Juneau High Grad James Lovell Went to the Moon—Almost

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James Lovell was born in Cleveland, Ohio on March 25, 1928, the son of Blanche and James Lovell Sr. Following his father's death in a car accident in 1933, James and his mother lived with relatives in Terre Haute, Indiana, and later relocated to Milwaukee.

A member of the Boy Scouts since childhood, he went on to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. He graduated from Solomon Juneau High School in 1946. Lovell developed an interest in rocketry and built many flying models.

His interest in space started while he was a student at Solomon Juneau High School. A profile in the April 12, 1946 edition of the Juneau Pioneer mentions his enthusiasm, describing him as “a certain tall, blond, handsome, blue-eyed fellow … especially apt at making rockets which don’t quite reach Mars.”

After high school, he attended the University of Wisconsin—Madison under the “Flying Midshipman” program, where he played football and was a member of the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity. Lovell applied and was accepted at the U.S. Naval Academy. During his four years at Annapolis, Lovell married his high school sweetheart, Marilyn, and they eventually had four children. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned an ensign. He then went to Pensacola for flight training. 

Fighter Pilot, Test Pilot

Lovell became a Naval Aviator in 1954, and was assigned to All-Weather Fighter Squadron 3 and served a billet aboard the carrier USS Shangri-La. Upon return to shore duty, he was reassigned to provide pilot transition for a new fighter aircraft. He entered test pilot training at Patuxent River, Maryland.

Lovell and two fellow test pilots, Pete Conrad and Wally Schirra, were among 110 military pilots as potential candidates for Project Mercury. Schirra went on to become one of the Mercury Seven, while Lovell and Conrad were placed on standby selection due to temporary medical issues. He took the opportunity to attend the University of Southern California and complete Aviation Safety School.  He returned to Patuxent River to be assigned to Weapoms Testing and flight instruction.

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In 1962, Lovell and Conrad were both selected as part of the second group of NASA astronauts, with Lovell was as backup pilot for Gemini 4, and later as pilot of Gemini 7 with Command Pilot Frank Borman. His second flight and first command we aboard Gemini 12 with Pilot Buzz Aldrin. On that flight they had three spacewalks and achieved rendezvous and docking with another target vehicle in orbit, paving the way for the coming Apollo missions.

On to Apollo

He next flew as Command Module Pilot aboard Apollo 8, with Borman and William Anders, and was the first mission to travel to the Moon. On Christmas Eve, 1968, the three astronauts broadcast live television pictures of the lunar surface as they read from the Book of Genesis. On Christmas Day they began their long trip back to Earth.

His next flight was aboard Apollo 13, with Fred Haise and Jack Swigert, which became much more of a challenge than anyone imagined. In transit to the Moon, an explosion aboard the service module crippled the spacecraft with the loss of all on-board oxygen and a disabled electrical system. Thanks to some quick thinking and jury rigging between the crew and the ground team, the three astronauts used the Lunar Module as a “lifeboat” for a safe return home. In 1966 the City of Milwaukee hailed his successful flight on Gemini 7 with a parade down Wisconsin Avenue.

During the late ‘60s Milwaukee wanted to showcase its hometown hero by creating a short-lived space museum within the MacArthur Square parking structure. It was named the James A. Lovell Space Center and was operated by the Milwaukee Public Museum. When funding was dropped in 1969 from the city budget, the space museum couldn’t survive on its own. Objects and displays on loan from NASA were removed and the space museum closed on October 26, 1969.

Lovell retired from the Navy and the space program in 1973. He became president of Fisk Telephone systems, and later worked for Centel. The BSA recognized Lovell with not only the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, but also the prestigious Silver Buffalo Award. He wrote a book with Time magazine writer Jeff Kluger about the Apollo 13 mission, which served as the basis for the 1995 film Apollo 13. He even had a cameo in the film as the skipper of the recovery carrier Iwo Jima.

In 1996, the City of Milwaukee recognized James Lovell by renaming the Downtown stretch of North Seventh Street as James Lovell Street. In the late ‘90s the Lovell family opened, Lovells of Lake Forest, a fine dining restaurant in Lake Forest, IL. The restaurant closed in 2015. Today, going on 94, Lovell graciously provides interviews and participates in space outreach programs.