Apollo 13 Astronaut and Wisconsin transplant Jim Lovell dies at 97

LAKE FOREST, Ill (CIVIC MEDIA) – Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell has died.

James Arthur Lovell, who commanded the 1970 Apollo 13 mission and brought it safely back to Earth following an onboard explosion, was born in Cleveland in 1928. He and his mother moved to Milwaukee in 1935 following the death of his father in a car accident.

Lovell graduated from Juneau High School and attended UW Madison for two years before graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952.

Following service as a naval aviator, Lovell was selected as one of NASA’s second group of astronauts.

In addition to commanding Apollo 13, he also flew on Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8. He was the first astronaut to fly on two lunar missions but never stepped foot on the Moon.

Lovell served on the board of directors for several organizations, including Federal Signal Corporation in Chicago from 1984 to 2003, the Astronautics Corporation of America in his hometown of Milwaukee from 1990 to 1999, and Centel from 1987 to 1991.

A street in downtown Milwaukee is named in his honor.

Lovell died on August 7, 2025, at his home in Lake Forest, Illinois, at the age of 97.

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