Captain Jim Lovell

Here's a timeline of Jim Lovell's life:

• 1928: Born in Cleveland, Ohio
• 1946-1948: Lovell attended the "Flying Midshipman" program for two years at the University of Wisconsin
• 1948: Lovell was accepted into the United States Naval Academy
• 1952: He graduated from the Naval Academy with a contract to become a Naval Aviator
• 1954: Lovell was designated a Naval Aviator. Upon completion of pilot training, he was assigned to VC-3 at Moffett Field near San Francisco, California
• 1965: Lovell's first space flight, as pilot of Gemini 7. The flight's objective was to evaluate the effects on the crew and spacecraft from fourteen days in orbit
• 1966: His first command of a space flight, Gemini 12 with pilot Buzz Aldrin
• 1968: Command Module Pilot of Apollo 8, a lunar orbital flight and the first flight to travel to the Moon
• 1970: Apollo 13 Commander, Lovell, Command Module Pilot, Jack Swigert, and Lunar Module Pilot, Fred Haise, were forced to abort their Moon landing mission and returned to Earth by manually controlling the Lunar Module's thrusters and engine
• 1973: Lovell retires from the Navy and space program.

"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 you've 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."

-- Captain Jim Lovell