{"id":57092,"date":"2025-08-09T14:39:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/57092\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T14:39:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:39:05","slug":"tom-hanks-pays-tribute-to-apollo-13-astronaut-jim-lovell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/57092\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Hanks Pays Tribute to ‘Apollo 13’ Astronaut Jim Lovell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTom Hanks<\/a> paid tribute to Jim Lovell, the astronaut he portrayed in Apollo 13, following news of Lovell\u2019s death Friday at the age of 97.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own. 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,\u201d Hanks wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis many voyages around Earth and on to 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 \u2013 and who better than Jim Lovell to make those voyages.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLovell, who was among the first astronauts to orbit the Moon as part of the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, was immortalized on the big screen in director Ron Howard\u2019s Best Picture Oscar-nominated 1995 film Apollo 13, which retold the story of the ship\u2019s aborted 1970 lunar mission and how Lovell \u2014 as the mission commander, played by Hanks \u2014and his crew made their way back to Earth after an oxygen tank explosion disabled their electrical and life support systems.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNASA<\/a> also paid tribute to Lovell, \u201cwhose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jim\u2019s character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

We are saddened by the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 and a four-time spaceflight veteran.<\/p>\n

Lovell’s life and work inspired millions. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyond\u2014a journey that continues today. https:\/\/t.co\/AjT8qmxsZI<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/jBlxzgrmSk<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NASA (@NASA) August 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrom a pair of pioneering Gemini missions to the successes of Apollo, Jim helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond,\u201d NASA\u2019s statement added. \u201cAs the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 8, Jim and his crewmates became the first to lift off on a Saturn V rocket and orbit the Moon, proving that the lunar landing was within our reach. As commander of the Apollo 13 mission, his calm strength under pressure helped return the crew safely to Earth and demonstrated the quick thinking and innovation that informed future NASA missions.<\/p>\n

\n\tHanks\u2019 tribute concluded Friday, \u201cOn this night of a full Moon, he passes on \u2013 to the heavens, to the cosmos, to the stars. God speed you, on this next voyage, Jim Lovell.\u201d<\/p>\n