Tom Hanks paid for tribute to “Apollo 13” astronaut Jim Lovell on Friday as News about the death of the 97-year-old Circulated online.
The Oscar-winning actor played in Ron Howard’s Oscar winning 1995 function, “Apollo 13”, as the actual commander for the 1970 space assignment that almost ended in tragedy.
“There are people who dare, who dream and who lead others to the places we would not go on their own,” Hanks Wrote on Instagram. “Jim Lovell, who had long gone further into space and longer than any other person on our planet, was that kind of guy.
“His many trips around the earth and on to so much close to the moon were not made for wealth or celebrities, but because such challenges as it is what fuel at living and who is better than Jim Lovell to make these trips,” continued the actor.
Hanks finished his post and expressed how fitting it was that Friday is a full moon – one who will see Lovell through to the big unknown.
“On this night of a full moon he forwards – to heaven, to the cosmos, to the stars,” he wrote. “Godspeed you, on this next trip, Jim Lovell.”
Lovell was the naval pilot and the mechanical engineer who was best known for ordering space mission apollo 13 safely back to earth after mechanical problems led to an aborted lunar landing in 1970. He died Thursday in Lake Forrest Illinois.
NASA Administrator Sean Duffy shared the news about Lovell’s death on Friday in a special tribute.
“NASA sends its condolences to the family to Captain Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people for decades,” Duffy wrote on NASA’s official website. “Jim’s character and steady courage helped our nation reach the moon and transformed a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned a huge amount. We mourn his passing even when we celebrate his performance.”
Lovell was also a writer of the 1994 Nonfiction account for Apollo 13 Space Lancing, “Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13.” That book with Jeffrey Kluger served as source material for Howard’s “Apollo 13.” The film participated in Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon.
