Tom Hanks is remembering late astronaut Jim Lovell, whom he portrayed in the Oscar-winning film “Apollo 13,” as among the rare humans “who lead others to the places we would not go on our own.”
Hanks’ tribute followed that of NASA announcing the Apollo 13 mission commander died on Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, at the age of 97.
“There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own,” Hanks wrote in a heartfelt post on Friday. “Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone farther into space and for longer than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy.”
Hanks clarified that Lovell’s “many voyages around Earth and … so-very-close to the moon were not made for riches or celebrity, but because such challenges as those are what fuels the course of being alive — and who better than Jim Lovell to make those voyages.”
Hank also noted it was apropos that Lovell’s death was announced hours before the night of a full moon.
“He passes on — to the heavens, to the cosmos, to the stars. God speed you, on this next voyage,” Hanks concluded.
In addition to Apollo 13, Lovell’s NASA tenure included three other flights: Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8. The latter was the first crewed mission to exit Earth’s orbit and travel to the moon. They didn’t land on the surface, but paved the way for the Apollo 11 moon landing.
NASA credited Lovell with having “helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the moon and beyond.”
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