Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 commander, has died
50 comments
·August 8, 2025FabHK
LorenDB
> (Conclusion: walking on the moon is healthy?)
NASA vetted the Apollo astronauts for those who did not have medical problems, so it would be more accurate to say they walked on the moon because they were healthy.
sealeck
They also vetted the people who didn't walk on the moon (because they apply the same testing to all astronauts).
shermantanktop
I also didn't walk on the moon, so therefore I'm healthy.
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hinkley
Long flights without getting up to stand are dangerous after all.
JKCalhoun
I have a dream that another human will walk the Moon while at least one of the Apollo astronauts is still alive to watch.
potato3732842
I bet a couple will see it it on their deathbeds in the same way that Adams and Jefferson refused to die until the country hit a key milestone.
Bluestein
This would be so great - a "changing of the guard" of sorts ...
If only Apollo hadn't lost momentum ...
ToucanLoucan
I mean it's not so much that they lost momentum as there's just... not a ton of good reasons to go to the moon. It's a long, incredibly dangerous trip and there's just not much there.
Same reason we've never sent people to Mars, it's even more complicated, magnitudes more dangerous, and what exactly are we accomplishing in doing so...? Nothin there.
drweevil
I'm wondering if the surviving Apollo astronauts are kinda like the surviving '72 Dolphins ;)
latchkey
Walking is good exercise!
dyauspitr
Conclusion: the people selected to walk on the moon were fit and healthy
WJW
I don't doubt that the people selected to walk on the moon were indeed fit and healthy, but it seems like a stretch to think that the people who flew on the earlier Apollo missions were selected to less stringent criteria. The selection effect should be just as strong for the people who "merely" got to fly around the moon. So out of two sets of people selected for being healthy, one group seems to be much more alive than the other.
(Also yes obviously the sample size is too low to draw meaningful conclusions)
gonzobonzo
> I don't doubt that the people selected to walk on the moon were indeed fit and healthy, but it seems like a stretch to think that the people who flew on the earlier Apollo missions were selected to less stringent criteria.
It's not a stretch to think that the people who flew on the earlier missions could have been older on average, though. Just looking at some of the ages, 2 of the still alive crowd are younger than all of the Apollo 8 astronauts. All of them are younger than two out of the three Apollo 8 astronauts.
Even a few years difference in age can make a huge impact when we're talking about people in their 90's.
amalcon
If anything, it would be even more so. If a person on the moon had a medical emergency, this would be a serious problem but there's another person there to help and/or fly the lander back to the capsule. If the person in the capsule had a medical emergency, it's hard to see how any of the crew survive.
More likely though, as you suggest, the same astronomical standards (pun intended) applied to all crew members.
actinium226
He came to speak at a small awards ceremony at my university. He came into the room and said "sorry, I know you were all expecting Tom Hanks!"
Really seemed like a great guy, shame to hear about his passing.
potato3732842
Movies about men who survived despite incredibly long odds will never be the same once Tom Hanks dies.
bunderbunder
He spoke at my school, too, and I got a chance to shake his hand. It was only a brief personal encounter, but I also came away with the impression that he must be one of the kindest people walking around on this rock.
ashton314
I don't get that emotional when watching movies. I cried a little when the parachutes opened in Apollo 13.
As a kid I had a book detailing hundreds of space missions—mostly probes, obviously—but my favorite mission to read about was Apollo 13. Just incredible.
Maybe when Jim got to heaven, the first place the angels took him to was where he would have landed on the moon.
Sharlin
> I cried a little when the parachutes opened in Apollo 13.
Thanks in no small part to Horner's score, at least in my case.
ColinWright
I was lucky enough to have met and spent some time with Jim Lovell. An absolute gentleman, and it was a joy to have been in his company.
Ad Astra ...
richardwhiuk
Per aspera
wyldfire
I met Captain Lovell at his restaurant in Illinois around 2003 or so. He was a happy man, friendly greetings for all his guests.
sylens
For an astronaut, it has to be a triumph to die of old age or natural causes. Doubly so for the crew of Apollo 13.
Metacelsus
RIP to one of the greats.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation wrote up a great tribute: https://www.astronautscholarship.org/assets/2025-asf-lovell-...
davidw
I know some of the space race stuff was driven by cold war politics, but I think it was still pretty cool. Big, difficult goals can be inspiring.
creativenolo
>Big, difficult goals can be inspiring.
So true.
> Some of the space race was driven by Cold War politics.
Is it fairer to say, initiated by? Listen to Michael Collins speak on the first episode of “13 Minutes to the Moon.” “We did it.” The “we” being humanity, not nationalism.
Yes, it started with rivalry, but it lifted humanity’s ceiling. There is a lot wrong with the Apollo story (race, gender), but these issues were a symptom of the time, less a cause. These issues were reckoning against a legacy.
The goal was to show superiority, not leverage it. I wish this was the case for a nation capable of going to the moon today. Instead of leverage against shared and common issues, the goal was to better.
dielotr
As a member of Apollo 13, he flew farther from Earth than any other human being ever has.
He was literally closer to God and the Heavens than anyone else before or since.
RIP and ad astra to a great American
addaon
> He was literally closer to God
If you subscribe to a religion that not only assigns a physical known location to God, but puts that location at a significant distance away from humanity either in a specific direction, or in a general “anywhere except where those people are” sense. Is that a common belief structure?
rbanffy
Houston, I have a problem with my eyes.
lenerdenator
There should be a national day of mourning.
There won't be, but there should be.
Trivia: Jim Lovell is the only person to fly to the moon twice without landing on it (scheduled "test flight" on Apollo 8, unscheduled emergency on Apollo 13).
12 people flew to the moon without landing on it, now only 1 is still alive (Fred Haise).
12 people walked on the moon, 4 are still alive (Buzz Aldrin, David Scott, Charles Duke, Harrison Schmitt).
(Conclusion: walking on the moon is healthy?)