Collins continued circling the Moon until July 21, when Armstrong and Aldrin rejoined him. In a way, they gave up a lot of their future, because sometimes it was just impossible, there was no way the marriage was going to survive because they were just living under extraordinary circumstances. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Donald "Deke" Slayton was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts but he never flew in that program. A Florida resident, he would go in to a career in NASA management and was often consulted as an outside expert for the space agency after he retired. Like, 'Listen, we're hot pilots, do your thing, but make sure it doesnt make it into the papers.' Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. More than half of the first 30 astronauts NASA hired have died. If the astronaut is still alive, the number is parenthesis is his age as of April 28 th 2021 and, if not, the parenthesis gives the year of death: Apollo 7 - Schirra (d. 2007), Eisele (d. 1987), Cunningham (89) Apollo 8 - Borman (93), Lovell (93), Anders (87) Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. The four surviving Mercury 7 astronauts at a reception after Shepard's memorial service in 1998. [Lunar Legacy: 45ApolloMoon Mission Photos]. All three crew members of Apollo 11, the first lunar landing-Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin-were Gemini veterans. Clara Moskowitz is a science and space writer who joined the Space.com team in 2008 and served as Assistant Managing Editor from 2011 to 2013. I think when your husbands are on a mission, you become very good friends with the gals because you're sharing a lot of time with each other knowing that your husbands are going to be doing something together. Thirteen of the 29 astronauts who participated in the 11 Apollo missions that began in 1968 remain with us today. The first, on July 18, 1966, was the Gemini 10 mission, where Collins performed a spacewalk. The tradeoff benefited both sides, especially sinceLifepaid a stipend to each family and also provided a life insurance policy -- which insurers would not grant to anyone who listed "astronaut" as their profession. Why I was so excited about writing it was because it really was sort of the heart of the endeavor, the emotional story of the space race. Also killed in the Challenger explosion were payload specialists Christa McAuliffe and Gregory Jarvis. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. . The group augmented the Mercury Seven. Josephine "Jo" Schirra, married 62 years to one of the original Project Mercury astronauts, died April 27 at her Rancho Santa Fe home, according to a death . We weren't trained for ticker-tape parades. All three of the men who flew to the Moon twice-Jim Lovell, John Young and Gene Cernan-were Gemini veterans. Schmitt, 81, was the first scientist astronaut, a geologist who got to walk on the moon on Apollo 17 and was the next to last person on the moon, getting in the lander before Cernan. Rene Carpenter at a post-flight press conference for the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission at Cape Canaveral on May 27, 1962. These wives were basically single mothers during the week who were mowing the lawn, keeping the checkbook balanced, making sure their husbands aren't overly stressed at home, per NASA's recommendations. He later became NASA's chief astronaut and a tireless advocate of astronaut safety. "The astronaut wives' 'right stuff' mostly meant you stayed at home and took the responsibility away from your husband so that he could function in his world, which was a very competitive world. Now, dozens of the wives of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts have shared their experiences in a new book, "The Astronaut Wives Club" (Grand Central Publishing, June 2013). Four of America's moonwalkers are still alive: Aldrin (Apollo 11), David Scott (Apollo 15), Charles Duke (Apollo 16), and Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17). From the creator of Who's Alive and Who's Dead. In the Public Eye I knew that he was competitive like all the others, and so I was cheering for him to be on a crew. SIXTEEN (16) STILL LIVING NASA ASTRONAUTS (Mercury-Gemini-Apollo) Jim McDivitt Tom Stafford Frank Borman Jim Lovell David Scott Michael Collins Buzz Aldrin Bill Anders Rusty Schweikert Alan. His second was Apollo 11 the first lunar landing in history. Apollo 13, with astronauts Fred W. Haise, John L. Swigert, Jr., and Lovell aboard, lifted off on April 11, 1970, headed for the Fra Mauro Hills on the Moon. We were military wives, we formed a corps of wives; we were close to each other, but there was no psychological help; there was no one preparing us for this life." Who's Alive and Who's Dead is brought to you by Living Water Specialties. Koppel: I think so. New York, Walter "Wally" Schirra was the only astronaut who flew in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Lovell accompanied Frank Borman on the record-breaking 14-day flight of Gemini 7. When you go back and look at things and talk to the astronauts, it was very much condoned, the kind of behavior of, 'OK, the Cape is where you're going to be training, you can definitely unwind on the side and questions arent necessarily going to be asked. Here are nine U.S. pioneering astronauts who are part of living space history. The new book "Astronaut Wives Club" (Grand Central Publishing, June 2013) by Lily Koppel reveals what life was really like for spouses of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts. Now living in Florida, Collins, who also flew on Gemini 10, makes a few public appearances; he has painted and written books. President John F. Kennedy had announced Project Apollo, on May 25 . Gemini 5 was largely a success, but NASA knew it still had to test whether astronauts could