Jim Lovell Quotes in Apollo 13 (1995)

Jim Lovell: Houston, we have a problem.

[last lines]

Jim Lovell: [narrating] Our mission was called "a successful failure," in that we returned safely but never made it to the moon. In the following months, it was determined that a damaged coil built inside the oxygen tank sparked during our cryo stir and caused the explosion that crippled the Odyssey. It was a minor defect that occured two years before I was even named the flight's commander. Fred Haise was going back to the moon on Apollo 18, but his mission was cancelled because of budget cuts; he never flew in space again. Nor did Jack Swigert, who left the astronaut corps and was elected to Congress from the state of Colorado. But he died of cancer before he was able to take office. Ken Mattingly orbited the moon as Command Module Pilot of Apollo 16, and flew the Space Shuttle, having never gotten the measles. Gene Kranz retired as Director of Flight Operations just not long ago. And many other members of Mission Control have gone on to other things, but some are still there. As for me, the seven extraordinary days of Apollo 13 were my last in space. I watched other men walk on the Moon, and return safely, all from the confines of Mission Control and our house in Houston. I sometimes catch myself looking up at the Moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the moon and wonder, when will we be going back, and who will that be?

Television Reporter: Is there a specific instance in an airplane emergency when you can recall fear?

Jim Lovell: Uh well, I'll tell ya, I remember this one time - I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions, so there's no running lights on the carrier. It was the Shrangri-La, and we were in the Sea of Japan and my radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone... because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency. And so it was - it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be. And I'm lookin' down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light, and then suddenly: zap. Everything shorts out right there in my cockpit. All my instruments are gone. My lights are gone. And I can't even tell now what my altitude is. I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching in the ocean. And I, I look down there, and then in the darkness there's this uh, there's this green trail. It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. And it was the algae, right? It was that phosphorescent stuff that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship. And it was - it was - it was leading me home. You know? If my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out, there's no way I'd ever been able to see that. So uh, you, uh, never know... what... what events are to transpire to get you home.

Jim Lovell: Gentlemen, it's been a privilege flying with you.

Jim Lovell: We just put Sir Isaac Newton in the driver's seat.

CAPCOM 2: 13, we just got another request from the Flight Surgeon for you to get some sleep. Don't like these readings down here.

Jim Lovell: [Tearing off his biomeds] Let's see how he likes this. I am sick and tired of the entire western world knowing how my kidneys are functioning!

Dr. Chuck: [after Lovell's heartrate flatlines] Flight, we just lost Lovell!

CAPCOM 2: 13, Houston. Jim, we just had a bottoming out on your biomeds.

Jim Lovell: I'm not wearing my biomeds.

CAPCOM 2: [after Gene Kranz shrugs it off] Ok, Jim. Copy that.

[Jack and Fred now tear away their own biomeds]

Dr. Chuck: [after all three crew members flatline] Flight, now I lost all three of them!

Gene Kranz: It's just a little medical mutiny, Doc. I'm sure the boys are still with us. Let's cut them a little slack, ok?

Ken Mattingly: 13, this is Houston, do you read?

Jim Lovell: Roger that, Ken. Are the flowers blooming in Houston?

Ken Mattingly: That's a negative, Jim. I do not have the measles.

[stares at the flight surgeon]

Marilyn Lovell: Naturally, it's 13. Why 13?

Jim Lovell: It comes after 12, hon.

Jim Lovell: From now on, we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. And it's not a miracle, we just decided to go.

Jim Lovell: We just lost the moon.

Jim Lovell: Houston. We're getting our first look at the service module now. One whole side of the spacecraft is missing. Right by the high gain antennae a whole panel is blown out, right up. Right up to our heat shield.

Reporter: So... the number 13 doesn't bother you?

Fred Haise, Sr.: Only if it's a Friday, Phil.

Reporter: Apollo 13 - lifting off at 1300 hours and 13 minutes, and, entering the moon's gravity on April 13th.

Jim Lovell: Uh, Ken Mattingly has been doing some... scientific experiments regarding that very phenomenon, haven't you?

Ken Mattingly: Well, uh, yes, well I uh, had a black cat walk over a broken mirror under the lunar module ladder, didn't seem to be a problem.

Fred Haise, Sr.: We also consider a real helpful letter we got from a fellow who said we ought to take a pig up with us for good luck.

Jim Lovell: Gentlemen, what are your intentions?

[Jack Swigert and Fred Haise turn around and stare at Lovell]

Jim Lovell: I'd like to go home.

