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Expect the unexpected, Apollo 13’s Lovell says
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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — Today's Top Story and Breaking News feature highlights from yesterday's Hawaii 2002, the Royal Hawaiian Eye Meeting presentations.
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Capt. James Lovell, commander of the Apollo 13 moon mission, enlightened attendees here in Hawaii with wisdom acquired during a renowned career in space.
He was a keynote speaker yesterday at Hawaii 2002, the Royal Hawaiian Eye Meeting, sponsored by Ocular Surgery News in conjunction with the New England Eye Center.
One of the lessons Capt. Lovell said he learned from his mission is always to expect the unexpected. “When business is good, when the market is good, expect to be surprised,” he said.
Capt. Lovell, who was portrayed by actor Tom Hanks in the movie “Apollo 13,” was quite animated throughout his presentation.
“I know today when I came out many of you were expecting Tom Hanks, but you’re going to have to settle for little old me,” he quipped.
He told the audience that several hours into the famous mission an electrical problem caused his ship’s thermostat to malfunction, and the mission was aborted.
“When I saw the liquid oxygen tank at 0, I had the feeling at the pit of my stomach –- you know that feeling, when you know something is wrong, but you can’t do anything about it," he said.
Capt. Lovell’s mission took off on April 13, 1970, at 13:13 CST. “Right then, I should have known something was wrong,” he said.
He said the moral of his mission’s story is that he shouldn't "be here to tell you this story. This accident happened 200,000 miles from Earth. I’m here because of a dedicated mission control team in Houston.”
He gave credit to the people at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration who kept the mission going until Apollo 13 crashed into the Pacific Ocean several days ahead of schedule.
"There are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened. I think that with these threats of terrorism, we must make things happen,” the 73-year-old retired captain said. After he left the Navy, Capt. Lovell spent the rest of his career in the telephone industry.
He told attendees that the way he dealt with the crises throughout the Apollo 13 mission made him strong. “The way I look at things is God helps those who help themselves. He gave us brains to use,” he said.