handle longer-duration spaceflights and Gemini 7 was the mission chosen to do that. He applied for the second group of astronauts that same year, but was not accepted. The Apollo 8 astronauts were heroes, but they were also human. SPACE.com: Did you get the sense that the wives enjoyed their lives, or was mostly a hardship? He was serving as a flight instructor and safety officer at the time (1963) he was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the crewed space program. Valerie Anders: "I knew my husband was skilled; I knew that he was a good pilot. When a journalist would ask how they felt, it was like, 'God, if I told you how I really felt, my husband would never get another spaceflight!' Which is good. A Florida resident, he was released from a hospital in New Zealand on Friday. October 4, 2004Gordon Cooper / Date of death Koppel: Yeah, I had to coax some of them. Implicitly, they understood that they had to have the faith in their husbands' flying skills and go about the business of raising a family and running a household. His performance earned him a position on the advanced day fighter training team at Nellis Air Force Base, flying the F-86 Sabres. Susan Borman remembered, "NASA had told us that if anything went wrong, they'd turn those boxes off so that we couldn't", Valerie Anders: "Some of the astronauts would come [to the house] for each important phase of the mission so that if the wife had a question, they were there with their expertise to say 'well, you may hear this on the squawk box but this is what it means. Early U.S. space history is fading with the deaths of Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, John Glenn, the last of the Mercury 7 astronauts, and Neil Armstrong, the first . Implicitly, they understood that they had to have the faith in their husbands'. The Gemini Project was spectacularly successful even as it was a challenging training experience. He was sometimes known as the forgotten astronaut because he didnt get to land on the moon, while Armstrong and Aldrin became household names. Collins turned it down, not wanting to put himself and his family through the additional years of intense training required. Updated at 10:15 a.m. May 4, 2015. Of the astronauts who participated, nine are still alive. So it was just, 'Happy, proud and thrilled.' How many astronauts died in Gemini and Apollo? He later became chief executive of the now-defunct Eastern Air Lines. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Of course after Apollo 13, Marilyn was terrified. So we were there to do whatever was required. . How many of the first astronauts are still alive? Marilyn Lovell , wife of James Lovell, with their daughters. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Koppel: The husbands were like rock stars being followed around by space groupies, the "Cape Cookies," you know. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. As of this posting (June 27, 2015), Rene Carpenter, Annie Glenn and Betty Grissom are the last three of the original seven Mercury astronaut wives still alive. A statement released by Collinss family on Wednesday, including a tweet, said: We regret to share that out beloved father and grandfather passed away today, after a valiant battle with cancer. Valerie Anders: "You were, in effect, a single parent for the week. Collins made two spaceflights. Home. Collins received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. NASA arranged a contract withLifemagazine early on that gave full access to the astronauts' personal stories to that publication but excluded all others. Heres how it works. Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Michael Collins, Birth Year: 1930, Birth date: October 31, 1930, Birth City: Rome, Birth Country: Italy. Tiny. She was incredulous. But we were so much more than Stepford wives.' the rest of "Nasa group 5" astronauts still alive who flown on STS didn't fly any Apollo mission (I am not considering the backup crews). Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin were all awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Richard Nixon. About Us; Staff; Camps; Scuba. He also distinguished himself in the Gemini Program and as an Air Force pilot.. The American astronaut Michael Collins, who was part of the Apollo 11 original moon landing crew and kept the command module flying while Neil . Menu. Read on to meet NASA's first star travelers, the pioneering astronauts who became the first Americans in space. He retired from the navy and the space program in 1973 but remained in Houston as a corporation executive until his retirement in 1991. Left to right: Glenn, Schirra, Cooper and Carpenter. NASA Astronaut Group 2, also known as the Next Nine and the New Nine, was the second group of astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). James Arthur Lovell Jr. (/ l v l /; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. Also killed in the Columbia accident was Israeli payload specialist Ilan Ramon. So I think a lot of the wives were sort of innocent, and they were also in a bit of denial as well. That was really their motto throughout the program, that's how everything was. White was killed in the Apollo 1 fire along with Grissom and Chaffee. However, Aldrin and Armstrong ended up receiving a majority of the public credit for the historic event, although Collins was also on the flight. [Apollo Astronauts: Then and Now]. While their husbands were strapped to a giant rocket, television crews and newspapermen would crowd the front lawns, building temporary towers on suburban tracts to transmit the family's reactions to the world. no spyware, and no huge graphics. