Flight Jacket Night Lecture with Jim Lovell

Captain James A. “Jim” Lovell, Jr shared stories from his career as a naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut at the 2014 Vice Adm. Donald D. Engen Flight Jacket Night Lecture. Broadcast live on Friday, October 17, 2014, the event was a part of the National Air and Space Society Lecture Series.

During his Naval career, Jim Lovell had numerous aviator assignments, including a 4-year tour as a test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland. He has logged more than 7,000 hours flying time--more than 3,500 hours in jet aircraft. Lovell was selected as an Astronaut by NASA in September 1962. He served as backup pilot for Gemini 4, backup Commander for Gemini 9, and backup Commander to Neil Armstrong for the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. On December 4, 1965, he and Frank Borman flew on the Gemini 7 mission which lasted 330 hours and 35 minutes and included the first rendezvous of two manned maneuverable spacecraft. Lovell also commanded Gemini 12 with Pilot Edwin Aldrin which launched on November 11, 1966. Lovell was Command Module Pilot and Navigator on Apollo 8, the first human spaceflight to the moon, in December 1968. Lovell was the Commander of Apollo 13 and became the first man to journey twice to the moon. Lovell held the record for time in space with a total of 715 hours and 5 minutes until surpassed by the Skylab flights.

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