Lifetime Achievement Award: Captain James A. Lovell

Captain James A. Lovell of Lake Forest, former NASA astronaut and the first man to journey twice to the moon, is this year's recipient of the Centennial Awards Committee's "Lifetime Achievement Award."

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland (1952), Captain Lovell served as a navy test pilot, flight instructor, and safety officer before joining the manned space program in 1963. As an astronaut he served aboard Gemini 7, Gemini 12, and Apollo 13. In Gemini 7, his crew participated in the first successful space rendezvous.

Captain Lovell, along with astronauts Frank Borman and William Anders, completed a manned flight around the moon aboard Apollo 8 in December 1968, the first of three launches culminating in the lunar landing of July 1969. With astronauts Fred W. Haise and John L. Swigert, Jr., Captain Lovell piloted Apollo 13, which left Earth's atmosphere on April 11, 1970, headed for the moon. Approximately 205,000 miles from Earth, an oxygen tank exploded on the spacecraft, which impaired the ship's ability to complete its mission and threatened the life of the crew. With power and oxygen supplies compromised, the crew turned the spacecraft around and headed back to Earth. The drama of their six-day journey is presented in the award-winning 1995 film Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks.

After 710 hours of space travel, Captain Lovell turned in his space suit in 1971 and became a deputy director of the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. He retired from the Navy and the space program in 1973 . He has garnered an impressive share of honors and awards, a few listed below: the Harmon, Collier & Goddard Aerospace Trophies, the Presidential Medal for Freedom, the French Legion of Honor, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Exceptional Service Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Naval Astronauts Wings, two Navy Distinguished Flying Crosses, FAI De Laval & Gold Space Medals; National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal; and most recently the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Captain Lovell is a Fellow in the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a member of the prestigious Golden Eagles. In 1994, he and Jeff Kluger wrote Lost Moon, the story of the courageous mission of Apollo 13, which became the basis for the feature film.

In 1999, Captain Lovell and his family opened up Lovells of Lake Forest, a classic full-service restaurant in the heart of West Lake Forest, now operated by his son, Jay. Captain Lovell is president of Lovell Communications, a business he started more than 25 years ago, which disseminates information about the U.S. Space Program. Fie also serves on the following philanthropic boards: Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, United States Naval Academy Foundation, and the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum.

ILLINOIS HERITAGE 6