Jim Lovell

Reported, the death of Jim Lovell, the astronaut who was the commander of Apollo 13, and one of the many heroes who saved that ill-fated mission. He lived to 97, same age as Tom Lehrer, and while I don't know how Lehrer did it, it's certainly true that you had to be incredibly fit and healthy to become an astronaut in Lovell's day, and most of them, those who weren't killed in accidents, had very long lives.

Still, Lovell was the last survivor of his group of nine who were picked in 1962, a group which also included Neil Armstrong. Apollo 13 was the last of his four spaceflights, a record at the time; he was also on two Gemini test flights, one of them with Buzz Aldrin, and the famous Apollo 8 ring-around-the-moon shot, in which he saw the Earth rising behind the Moon and encouraged Bill Anders to take that famous photo.

Lovell became additionally known as a result of the film of Apollo 13, in which he was played by Tom Hanks. I listened to Jim and Marilyn Lovell's commentary on the DVD of that film (are there still commentaries like that now that films have gone to streaming?), and Marilyn in particular was impressed by how many of Jim's mannerisms Hanks had picked up after a fairly brief personal acquaintance. Jim also pointed out, however, that he didn't look much like Tom Hanks, and wished he could have been played by Kevin Costner, because that's who he looked like, and I'd agree. That he looked like him, I mean; whether Costner would have done as good an acting job I'd prefer not to speculate on.