Jim Lovell James " Jim " Arthur 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 . Lovell 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 . Youth and education . Born in Cleveland , Ohio to a Czech mother , Lovell ' s family moved to Milwaukee , Wisconsin , where he graduated from Juneau High School and became an Eagle Scout . His father died in a car accident when Lovell was young and , for about two years , he resided with a relative in Terre Haute , Indiana . As a boy , Lovell was interested in rocketry , and built flying models . Later he attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison for two years , joining the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity . He continued on to the United States Naval Academy and , after graduating in 1952 , entered the United States Navy . He married Marilyn Gerlach that same year and they have four children : Barbara ( born in 1953 ) , James ( 1955 ) , Susan ( 1958 ) , and Jeffrey ( 1966 ) . United States Navy . Upon completion of pilot training Lovell served at sea flying F2H Banshee night fighters . In January 1958 , he entered a six - month test pilot training course at what was then the Naval Air Test Center ( now the U . S . Naval Test Pilot School ) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River , Maryland ( also known as Pax River ) , along with Charles ( Peter ) Conrad and Wally Schirra . Lovell graduated first in his class . Later that year , Lovell , Conrad and Schirra became three of 110 military test pilots selected as potential astronaut candidates for Project Mercury . Schirra went on to become one of the Mercury Seven , but Lovell and Conrad failed to make the cut for medical reasons : Lovell because of a temporarily high bilirubin count in his blood ; and Conrad for refusing to take the second round of invasive medical tests . Lovell continued for four years at Pax River , using the call sign " Shaky " , a nickname given him by Conrad . NASA career . In 1962 , NASA needed a second group of astronauts for the Gemini and Apollo programs . Lovell applied again , and this time was accepted into NASA Astronaut Group 2 , as was Conrad . Gemini program . Lovell was selected as backup Pilot for Gemini 4 , which put him in position for his first space flight three missions later as Pilot of Gemini 7 with Command Pilot Frank Borman in December 1965 . This flight set an endurance record of fourteen days in space , and also was the target vehicle for the first space rendezvous with Gemini 6A . Lovell was later scheduled to be the backup Command Pilot of Gemini 10 , but after the deaths of the Gemini 9 prime crew Elliot See and Charles Bassett , he replaced Thomas P . Stafford as backup commander of Gemini 9A . This again positioned Lovell for his second flight and first command , of Gemini 12 in November 1966 with Pilot Buzz Aldrin . Lovell ' s two Gemini flights gave him more time in space than any other person as of 1966 . Apollo program . Apollo 8 . Lovell was originally chosen as Command Module Pilot on the backup crew for Apollo 9 , planned as a high - apogee Earth orbital test of the Lunar Module , along with Neil Armstrong as Commander and Buzz Aldrin as Lunar Module Pilot . Lovell later replaced Michael Collins as CMP on the Apollo 9 prime crew , reuniting him with his Gemini 7 commander Frank Borman , and LM pilot William Anders , when Collins needed to have surgery for a bone spur on his spine . But then , delays in construction of the first manned LM prevented it from being ready in time to fly on Apollo 8 , planned as a low Earth orbit test . It was decided to swap the Apollo 8 and Apollo 9 prime and backup crews in the flight schedule so that the crew trained for the low - orbit test could fly it as Apollo 9 , when the LM would be ready . The original Apollo 9 medium Earth orbit test was replaced with a lunar orbital flight , now Apollo 8 . Borman , Lovell and Anders were launched on December 21 , 1968 , becoming the first men to travel to the Moon . As CM Pilot , Lovell served as the navigator , using the spacecraft ' s built - in sextant to determine its position by measuring star positions . This information was then used to calculate required mid - course corrections . The craft entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve and made a total of ten orbits , most of them circular at an altitude of approximately for a total of twenty hours . They broadcast black - and - white television pictures of the lunar surface back to Earth , and Lovell took his turn with Borman and Anders in reading a passage from the Biblical creation story in the Book of Genesis . They began their return to Earth on Christmas Day with a rocket burn made on the Moon ' s far side , out of radio contact with Earth . ( For this reason , the lunar orbit insertion and trans - Earth injection burns were the two most tense moments of this first lunar mission . ) When contact was re - established , Lovell was the first to announce the good news , " Please be informed , there is a Santa Claus . " The crew splashed down safely on Earth December 27 . Apollo 13 . Lovell was backup commander of Apollo 11 and was scheduled to command Apollo 14 , but he and his crew swapped missions with the crew of Apollo 13 , as it was felt the commander of the other crew , Alan Shepard , needed more time to train after having been grounded for a long period . Lovell lifted off aboard Apollo 13 on April 11 , 1970 with CM Pilot Jack Swigert and LM Pilot Fred Haise . He and Haise were to land on the Moon . But on April 13 , while in Earth - Moon transit , a damaged heater coil in a cryogenic oxygen tank sparked during a routine tank stir . This quickly turned liquid oxygen into gas with a huge increase in pressure , which burst the tank and damaged a second tank , resulting in the loss of all stored oxygen in just over two hours . This disabled the fuel cell - driven electrical power system , crippling the Command / Service Module " Odyssey " and requiring immediate abort of the landing mission ; the goal of the mission became safely returning to Earth . Using the LM as a " life boat " providing power , oxygen and propulsion , Lovell and his crew immediately re - established the free return trajectory that they had left , and swung around the Moon to return home . Based on calculations made on Earth , Lovell had to adjust the course two times by manually controlling the Lunar Module ' s thrusters and engine , using his watch for timing . Apollo 13 returned safely to Earth on April 17 . Lovell is one of only three men to travel to the Moon twice , but unlike John Young and Eugene Cernan , he never walked on it . Lovell accrued over 715 hours , and had seen a total of 269 sunrises from space on his Gemini and Apollo flights . This was a personal record that stood until the Skylab 3 mission in July through September 1973 . It is also probable that Apollo 13 ' s flight trajectory gives Lovell , Haise , and Swigert the record for the farthest distance that humans have ever travelled from Earth . Later career . He retired from the Navy and the space program in 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 , a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award , later served as the President of the National Eagle Scout Association in the mid - 1990s . He was also recognized by the Boy Scouts of America with their prestigious Silver Buffalo Award . Along with Jeffrey Kluger , Lovell wrote a book about the Apollo 13 mission , " Lost Moon : The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 " . This book was the basis for the later Ron Howard movie " 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 house in Texas and even went for a ride 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 in which the astronauts come aboard the " Iwo Jima " . Filmmakers initially offered to make Lovell ' s character an admiral aboard the ship ( presumably Rear Admiral Donald C . Davis , Commander Task Force 130 ( CTF 130 ) , who was the senior officer aboard and welcomed them home ) . However , Lovell stated " I retired as a Captain and a Captain I will be " , and thus 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 also provided a commentary track on both the single disc and the two - disc special edition DVD . In 1999 , Lovell , along with his family , opened " Lovell ' s of Lake Forest " , a fine dining restaurant in Lake Forest , Illinois . The restaurant displays many artifacts from Lovell ' s time with NASA , as well as from the filming of " Apollo 13 " . Lovell ' s son James " Jay " Lovell III is the executive chef . Lovell also visits colleges and universities where he gives speeches on his experiences as an astronaut and businessman . He strongly urges students to get involved in science and the space program and he credits NASA in the 1960s with bringing much of the country together for a common goal . In 2006 , the Adler Planetarium in Chicago opened its " Shoot for the Moon " exhibit based on the life of Jim Lovell , along with the Gemini and Apollo programs ; the exhibit features his Gemini 12 spacecraft and an extensive collection of his personal space artifacts . Many of his mementos and spacesuit elements have long been displayed at Chicago ' s Museum of Science and Industry , along with his Apollo 8 command module . Tributes . A small crater on the far side of the Moon is named " Lovell " in his honor . " North James Lovell Street " is the stretch of 7th Street between W . State Street and W . Clybourn Street in downtown Milwaukee , Wisconsin . Discovery World in Milwaukee was also named " The James Lovell Museum of Science , Economics and Technology " . It was located on James Lovell St . , also named for Lovell . The " Captain James A . Lovell Federal Health Care Center " was completed in October 2010 , merging the Naval Health Clinic Great Lakes and the North Chicago Veterans Affairs Medical Center Lovell Place is a street in the North Harbour Industrial estate on the North Shore of Auckland , New Zealand . The streets are named after Apollo and some early Shuttle Astronauts Awards and decorations . Lovell ' s awards and decorations include : In media . About a month after the return to Earth of Apollo 13 , Lovell and his crewmates , Fred Haise and Jack Swigert , appeared on " The Tonight Show " with host Johnny Carson . The introduction of this segment of the show is featured on " Lost Moon : The Triumph of Apollo 13 " on the single disk DVD version of the movie . In 1976 , Lovell made a cameo appearance in the Nicolas Roeg movie " The Man Who Fell to Earth " . In 1995 , actor Tom Hanks portrayed Lovell in the hit movie " Apollo 13 " , based on Lovell ' s book " Lost Moon " . Lovell himself makes a cameo in this movie , playing the captain of the USS " Iwo Jima " at the end of the film . In 1998 , actor Tim Daly portrayed Lovell in portions of the HBO miniseries " From the Earth to the Moon " . The film depicts Lovell during his missions aboard Gemini 12 , Apollo 8 , and Apollo 13 , though he is not seen on screen during the latter mission . Lovell is one of the astronauts featured in the book and documentaries " In the Shadow of the Moon " and " When We Left Earth " . On November 13 , 2008 , Lovell and fellow Apollo 8 crew members Frank Borman and Bill Anders appeared on the NASA TV channel to discuss the Apollo 8 mission . The three former astronauts later appeared together for a panel discussion centering on Apollo 8 at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library on April 23 , 2009 , a discussion that was videotaped by C - SPAN . The Bio Channel documentary on Ron Howard mistakenly refers to Lovell as " John Lovell " when discussing Howard ' s film " Apollo 13 " .