Full Text of SR1280 103rd General Assembly
SR1280 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | | | SR1280 | | LRB103 43090 ECR 76347 r |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION | 2 | | WHEREAS, Captain James A. Lovell, a resident of Lake | 3 | | Forest, is the oldest living former astronaut of the National | 4 | | Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Captain Lovell was born in Cleveland, Ohio on | 6 | | March 25, 1928; he attended the University of Wisconsin and | 7 | | received a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Naval Academy in | 8 | | 1952; he graduated from Test Pilot School at the Naval Air | 9 | | Training Command in 1958, Aviation Safety School at the | 10 | | University of Southern California in 1961, and the Advanced | 11 | | Management Program at the Harvard Business School in 1971; he | 12 | | has received honorary doctorates from a number of institutions | 13 | | of higher learning, including Rockhurst College, Illinois | 14 | | Wesleyan University, Western Michigan University, Mary | 15 | | Hardin-Baylor College, and the Milwaukee School of | 16 | | Engineering; and | 17 | | WHEREAS, During his naval career, Captain Lovell had | 18 | | numerous aviator assignments, including a four-year tour as a | 19 | | test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center; while there, he served | 20 | | as program manager for the F4H Phantom Fighter; he also served | 21 | | as safety engineer with Fighter Squadron 101 at the Naval Air | 22 | | Station; he has logged more than 7,000 hours of flying time and | 23 | | more than 3,500 hours in jet aircraft; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Captain Lovell was selected to be an astronaut | 2 | | for NASA in September 1962; he served as a backup pilot for the | 3 | | Gemini 4 flight, as a backup commander for the Gemini 9 flight, | 4 | | and as a backup commander to Neil Armstrong for the Apollo 11 | 5 | | lunar landing mission; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, On December 4, 1965, Captain Lovell and Frank | 7 | | Borman were launched into space on the history-making Gemini 7 | 8 | | mission, where the first rendezvous of two manned maneuverable | 9 | | spacecraft occurred; along with pilot Edwin Aldrin, he flew | 10 | | the Gemini 12 mission from November 11 through November 14, | 11 | | 1966; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Captain Lovell served as command module pilot and | 13 | | navigator on the six-day journey of Apollo 8 from December 21 | 14 | | to December 27, 1968; he and his fellow crewmen, Frank Borman | 15 | | and William A. Anders, became the first humans to leave the | 16 | | Earth's gravitational influence and orbit the moon, and this | 17 | | mission marked the first time humans were able to see and | 18 | | photograph the far side of the moon, leading to the capture of | 19 | | the famous Earthrise photograph; and | 20 | | WHEREAS, Captain Lovell completed his fourth mission as | 21 | | spacecraft commander of the Apollo 13 flight from April 11 to | 22 | | April 17, 1970, becoming the first man to journey twice to the |
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| 1 | | moon; despite a catastrophic malfunction on the Apollo 13, he | 2 | | and his crew were able to return to Earth safely; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Captain Lovell retired from the Navy and from the | 4 | | Space Program to the join Bay-Houston Towing Company in | 5 | | Houston, Texas on March 1, 1973; he was promoted to the | 6 | | position of president and chief executive officer at the | 7 | | company on March 1, 1975; he became president of Fisk | 8 | | Telephone Systems, Inc. in Houston, Texas on January 1, 1977; | 9 | | he was appointed group vice president of Business | 10 | | Communications Systems at the Centel Corporation on January 1, | 11 | | 1981; he retired from Centel as executive vice president and | 12 | | as a member of the board of directors on January 1, 1991; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, Captain Lovell served as a trustee of the | 14 | | National Space Institute, as a fellow of the Society of | 15 | | Experimental Test Pilots and the American Astronautical | 16 | | Society, as a member of the Explorers Club, on the board of | 17 | | directors of the Federal Signal Corporation, the Astronautics | 18 | | Corporation of America, and the Astronaut Memorial Foundation, | 19 | | on the Sports Medicine Advisory Board at Rush Presbyterian at | 20 | | St. Luke's Medical Center, on the board of trustees of Lake | 21 | | Forest College, as a trustee of the National Space Institute | 22 | | and the Association of Space Explorers, and as the chairman of | 23 | | the National Eagle Scouts Association; he served as director | 24 | | of the Federal Signal Corporation and the Chicago Astronautics |
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| 1 | | Corporation of America; he is a regent emeritus for the | 2 | | Milwaukee School of Engineering; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, Captain Lovell received the Harmon International | 4 | | Trophy in 1966, 1967, and 1969, the FAI De Laval and Gold Space | 5 | | Medals in 1967, the Robert J. Collier Trophy in 1968, the | 6 | | Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy in 1969, the H. H. Arnold | 7 | | Trophy in 1969, the General Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy | 8 | | in 1969, the City of New York Gold Medal in 1969, the City of | 9 | | Houston Medal of Valor in 1969, the National Academy of | 10 | | Television Arts and Sciences Special Trustees Award in 1969, | 11 | | the Institute of Navigation Award in 1969, the AIAA Haley | 12 | | Astronautics Award in 1970, the University of Wisconsin's | 13 | | Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 1970, the Presidential | 14 | | Medal of Freedom in 1970, the Sam Houston Area Council | 15 | | Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 1976, the Lincoln | 16 | | Leadership Prize in 2010, the Order of Lincoln Award in 2012, | 17 | | the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, two Navy Distinguished | 18 | | Flying Crosses, the American Academy of Achievement Golden | 19 | | Plate Award, and the Henry G. Bennett Distinguished Service | 20 | | Award; he was also the co-recipient of the American | 21 | | Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award in 1966 and | 22 | | 1968; and | 23 | | WHEREAS, Despite his myriad of achievements, Captain | 24 | | Lovell believes his family to be his greatest accomplishment; |
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| 1 | | he married Marilynn Lillie Gerlach at St. Anne's Church in | 2 | | Annapolis, Maryland on June 6, 1952, and she passed away on | 3 | | August 27, 2023; the two had begun dating while they were in | 4 | | high school, and as a college student, Marilyn transferred | 5 | | from Wisconsin State Teachers College to George Washington | 6 | | University in Washington, D.C., so she could be near Jim while | 7 | | he was at Annapolis; together, they welcomed four children, | 8 | | Barbara, James, Susan, and Jeffrey; therefore, be it | 9 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL | 10 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare December | 11 | | 21, 2024 as Captain James A. Lovell Day in the State of | 12 | | Illinois; and be it further | 13 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 14 | | presented to Captain Lovell as a symbol of our esteem and | 15 | | respect. |
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