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. And they really went through so much in that decade that they really deserve to be recognized as playing this incredibly important role. Somebody should be there with her right now, but she can't be told anything until I can come over and notify her officially. F-4J(UK) Phantom, Timeline of first Earth observation satellites, R-7 (including Semyorka, Molniya, Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz), Timeline of first images of Earth from space, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Gemini_astronauts&oldid=1133832726, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Later walked on the Moon as an Apollo astronaut, Later flew to the Moon as an Apollo astronaut, without landing, Later flew a low-Earth orbit mission as an Apollo astronaut, Every Apollo mission commander, including Gus Grissom and with the exception of. Lovell, a graduate (1952) of the U.S. Not since Adam has any human known such solitude as Mike Collins, the mission log said, referring to the biblical figure. Lovell joined Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin for the last flight of the Gemini series, Gemini 12, which was launched on November 11, 1966, and remained in orbit for four days. Glenn made history again when, at the age of 77, he became the oldest person to travel in space. Heres how it works. Gemini IV June 03-07, 1965 James A. McDivitt, Edward H. White II. My input was well-meant and sincere, but it was also too sporadic for me to take much credit for how well they turned out. Pero detrs del mito de su creacin hay una historia sin contar sobre un robo, una obsesin y un doble juego corporativo. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Because of a heart condition, he was grounded for decades before being approved and flying in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint mission with the Soviet Union. Collins was one of six astronauts to become a nonagenarian. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. The couple lived in both Marco Island, Florida, and Avon, North Carolina. Even the wives say now, looking back at those pictures, 'Don't we look like Stepford wives? After Elliot See died in a plane crash, John Young called Marilyn Lovell and asked her to visit See's wife. Collins, 86, circled the moon while Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon during Apollo 11 in 1969, then went on to work for the U.S. State Department and become the first director of the National Air and Space Museum. These women are like, 'They didn't live through it we did.'. Surviving lunar landing mission astronauts include Collins Apollo 11 crewmate Buzz Aldrin, 91, who walked on the moon with mission commander Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969. On April 13, approximately 205,000 miles (330,000 km) from Earth, an explosion ruptured an oxygen tank in the service module. 4 hours, 52 minutes 31 seconds First manned Gemini flight, three orbits. When her mother asked her why she always wore the same dress on television, Anders had to tell her it was the only good outfit she had. Many of the untold stories of the space race reside with the women. President Joe Biden said his prayers were with the Collins family. This is a complete list of U.S. career astronauts who are deceased. Many people assumed Collins was lonely as he orbited the lunar far side, with Armstrong and Aldrin exploring the near side and billions of people back on Earth. // cutting the mustard During the mission, friends and family would arrive. Bill Anders: "We were working 18 hours a day. The second was the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969the first lunar . But when you're in it, and it's exciting, and you think that your people can meet all these challenges, you just get carried away with that. Collins, accompanied by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, remained in the Command Module while his partners walked on the moon's surface. After the United States entered World War II, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Collins attended St. Albans School. He joined the Air Force that same year, and completed flight training in Columbus, Mississippi. The wives were formally and informally drafted into a support network. Is astronaut Gordon Cooper still alive? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration came into being on October 1, 1958. The story of America's first astronauts is being retold in the TV series "The Right Stuff" on Disney Plus by National Geographic, which premieres Oct. 9 during World Space Week 2020. Alternate titles: James Arthur Lovell, Jr. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. SPACE.com: Among the few rare couples that survived, were there any great love stories? There are still some veterans from the Gemini program of the 1960's still living James McDevitt, James Lovell, Frank Borman, Dave Scott, Michael Collins , Ed Aldrin , Thomas Stafford . They were like supermoms. Your husband had gone where none of these international jet set could even dream of going. document.documentElement.className += 'js'; The Mercury Seven were the group of seven astronauts selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury.They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1.Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959; these seven original American astronauts were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. . Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Pat White, Ed White's widow and a good friend to both Susan Borman and Marilyn Lovell, committed suicide many years after the accident. Lily Koppel: They just saw this as part of their duty. The next day, he and his fellow astronauts left lunar orbit. As he recalled in a 2016 NPR interview, he didnt think of himself as being lonely in space. But then there were incredible things like round-the-world tours after your husband came back, and meeting heads of state, and feeling like you were higher-than-high society and royalty. Gordon Cooper was a NASA astronaut who flew twice in space, during the Mercury and Gemini programs. Scott Carpenter was one of the first seven astronauts selected by NASA. You're on a mission together.". The men of Apollo 8 had some idea of the burden their careers had put on their partners. July 24, 2020. And I knew the consequences of all those steps not working well. The second was the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969the first lunar landing in history. Susan Borman, wife of Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman. The Gemini astronauts were sixteen pilots who flew in Project Gemini, NASA's second human spaceflight program, between projects Mercury and Apollo. And when the men came home on the week-end in their T-38s [airplanes] they flew in and their first obligation was to go to the office at the Managed Spacecraft Centerand catch up on their mail, do their business at the office and then come back and spend time with the family in the time that was left of the weekend, which was generally late Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.". Apophis is coming Don't be caught off guard!How Close is Apophis Right Now? Shepard died in 1998 at the age of 74 from leukemia. He served as a test pilot for the space shuttle prototype Enterprise and worked in the aerospace industry. After all, who else could understand their situation? "We were very much in the public eye and nobody had been trained for that. Enjoy. The women who married fighter pilots or test pilots understood that their lives could be shattered in an instant. Jim Lovell figured, "Better than 90 percent of what families could ever hope to hear on this party line was incomprehensible a lot of numbers and vectors that even the flight controllers themselves occasionally found tedious." Perhaps this understanding is why Apollo 8 was the only mission with intact marriages. Follow Clara Moskowitz onTwitterandGoogle+. Many Apollo astronauts have lived into their 80s. Young, 86, was the first person to fly in space six times, including a stint commanding the first space shuttle flight in 1981. Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Collins made the decision to become an astronaut after watching John Glenn's Mercury Atlas 6 flight. gemini astronauts still alivewvu mechanical engineering research. Mars helicopter Ingenuity: Nasa about to try historic flight, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 'Not one iota lonely': Michael Collins on flying solo during Apollo 11 moon landing video. Frank Borman was honest in his assessment of his parenting: "I spent as much time with [my sons] as I could, but I was a part-time father, and it was Susan who bore most of the responsibility for raising our sons. All seven were military test pilots, a requirement specified by President Eisenhower to simplify the selection process. The women who married fighter pilots or test pilots understood that their lives could be shattered in an instant. She thought, every time he even went to go to the drug store, that he wasn't going to come home, and she was just absolutely paralyzed by fear. Lovell, 88, was one of NASA's most frequent early fliers, best known as the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which teetered on catastrophe. Where an astronaut flew a second mission, his name is in italics. The first American to orbit the Earth, Glenn is best known for making his three tours around the planet on February 20, 1962. Is Buzz Aldrin still alive in 2021? Mercury program (no flights), Apollo-Soyuz, Gemini 3, Gemini 10, Apollo 10, Apollo 16, 2 Shuttle. That year, NASA once again called for astronaut applications, and Collins was more prepared than ever. In 1963, Cooper flew on the final Mercury mission and became the last US astronaut to fly alone in space. SPACE.com: Why do you think it was so many of these marriages failed? Complete List of Dead Astronauts Last updated: 2 January 2022 This is a complete list of U.S. career astronauts who are deceased. And it was just standard operating procedure. He later moved to Illinois and opened a successful restaurant in Lake Forest. Every once in a while.. The four surviving Mercury 7 astronauts at a reception after Shepard's memorial service in 1998. He died, however, when a fire erupted in his spacecraft in 1967 on the launch pad, which killed his two crewmates as well. SPACE.com: Was it hard for the people you interviewed now to be honest with you about what it was really like? Strains on Marriages Without it, the U.S. and NASA would not have been able to send people to the Moon and the July 16, 1969 lunar landing would not have been possible. As commander of Apollo 16, he walked on the moon. Just make sure it doesn't affect things at home and it doesn't make it into the press.'. Serene and fragile.. Left to right . The wives of the men who trained together shared a common bond. Aboard the lead jet, tailnumbered "NASA 901", were astronauts Elliot See . The Gemini astronauts were sixteen pilots who flew in Project Gemini, NASA 's second human spaceflight program, between projects Mercury and Apollo. Collins wrote this was a false impression; there was too much to do to feel lonely. Jim Lovell, byname of James Arthur Lovell, Jr., (born March 25, 1928, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.), U.S. astronaut of the Gemini and Apollo space programs, commander of the nearly disastrous Apollo 13 flight to the Moon in 1970. SPACE.com: Why do you think the stories of astronaut wives were largely ignored as part of the history of space race for so long? They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Collins and his wife, Patricia Finnegan, have three children. Our image of the day, 'Star Trek: Picard' episode 3 marks the emotional return of Deanna Troi, Your monthly guide to