Jim Lovell

American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer, whose message, "Houston, we have a problem," from aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission was one of the most memorable understatements of the space age.

On 21 December 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he (along with Frank Borman and William Anders), became one of the first three astronauts to fly around the Moon. He then commanded the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970 which, after a critical failure en route, looped around the Moon and returned safely to Earth, the capsule splashing down in the Pacific on 17 April 1970.

A space buff from childhood, Lovell always dreamed of landing on the moon. He was selected as an astronaut in September 1962 after being a test pilot and Navy Captain for four years. He left the space program in 1973, having logged more hours in space than any other astronaut of his time. Moving into the business world, he ran a telephone-equipment business until retiring in 1991.

Feeling an obligation to tell the entire Apollo 13 story, Lovell worked on an outline written by fellow astronaut, Jack Swigert, and in 1994 the details of the trip came out in the book Lost Moon. Lovell was a technical adviser for the filming of the 1995 movie Apollo 13, which is based on the book. Lovell was featured in a cameo appearance in the film.

Married to Marilyn in 1953, they had four children: the oldest, Barbara, became a housewife, then Susan, also a housewife, son, James Jr., a chef and the youngest, Jeff, a pharmaceutical salesman.

In 1999, the Lovell family opened a restaurant in Lake Forest, Illinois, "Lovell's of Lake Forest". The restaurant displayed memorabilia from Lovell's time with NASA and the filming of Apollo 13. The restaurant was sold to son and executive chef James ("Jay") in 2006 and closed in 2015.