James Lovell was born in March 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, but as a young child his father's profession in the heating business took the family to various locations in Pennsylvania. His father died when Lovell was 11 years old, and he moved with his mother to Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she went to work for her brother. Throughout his youth, Lovell was active in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, which, he said, served as a replacement for his father. When the attack on Pearl Harbor happened he, his mother, and uncle heard the announcement over their car radio, and Lovell said that at such an early age he didn't realize the magnitude of that event. He also remembered that one of his classmates, who looked older than he really was, joined the armed forces under false pretenses about his age. Lovell followed the war very attentively. It gave him an incentive to do all that he could for the war effort. Lovell remembers his Boy Scout troop participating in scrap drives, and the rationing of food, although he said he never went hungry. At the end of high school, he was particularly attracted to the emerging science of rocket engineering, and thought that following his uncle into Naval aviation would be a good career path.

The war ended while James Lovell was a senior in high school and he remembers V-J Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945] as one of great celebration in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, although he didn't participate in a big way. As a widow's son, Lovell didn't have the financial wherewithal to go to college, so he applied to the Naval Academy, but got rejected. However, at the end of the war, the Navy found itself short of pilots, and Lovell got an opportunity through the Navy's Holloway training program [Annotator's Note: the Naval Aviation College Program or NACP was also known as the "Holloway Plan"] to attend the University of Wisconsin for two years, after which he went to Pensacola, Florida for pre-flight training. While there, he was accepted into the Naval Academy where he finished his education. Coming from an environment as an aviation midshipman in Pensacola, his uniform was questioned when he arrived at Annapolis where they were as yet unaware of the Holloway program. He had to be discharged and sworn in again as an Annapolis midshipman. He spent the next four years at Annapolis. Ironically, half way through, in 1950, the Korean War started. His colleagues from Pensacola all became Navy pilots, while he continued his schooling at Annapolis. The Korean War was over by the time he graduated in 1954, and he was assigned to a position on a night fighter team flying off the USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) in the Western Pacific. After that he applied for test pilot school, because he really enjoyed aviation, and did most of his work on the F4 Phantom [Annotator's Note: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II] between 1959 and 1961.

When James Lovell was a flying midshipman in Pensacola, he spent some time in ground school learning about aerodynamics and engines but never set foot in an airplane until he was at Annapolis [Annotator's Note: US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland], and then only as an amateur pilot. He had to go back to Pensacola and go through ground school again before training on SNJs [Annotator's Note: North American Aviation T-6 Texas single engine advanced trainer]. Flying became second nature to him. From primary, Lovell went to carrier landings in the SNJs, and then transitioned to Hellcats [Annotator's Note: Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aircraft], taking them out to sea. In February of 1954 he got his wings [Annotator's Note: he recieved his pilot's wings which indicated that he had completed the required training to be a Navy pilot], and went into transition training, flying the F-80 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter aircraft] and T-33 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed T-33 subsonic jet trainer aircraft] training and was assigned to VC-3, Composite Squadron 3. Lovell came under the supervision of James D. “Jig Dog” Ramage [Annotator's Note: later US Navy Rear Admiral James D. "Jig Dog" Ramage; Ramage's oral history is also available on the Digital Collections website] and put on a night flying team on the USS Shangri-La (CVA-38) in late 1955 and was on station over Japan in 1956.

In James Lovell’s book [Annotator's Note: Lovell authored and co-authored multiple books and does not indicate which title he is referring to] he mentions that on 3 February 1956 he took off from the carrier [Annotator's Note: USS Shangri-La (CVA-38)] at night in threatening weather, with the idea of making a combat air patrol. Lowell got out of formation, and in trying to plug in a light, blew out his instrument panel. He returned to ship using a penlight to illuminate his instruments, and used the glow of the algae stirred up by the aircraft carrier to determine where to land. He almost hit the water, and blew out both tires on landing. Such was his first flight, but he was back out the next day. Before very long, the nature of the mission was changed, and Lovell applied for test pilot school in 1958. He stood number one when he got there, and did testing on new aircraft for performance in service, armament and electronics. Lovell settled in to testing electronics and said it was the best thing that could have happened to him because he got to be the manager of the Phantom [Annotator's Note: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II] testing, then went on to instruct in Phantoms. Lovell thought the Phantom was a great aircraft. Significantly, while he was at the test center, NASA [Annotator's Note: National Aeronautics and Space Administration] was formed.

