SR1280 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR1280 LRB103 43090 ECR 76347 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Captain James A. Lovell, a resident of Lake Forest, is the oldest living former astronaut of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and

WHEREAS, Captain Lovell was born in Cleveland, Ohio on March 25, 1928; he attended the University of Wisconsin and received a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952; he graduated from Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Training Command in 1958, Aviation Safety School at the University of Southern California in 1961, and the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School in 1971; he has received honorary doctorates from a number of institutions of higher learning, including Rockhurst College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Western Michigan University, Mary Hardin-Baylor College, and the Milwaukee School of Engineering; and

WHEREAS, During his naval career, Captain Lovell had numerous aviator assignments, including a four-year tour as a test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center; while there, he served as program manager for the F4H Phantom Fighter; he also served as safety engineer with Fighter Squadron 101 at the Naval Air Station; he has logged more than 7,000 hours of flying time and more than 3,500 hours in jet aircraft; and

WHEREAS, Captain Lovell was selected to be an astronaut for NASA in September 1962; he served as a backup pilot for the Gemini 4 flight, as a backup commander for the Gemini 9 flight, and as a backup commander to Neil Armstrong for the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission; and

WHEREAS, On December 4, 1965, Captain Lovell and Frank Borman were launched into space on the history-making Gemini 7 mission, where the first rendezvous of two manned maneuverable spacecraft occurred; along with pilot Edwin Aldrin, he flew the Gemini 12 mission from November 11 through November 14, 1966; and

WHEREAS, Captain Lovell served as command module pilot and navigator on the six-day journey of Apollo 8 from December 21 to December 27, 1968; he and his fellow crewmen, Frank Borman and William A. Anders, became the first humans to leave the Earth's gravitational influence and orbit the moon, and this mission marked the first time humans were able to see and photograph the far side of the moon, leading to the capture of the famous Earthrise photograph; and

WHEREAS, Captain Lovell completed his fourth mission as spacecraft commander of the Apollo 13 flight from April 11 to April 17, 1970, becoming the first man to journey twice to the moon; despite a catastrophic malfunction on the Apollo 13, he and his crew were able to return to Earth safely; and

WHEREAS, Captain Lovell retired from the Navy and from the Space Program to the join Bay-Houston Towing Company in Houston, Texas on March 1, 1973; he was promoted to the position of president and chief executive officer at the company on March 1, 1975; he became president of Fisk Telephone Systems, Inc. in Houston, Texas on January 1, 1977; he was appointed group vice president of Business Communications Systems at the Centel Corporation on January 1, 1981; he retired from Centel as executive vice president and as a member of the board of directors on January 1, 1991; and

WHEREAS, Captain Lovell served as a trustee of the National Space Institute, as a fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the American Astronautical Society, as a member of the Explorers Club, on the board of directors of the Federal Signal Corporation, the Astronautics Corporation of America, and the Astronaut Memorial Foundation, on the Sports Medicine Advisory Board at Rush Presbyterian at St. Luke's Medical Center, on the board of trustees of Lake Forest College, as a trustee of the National Space Institute and the Association of Space Explorers, and as the chairman of the National Eagle Scouts Association; he served as director of the Federal Signal Corporation and the Chicago Astronautics Corporation of America; he is a regent emeritus for the Milwaukee School of Engineering; and

WHEREAS, Captain Lovell received the Harmon International Trophy in 1966, 1967, and 1969, the FAI De Laval and Gold Space Medals in 1967, the Robert J. Collier Trophy in 1968, the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy in 1969, the H. H. Arnold Trophy in 1969, the General Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy in 1969, the City of New York Gold Medal in 1969, the City of Houston Medal of Valor in 1969, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Special Trustees Award in 1969, the Institute of Navigation Award in 1969, the AIAA Haley Astronautics Award in 1970, the University of Wisconsin's Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 1970, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970, the Sam Houston Area Council Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 1976, the Lincoln Leadership Prize in 2010, the Order of Lincoln Award in 2012, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, two Navy Distinguished Flying Crosses, the American Academy of Achievement Golden Plate Award, and the Henry G. Bennett Distinguished Service Award; he was also the co-recipient of the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award in 1966 and 1968; and

WHEREAS, Despite his myriad of achievements, Captain Lovell believes his family to be his greatest accomplishment; he married Marilynn Lillie Gerlach at St. Anne's Church in Annapolis, Maryland on June 6, 1952, and she passed away on August 27, 2023; the two had begun dating while they were in high school, and as a college student, Marilyn transferred from Wisconsin State Teachers College to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., so she could be near Jim while he was at Annapolis; together, they welcomed four children, Barbara, James, Susan, and Jeffrey; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare December 21, 2024 as Captain James A. Lovell Day in the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Captain Lovell as a symbol of our esteem and respect.