Liane Hunter '05

James A. Lovell, a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, has been selected by the senior class as this year's commencement speaker. Known best as the commander of the famed Apollo 13, Captain Lovell is also the grandfather of Caroline Harrison '03.

With his active involvement in the military, as well as harrowing experience in the space program, Captain Lovell has quite a fascinating past. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1928, Captain Lovell attended the University of Wisconsin, as well as the U.S. Naval Academy. During his years as a naval pilot, he logged more than seven-thousand hours of flying time, tested many different kinds of aircraft, and received two Navy Distinguished Flying Crosses for his achievements.

Selected by NASA in 1962, Captain Lovell went on to become one of the most famous men in NASA's history. In 1965 he was launched into space with Frank Borman, where he made the longest space flight to that point, as well as the first rendezvous of a two-manned maneuverable spacecraft. Captain Lovell served as the Command Module Pilot and Navigator on Apollo 8, NASA's maiden voyage to the moon.

In 1970, he was Space Shuttle Commander of the famed Apollo 13 flight. When the shuttle experienced problems and the astronauts found themselves stranded 205,000 miles from Earth, Lovell uttered the famous phrase, "Houston, we have a problem." A ruptured oxygen tank forced NASA to abort the mission and put those aboard Apollo 13 in a dire situation.

Through the heroic leadership of Captain Lovell and the never-ending teamwork of fellow astronauts John Swigert and Fred Haise, as well as Houston ground controllers, the astronauts managed to overcome the impossible and guide their crippled lunar module safely back to Earth. "The film was an amazingly accurate portrayal of our exploration," Captain Lovell said.

Although Captain Lovell has been retired from NASA for thirty years, he still keeps up with news about space travel and has strong opinions of the future of NASA programs. In light of the recent Columbia catastrophe some have proposed to a halt to space exploration. Captain Lovell, however, feels that, "despite the fact that this is a difficult obstacle to overcome, it is NASA's obligation to keep our ties with the Russians, who presently still have men in space and to continue in what we have started in." While he plans to speak about his views and impressions on space travel and exploration, Captain Lovell will also offer advice to the class of 2003 on the upcoming changes at one of the pivotal moment in their lives. As an expert on change in environment and given his depiction in a blockbuster feature and his status as American hero, there has been an air of excitement and anticipation for his speech.

Sunny Chung '05 said, "I have seen the movie Apollo 13 and I loved it. I think it's great that we have the chance see someone who actually took part in an exploration in space and can tell their stories."