organizations, including Federal Signal Corporation in Chicago (1984–2003), Astronautics Corporation of America in his hometown of Milwaukee (1990–1999), and Centel Corporation in Chicago (1987–1991).
caption: Lovell speaking at the North Carolina Science Festival in April 2017
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