James Lovell had a girlfriend of seven years, whom he married just hours after graduating from Annapolis [Annotator's Note: US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland]. Lovell noted that Navy wives are pretty independent, and when he went to sea, he left his wife and two children in Alameda, California. By the time he went to work for NASA [Annotator's Note: National Aeronautics and Space Administration], the couple had four children. All through his years of study, travel and dangerous missions, she maintained their home and family. Sometimes it was difficult for Lovell to conduct his studies. He tells a story of how, when he was in test pilot school and the Lovells had three children in the small quarters the Navy had provided, he built a desk into the couple's bedroom closet, and donned a helicopter helmet to block out the noise. All the while his career was unfolding, Lowell was watching with interest the progress of the Russian Sputnik [Annotator's Note: the first artificial earth satellite, successfully launched by the Soviet Union] project. Earlier, during his studies at Annapolis, he had written a term paper on the development of the liquid-fuel rocket engine, which was well accepted. And, when he was testing new airplanes, Lovell remarked that one of the aircraft, he believes it was a Ryan, was half prop and half rocket. Also during that time, he attended a conference on rocket development and space flight. His first application for participation in the Mercury program was rejected when he "flunked" the physical. When NASA put out feelers for the second group, the Navy recommended that he try again.

When James Lovell made the cut for the second group of NASA [Annotator's Note: National Aeronautics and Space Administration] candidates [Annotator's Note: for the Project Mercury Space Program], he became one of the "New Nine" accepted into the group of Gemini pilots. He went to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to watch a Mercury liftoff, and got his first taste of the NASA program. At the time, the facility was in a very rudimentary state, under construction in the Florida brush. Still, it was a thrill to be there. The program was as yet under a certain amount of secrecy. Lovell recalls that when he reported to the Houston facility, he had to check into the Rice Hotel under a false name, Max Peck, which happened to be the name of hotel's manager. As soon as he got aboard, his training began. He visited the manufacturer of the spacecraft and conferred with the engineers on the layout and instrumentation. As time went on, he was the backup on Gemini IV, then he was assigned to Gemini VII. Lovell said the team was learning new things all the time. He said the Gemini program was actually the slow catch-up to the Russian space program. As it progressed, the Americans were surpassing the Russians in many aspects of space travel.

When President John F. Kennedy promised to get a man on the moon, James Lovell found his time parameters ambitious. But in retrospect, Lovell believes the president felt he had to give Americans the incentive to get behind the program. Unfortunately, Lovell observed, the president's untimely death before the Apollo program was completed "was really a tragedy." Although NASA [Annotator's Note: National Aeronautics and Space Administration] was under a lot of pressure in the race against Russia, Lovell looked upon the space program from an explorer's perspective. The prospect of going to the moon was "great," and exactly what Lovell wanted to do long before he knew Russia had a space program. He compared the Apollo program to Jules Verne's novels, books he had enjoyed in his youth. When Lovell worked on the Gemini VII project, which probed man's capacity to exist in space, he readily accepted his role in the vanguard. The two week mission concentrated on health considerations and gathered some valuable medical information. A bonus was that the mission accommodated the first rendezvous between two spacecraft.

Recounting the story behind his call sign, James Lovell said that while undergoing desert survival training near Reno, Nevada, he was negotiating his aircraft through a thunderstorm and the wings of his plane began seesawing in the turbulence. When he got on the ground, a pilot that had been flying beside him began calling him “Shaky.” Lovell always hated being called that. The Gemini flight did a careful study of calcium balance in zero gravity, a study that has taken 50 years to complete. Lovell described the methods of performing and monitoring bodily functions under the prevailing conditions. The necessary cooperation between space-mates made for close friendships among the astronauts. Lovell joked about how the rendezvous between Gemini VI and Gemini VII turned out to be a forum for the astronauts' football rivalry. Lovell's ship [Annotator's Note: Gemini VII] stayed in space for two days longer than their counterpart. All the systems began to fail but he and Frank Borman stuck it out and returned to earth on schedule. It was no simple task to get back to walking on earth.

