When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.
~ William Shakespeare
Jim Lovell, the American astronaut made famous in the film Apollo 13, died earlier this month at age 97. He was the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, played by Tom Hanks in the 1995 Ron Howard movie. Lovell's passing leaves us with one less hero of a golden era for my generation.
When I was a schoolgirl, the astronauts were akin to rock stars. Most children knew their names, their missions, and their successes and tragedies. Alan Shephard was the first American in space; John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth. Virgil "Gus" Grissom was also an early astronaut , the second American in space, and I remember his capsule hatch had a serious problem upon splashdown. When Grissom died in the devasting fire on Apollo 1, I wondered if the faulty hatch had been an omen foreshadowing his tragic end.
While growing up, NASA launch days were memorable in my house. My mother never watched daytime television--except when a rocket was scheduled to launch. Then the TV would be on at dawn, the spacecraft that was filling the screen poised for takeoff. News anchors chattered in the background giving updates, and as I left for school it was such a rare sight to see Mom perched on the living room sofa, intently listening and watching the motionless rocket in anticipation of the countdown that would blast it off into space.
The days of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs were an exciting time to be an American. Today there are many who do not believe we landed on the moon. I wonder how they explain the visibility of all the "Earth trash" left behind by the astronauts? As for the safe return of Apollo 13 against all odds, that reality is impossible to deny. Called the "successful failure," that miracle mission was more scientifically challenging than a mere moon landing.
I'm grateful I grew up during that time of great pride in our country. The space programs united us with a sense of achievement and purpose and made us feel that for the United States, the sky was quite literally the limit.