Marilyn Lovell, The Calm Wife Of Apollo 13’s Commander, Has Died At The Age Of 93:
Marilyn Lovell died on August 27 within Lake Forest, Illinois. Her husband was in charge of the difficult Apollo 13 ship, and her outward calmness and inner pain showed how hard the space program is on astronauts’ wives. She turned 93.
Captain James A. Lovell, Jr., was an American astronaut who worked on the Gemini and Apollo projects. On August 27, 2023, his wife, Marilyn Lillie Lovell, died quietly in Lake Forest, Illinois, with her husband and family around her.
Marilyn Lovell was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 11, 1930. She was the fifth and last of five children. She went to Juneau High School within Milwaukee, where she met the man she would spend the next 71 years with.
Marilyn went to Wisconsin State Teachers College within Milwaukee after high school, but she later switched to George Washington University to be nearer to Jim while he was at the U.S. Naval Academy. Soon after Jim Lovell graduated from high school in 1952, he and his high school sweetheart got married.
Capt. Lovell Flew Several Gemini Missions Alongside Growing Responsibility:
Mrs. Lovell knew what it was like to be in the military because she went with her husband, Capt. James A. Lovell Jr., to his jobs as a navy pilot and flight teacher before he joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 1962 and trained almost exclusively for a trip into space.
As Capt. Lovell launched more and more important Gemini missions, Mrs. Lovell was left to raise and manage their four kids mostly on her own and deal with the sexist news coverage of the time. Like additional astronaut wives, Mrs. Lovell placed her husband’s dream of landing on the moon above everything else.
She didn’t tell him she was pregnant for four months because she was afraid it would put him at the far end of the line. She tells the Associated Press within 1968, “The wives have it the worst.” “It’s the guys’ turn to drive.”
Jim Lovell, Who Was Married To Lovell, Was The Pilot Of The Apollo 8 Command Module:
As the spouse of one of the initial three astronauts to go to and from the moon, Marilyn Lovell lived through what she termed “exciting days” within the early days of the U.S. space program.
Jim Lovell was the pilot of the Apollo 8 mission that went around the moon in 1968. Then, 16 months later, he was in charge of the Apollo 13 trip to the moon, which couldn’t land on the moon because of a broken oxygen tank.
The Apollo 13 mission was turned into a book, which was then turned into a movie in 1995. Actress Kathleen Quinlan played Marilyn Lovell in the movie.
When asked about those years, Lovell tells the Tribune in 1994, “Those were exciting and wonderful times in our lives.” “Yes, there were a few hard and scary times, but I wouldn’t give those exciting days up for anything. And I was always sure that the program would work.”
A Few Months Prior To The Apollo 13 Flight, Captain Lovell Took Her To Witness Marooned:
Lovell told the Tribune in 2010 about how she saw her husband’s interest in science, physics, and engineering for herself. That meant she sat on the porch of their house alongside her future mother-in-law and watched Jim Lovell try to launch homemade rockets upon a nearby property.
“We’d both say, ‘He’s crazy, and this is crazy,'” Lovell said with a laugh. But he didn’t give up. Her son said that she went to George Washington University within Washington, D.C., while working part-time in a shopping store. Then, after Jim Lovell graduated from the Naval Academy in 1952, she married him.
A few months before the Apollo 13 mission, Capt. Lovell brought her to see “Marooned,” a movie about three Apollo astronauts who can’t get back to Earth because of a terrible rocket failure. One of the crew is named Jim, just like her husband. He disappears into space.
The Launch Of Apollo 13 Upon April 11, 1970, Wasn’t Nearly As Exciting As Past Space Missions:
Then, the day before launch, Mrs. Lovell was taking a shower when her wedding band fell off and down the drain. She said, “I was scared because I thought it was a sign that something bad was going to happen.”
She told NBC News, “For whatever reason, the astronauts’ wives never talked about anything that would worry their partners before they went upon a flight.” “I mean, we didn’t tell anyone anything.”
The launch of Apollo 13 upon April 11, 1970, wasn’t nearly as exciting as other space missions. There wasn’t nonstop coverage on TV, as well as none of the networks showed what was meant to be an exclusive live broadcast from space.