stargazing & space science, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with code 'LOVE5', Issues delivered straight to your door or device. Collins died on April 28, 2021. Gus Grissom and Ed White were killed in the Apollo 1 disaster, and former Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper did not perform any further spaceflights. The Mercury program represented NASA's first human spaceflight program, with the aim to see if humans could function effectively in space for a few minutes or hours at a time. David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the seventh person to walk on the Moon.Selected as part of the third group of astronauts in 1963, Scott flew to space three times and commanded Apollo 15, the fourth lunar landing; he is one of four surviving Moon walkers and the only living commander of a spacecraft that landed on the Moon. As an intermediary step, Gemini afforded its astronauts the opportunity to gain critical spaceflight experience, performing tasks required in the later Apollo program which fulfilled this objective. Alan Shepard became the first American in space when the Freedom 7 spacecraft blasted off from Florida on May 5, 1961. He also served as an experimental flight test officer at Edwards Air Force Base in California, testing jet fighters. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). Four of the sixteen astronauts flew twice. People were coming in and out all the time. But Marilyn finally told Jim after Apollo 13, 'You're not flying again.'. The new book "Astronaut Wives Club" (Grand Central Publishing, June 2013) by Lily Koppel reveals what life was really like for spouses of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts. And she finally said, 'I have to see a psychiatrist,' which was really taboo at the time. He said, The fact that I was out of communications, rather than that being a fear, that was a joy because I got Mission Control to shut up for a little while. He also sat through a pad abort during the Gemini program. Even within NASA, they only used outside doctors if they had a problem because they were so scared of not getting a flight. Scuba Certification; Private Scuba Lessons; Scuba Refresher for Certified Divers; Try Scuba Diving; Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox) As Marilyn Lovell [wife of Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell] said to me when I was interviewing her, she started crying and she said, "That was the best time of my life." Gus Grissom died in 1967, in the Apollo 1 fire. ", On a Mission Together var googletag = googletag || {}; They landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. They've been together since high school. Russell Rusty Schweickart, 85 (Apollo 9). All three crew members of Apollo 11, the first lunar landing-Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin-were Gemini veterans. The American astronaut Michael Collins, who was part of the Apollo 11 original moon landing crew and kept the command module flying while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon, has died at the age of 90, his family said on Wednesday. They met because Jim Lovell's prom date dumped him, and he asked Marilyn to fill in for him and theyve been together ever since. In 1952, Collins graduated from West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree. Disappointed, but undaunted, Collins entered the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School as the Air Force began to research space. "The majority of the human race has been born since we've left the moon so they don't have knowledge of it.". To see her latest project is, follow Clara on Twitter. SIX (6) STILL LIVING GEMINI ASTRONAUTS: Jim McDivitt (Gemini IV) Tom Stafford (Gemini VI) Frank Borman (Gemini VII); Jim Lovell (Gemini VII) David Scott (Gemini VIII): Buzz Aldrin. His first spaceflight was the Gemini 10 mission, where he performed a spacewalk. Gordon Cooper was a NASA astronaut who flew twice in space, during the Mercury and Gemini programs. In 1980, he entered the private sector, working as an aerospace consultant. Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Importantly, most individuals who flew as Gemini astronauts returned to space as key personnel in the Apollo program, bringing with them their first-hand experience of the operations carried out during Gemini. Four of the sixteen astronauts flew twice. The Gemini astronauts were sixteen pilots who flew in Project Gemini, NASA's second human spaceflight program, between projects Mercury and Apollo. Collins, known as the forgotten astronaut, kept command module flying while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Similarly, after an Apollo 13 accident, before Marilyn Lovell was informed of the situation, the Conrads and other friends were on their way to the Lovell home. Its a shame that when people are asked, Can you name the Apollo 11 crew. Mike Collins is normally the name that doesnt come to mind, Francis French, of the San Diego Air and Space Museum and author of many books on the space program, told the radio network. The box allowed the families to listen in on any communicationsbetween the astronauts and mission control. All Rights Reserved. It adds that the family hopes people will celebrate his joy, sharp wit and his quiet sense of purpose, and his wise perspective, gained both from looking back at Earth from the vantage of space and gazing across calm waters from the deck of his fishing boat. He flew only once in space before shifting his attention to underwater activities for much of his remaining career. 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WPTZ-TV. "You want me to tell her that Elliot was killed?" Their ordeal later inspired a hit movie, in which Lovell was played by Tom Hanks (the real Lovell makes a brief appearance as a ship captain).