Tom Hanks: Jim Lovell

Apollo 13

Jim Lovell

[last lines]
Jim Lovell: [narrating] Our mission was called "a successful failure," in that we returned safely but never made it to the moon. In the following months, it was determined that a damaged coil built inside the oxygen tank sparked during our cryo stir and caused the explosion that crippled the Odyssey. It was a minor defect that occured two years before I was even named the flight's commander. Fred Haise was going back to the moon on Apollo 18, but his mission was cancelled because of budget cuts; he never flew in space again. Nor did Jack Swigert, who left the astronaut corps and was elected to *Congress* from the state of Colorado. But he died of cancer before he was able to take office. Ken Mattingly orbited the moon as Command Module Pilot of Apollo 16, *and* flew the Space Shuttle, having never gotten the measles. Gene Kranz retired as Director of Flight Operations just not long ago. And many other members of Mission Control have gone on to other things, but some are still there. As for me, the seven extraordinary days of Apollo 13 were my last in space. I watched other men walk on the moon, and return safely, all from the confines of Mission Control and our house in Houston. I sometimes catch myself looking up at the moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the moon, and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?

Jim Lovell: From now on, we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. And it's not a miracle, we just decided to go.

CAPCOM 2: 13, we just got another request from the Flight Surgeon for you to get some sleep. Don't like these readings down here.
Jim Lovell: [Tearing off his biomeds] Let's see how he likes this. I am sick and tired of the entire western world knowing how my kidneys are functioning!
Dr. Chuck: [after Lovell's heartrate flatlines] Flight, we just lost Lovell!
CAPCOM 2: 13, Houston. Jim, we just had a bottoming out on your biomeds.
Jim Lovell: I'm not wearing my biomeds.
CAPCOM 2: [after Gene Kranz shrugs it off] Ok, Jim. Copy that.
[Jack and Fred now tear away their own biomeds]
Dr. Chuck: [after all three crew members flatline] Flight, now I lost all three of them!
Gene Kranz: It's just a little medical mutiny, Doc. I'm sure the boys are still with us. Let's cut them a little slack, ok?

Television Reporter: Is there a specific instance in an airplane emergency when you can recall fear?
Jim Lovell: Uh well, I'll tell ya, I remember this one time - I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there's no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shrangri-La, and we were in the Sea of Japan and my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone... because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. And so it was - it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean. And I, I look down there, and then in the darkness there's this uh, there's this green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. And it was the algae, right? It was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was - it was - it was leading me home. You know? If my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So uh, you, uh, never know... what... what events are to transpire to get you home.

Jim Lovell: Houston, we're getting our first look at the service module now. One whole side of the spacecraft is missing. Right by the high gain antennae, a whole panel is blown out, right up... right up to our heat shield.

Jim Lovell: Uh, Houston, we are ready for the beginning of PTC, and I think once we're in that barbecue roll, Jack and I will eat.
Fred Haise, Sr.: Hey, I'm hungry.
Jim Lovell: Are you sure?
Fred Haise, Sr.: I could eat the ass out of a dead rhinoceros.

Jim Lovell: [after the Odyssey has re-emerged from blackout] Hello, Houston. This is Odyssey. It's good to see you again.

[Lovell and Haise are trying to get control of the lunar module]
Jim Lovell: We're all out of whack. We try to pitch down but we yaw to the left. Why can't I null this out?
Fred Haise, Sr.: She wasn't designed to fly attached like this. Our center of gravity is the command module.
Jim Lovell: It's like flying with a dead elephant on our back.

Jim Lovell: [Jim sits down in the pilot's seat intended for Jack Swigert] Sorry Jack, it's an old habit. Kinda used to the pilot's seat.
[gets out of the seat]
Jim Lovell: She's yours to fly.

William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: Odyssey, this is Houston. We need you to power down immediately. And you're gonna have to power up the LEM at the same time, so you better get somebody over there.
Jim Lovell: We already have Freddo in the LEM, Houston.
William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: We've got serious time pressure here, Jim. You've gotta get the guidance program transferred, and you've gotta do it before you're out of power in the command module, or you're not gonna be able to navigate up there.
Jim Lovell: How much time? Can you give me a number?
William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: Well, we're looking at less than fifteen minutes of life support in the Odyssey.
Jim Lovell: [sharing a look with Jack, then joining Fred] We've got fifteen minutes, Freddo. It's worse than I thought.

Jim Lovell: [pointing to a large "NO" note on the control panel] What is that?
Jack Swigert: Oh, I was getting a little punchy and I didn't want to cut the LEM loose with you guys still in it.
Jim Lovell: That's good thinking.