The Artemis II astronauts got a wake-up call from Jim Lovell on a day when they also pushed farther from Earth than any humans had gone before. Just before 1 p.m. CT, the crew broke the distance record set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970, surpassing 248,655 miles.
Lovell, who died at 97, had recorded the message two months before his death last year, NASA said. He opened with, “Hello Artemis II! this is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell,” and told Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, “Welcome to my old neighborhood.”
The message carried the weight of his own history. Lovell flew to the moon twice, on Apollo 8 and Apollo 13, but never walked on its surface. He reminded the crew that when Frank Borman, Bill Anders and he orbited the moon on Apollo 8, they gave humanity its first close look at the moon and a view of Earth that “inspired and united people around the world.”
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Artemis II is now in a lunar flyby, expected to see both the near and far sides of the moon as it follows the same free-return lunar trajectory Apollo 13 used after its oxygen tank explosion. NASA described the route as a no-stopping-to-land path that uses the gravity of Earth and the moon, a celestial figure-eight that will send the astronauts home once they emerge from behind the moon Monday evening.
Lovell closed by passing the mission a little of the old Apollo confidence. “I'm proud to pass that torch on to you as you swing around the moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars, for the benefit of all,” he said. “It's a historic day, and I know how busy you'll be, but don't forget to enjoy the view.” Then he sent them off with “good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on the good Earth.”
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The timing made the tribute land with extra force. Lovell spent years calling north suburban Lake Forest, Illinois, home, and he had a deep connection with Chicago's Adler Planetarium before and after his long career in space. After returning to Earth, he worked for a time in Houston and then in Chicago before settling in Lake Forest after retiring, and he opened Lovell's of Lake Forest in 1999. The Artemis II crew now carries his words with them as they arc around the moon and head for the most important part of the flight: the turn home.