James Lovell's next mission was Gemini XII. This mission scheduled to be shorter than his last 14 day excursion and was meant to perfect rendezvous and extra-vehicular activities. To simulate the behavior of bodies and equipment under zero gravity, the astronauts trained underwater, a practice that has been perfected and used throughout the space project. Lovell was the command pilot for the mission. Later he moved from the Gemini to the Apollo program. In the beginning, Lovell had his concerns about the Apollo program's oversight, as did many others. Some of their worries were well founded, and a problem with the hatch caused a dreadful accident [Annotator's Note: during a launch simulation on 27 January 1967, a fire ignited in the Apollo test module which killed the three astronauts inside], and corrections had to be implemented. Lowell was in Washington, D.C. at the time, witnessing the signing of a space pact. Nothing could be done, but NASA [Annotator's Note: National Aeronautics and Space Administration] asked for discretion in speaking with the press.

Bringing to mind a long past event, James Lovell talked about when he was at the Naval Academy and attended the 1948 Army-Navy game. Afterward, he went to a huge Army-Navy cocktail party where it was the practice for a Navy cadet to exchange something with an unfamiliar Army cadet. In Lovell's case it was a set of cufflinks. Years later, he ran into fellow astronaut Ed White at a breakfast. White was dressed in a coat and tie, and telling the story of how he got the cufflinks he was wearing. Turned out they were Lovell's cufflinks, and both men marveled at how crazy it was to come together again. Lovell listed many other astronauts with whom he shares the special bond of common service. Lovell ventured into space three times, starting with Gemini VII and Gemini XII. On his last trip on Apollo VIII, he orbited the earth, tested a lunar module and experimented with re-entry speed. In spite of production delays, and the Russians making great strides in the competitive space race, Apollo VIII went into the heavens, albeit later than anticipated, and returned safely to earth. It was the high point in Lovell's career to see the far side of the moon. Observing the whole of the earth for the first time gave him the full idea of how far away he was. To see the earth in its proper perspective in relation to the sun and the moon was extraordinary.

At times during his space odyssey on Apollo VIII, James Lovell would have to communicate with the public on earth. At one point, he broadcast a "Happy Birthday" message to his mother. The NASA [Annotator's Note: National Aeronautics and Space Administration] missions were not military operations, and the American government thought it fitting that the people should know what the astronauts were doing. During the 1968 flight, when things weren't going so well in this country [Annotator's Note: the Vietnam War was going on, two prominent people had been assassinated and there were riots in the universities], the crew strove to find the right message. Their photograph of the earth turned out to be the perfect image to send home. It was accompanied by a reading from the book of Genesis, and it turned out to be a momentous combination. Remarkably, there was a mountain on the moon with the same name as his wife. So happy was the crew when they were certain of making re-entry on Christmas day, that they made the announcement, "Please be informed, there is a Santa Clause." Lovell was always struck by the wonder of it all.

Coming home from outer space was joyous, according to James Lovell, although the significance of the flight wasn't immediately apparent to him. Then came the notoriety, including ticker tape parades. Some of the astronauts loved the experience of space flight, others wanted out. And the pilots didn't all get along for the duration of the program. Lovell talked about Apollo XIII, which was his last flight, after which he said he never again worried about crisis. His experience has given him tranquility and an appreciation for everything he sees. Tying his experiences back to World War 2, Lovell said he feels he was born at an opportune time to witness many changes in world history. The war was a tragedy of a scope that hadn't been seen before. When the United States could no longer avoid involvement, it became a factory for leadership, and then recovery. Lovell applauded the independence granted the Philippines, and noted that if Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States] had been successful in bringing the countries of the world together, we might not have had the subsequent conflict in Vietnam. Now, he feels, the United States is going overboard, and getting involved in areas where it shouldn't.

James Lovell said future generations should remember the NASA [Annotator's Note: National Aeronautics and Space Administration] program demonstrated that man can accomplish more than he thinks possible. The goal was reached because of the unity behind the movement. Lovell likened it to the clear cut purposes of World War 2. As for going back to the moon, Lovell said the space program was always working to get the nations together. His opinion on what should be done going forward is succinct: develop the science and architecture to continue the exploration; go to the moon and learn a lot more about it.