Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell died six weeks before the movie about his rescue mission is set for a 30th anniversary rerelease in IMAX.
Lovell, the 97-year-old Gemini XII and Apollo astronaut who died Aug. 7, with the help of NASA engineers in Houston led his crew return safely to Earth during the nearly disastrous Apollo 13 mission on April 13, 1970. This story of heroism was adapted for the screen by Ron Howard, with Oscar winner Tom Hanks portraying Lovell in 1995’s “Apollo 13.”
The summer blockbuster, which picked up a few trophies during the 1996 Academy Awards, featured a star-studded cast, which included Kevin Bacon, the late Bill Paxton, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise.
To mark the film’s 30th anniversary, Universal Pictures announced “Apollo 13” will head back to IMAX theaters across the United States. The Sept. 19, 2025, IMAX premiere celebrates the 30th anniversary of the film’s original June 30, 1995, theatrical release.
According to Universal, the based-on-a-true-story film was “the very first Hollywood feature film to be digitally re-mastered into The IMAX Experience.”
Looking back at Jim Lovell’s career: Apollo 13 was only part of the astronaut’s incredible life
Who was Jim Lovell?
Lovell, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, became an astronaut in 1962 and launched into space three years later on the historic Gemini VII mission, according to his NASA biography. Lovell also commanded the Gemini XII mission, a four-day flight that brought the program to an end.
Lovell and his crew became the first people to leave Earth’s gravitational pull on the 1968 Apollo 8 mission to the moon, and he was set to make another voyage to the moon two years later on his fourth mission, Apollo 13.
But the lunar landing was averted after an oxygen tank exploded during the voyage. The astronauts faced an extreme shortage of water and power, as well as dangerous levels of carbon dioxide.
In Lovell’s four voyages into outer space, he never left his footprint on the moon — a disappointment for the overachiever. He was supposed to be the fifth person to walk on the moon on Apollo 13.
“I’m very proud of 13, even though I didn’t land on the moon,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2020. “That was a disappointment for me, but then a lot of people landed on the moon.”
What happened with Apollo 13?
The “Apollo 13” movie is inspired by the nearly disastrous April 1970 mission of the same name in which NASA’s third planned mission to the moon had to be abandoned when an oxygen tank exploded on the service module.
For the three astronauts selected for the mission – Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise – the critical mishap two days into the mission transformed the spaceflight into a life-or-death situation. Relying on backup life-support systems on the Apollo Lunar Module meant to transport them to the moon’s surface from orbit, the astronauts used primitive methods of celestial navigation to make their way back to Earth.
While in constant communication with flight controllers in Houston the astronauts safely made a water landing April 17, 1970, in the South Pacific Ocean – six days after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
‘Apollo 13’ cast included Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon
“Apollo 13’s” ensemble cast portrayed the mission’s astronauts, their families and the NASA engineers who helped get them home. Here are the actors and their real-life counterparts.
Tom Hanks as NASA astronaut Jim Lovell
Bill Paxton as NASA astronaut Fred Haise
Kevin Bacon as NASA astronaut Jack Swigert
Gary Sinise as NASA astronaut Ken Mattingly
Ed Harris as Gene Kranz, NASA’s Chief Flight Director
Kathleen Quinlan as Marilyn Lovell
Who were the astronauts of NASA’s Apollo 13 mission?
The mission was under Lovell’s command.
Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, had been selected as a NASA astronaut in 1966. Swigert, who hailed from Denver, was a backup astronaut for the Apollo 13 mission and replaced astronaut Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella.
The third crew member of Apollo 13 was Biloxi, Mississippi’s Fred Haise, the Lunar Module pilot who was part of the same astronaut class as Swigert.
Haise, 91 is the remaining living crew member of Apollo 13.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Astronaut Jim Lovell dies ahead of ‘Apollo 13’ returning to IMAX