[the crew has been "killed" in a simulator accident]

Jim Lovell: Well... if I had a dollar for every time they've killed me in this thing, I wouldn't have to work for you, Deke... Well, we have two days, we'll be ready. Let's do it again.

Jim Lovell: Freddo, how long does it take to power up the LEM?

Fred Haise, Sr.: Three hours by the checklist.

Jim Lovell: We don't have that much time.

Congressman: Now Jim, people in my state keep asking why we're continuing to fund this program now that we've beaten the Russians to the moon.

Jim Lovell: Imagine if Christopher Columbus had come back from the New World and no one returned in his footsteps.

Jim Lovell: [pointing to a large "NO" note on the control panel] What is that?

Jack Swigert: Oh, I was getting a little punchy and I didn't want to cut the LEM loose with you guys still in it.

Jim Lovell: That's good thinking.

Jim Lovell: [Jim sits down in the pilot's seat intended for Jack Swigert] Sorry Jack, it's an old habit. Kinda used to the pilot's seat.

Jim Lovell: [gets out of the seat] She's yours to fly.

Jim Lovell: Hello, Houston. This is Odyssey. It's good to see you again.

[Jim's daughter wants to go trick-or-treating as a hippie]

Barbara Lovell: Dad, can I please wear this?

Jim Lovell: Sure.

Marilyn Lovell: Jim!

Jim Lovell: No! No, absolutely not.

[as everyone is madly trying to identify the problem from instrument readings]

Jim Lovell: Houston, we are venting something out into space. I can see it outside window one right now. It's definitely a... a gas of some sort.

[pause]

Jim Lovell: It's got to be the oxygen.

[Jim Lovell is told that Ken Mattingly will be too sick to fly]

Jim Lovell: I've trained for the Fra Mauro highlands... and this is FLIGHT SURGEON HORSESHIT, Deke!

Deke Slayton: Jim, if you hold out for Ken, you will not be on Apollo 13. It's your decision.

Fred Haise: It hurts when I urinate.

Jim Lovell: Well, you're not getting enough water.

Fred Haise: No, I'm drinkin' my rations, same as you... I think old Swigert gave me the clap. Been pissin' in my relief tube.

Jim Lovell: Well, that'd be a hot one at the debriefing for the flight surgeons... Another first for America's spacemen.

Jack Swigert: [Swigert bumps his head on the ceiling of the crowded lunar module] Oww! Goddamn this piece of shit!

Fred Haise, Sr.: Hey! this piece of shit's going to get you home! That's 'cause that's the only thing we've got left, Jack.

Jack Swigert: Well, what are you saying, Fred?

Fred Haise, Sr.: Oh, I think you know what I'm saying...

Jack Swigert: Now wait a minute... all I did was stir those tanks...

Fred Haise, Sr.: What was that gauge reading before you hit the switch?

Jack Swigert: Hey, don't tell me how to fly the damned CM, all right? They brought me in here to do a job, they asked me to stir the damned tanks, and I stirred the tanks!

Fred Haise, Sr.: You didn't know what you were doing, do you?

Jim Lovell: Jack, quit kicking yourself in the ass.

Jack Swigert: This is NOT MY FAULT!

Jim Lovell: No one is saying it is. If I'm in the left-hand seat when the call comes up, *I* stir the tanks.

Jack Swigert: Yeah, well, tell *him* that.

Fred Haise, Sr.: I just asked you what the gauge was reading. AND YOU DON'T KNOW!

Jim Lovell: All right, we're not doing this, gentlemen. We are *not* going to do this. We're not going to go bouncing off the walls for ten minutes, 'cause we're just going to end up back here with the same problems! Try to figure out how to stay alive!

[after a dispute has broken out between Haise and Swigert]

Jim Lovell: All right, we're not doing this, gentlemen. We are *not* doing this. We're not going to go bouncing off the walls for ten minutes, 'cause we're just going to end up back here with the same problems! Try to figure out how to stay alive!

William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: [over communications mic] Aquarius, this is Houston.

Jim Lovell: [shouts] Are we on Vox?

Fred Haise, Sr.: No, we're not on Vox.

[Lovell turns on his mic]

Jim Lovell: [calmly] Yeah, Houston, this is Aquarius.

[Lovell and Haise are trying to get control of the lunar module]

Jim Lovell: We're all out of whack. We try to pitch down but we yaw to the left. Why can't I null this out?

Fred Haise, Sr.: She wasn't designed to fly attached like this. Our center of gravity is the command module.

Jim Lovell: It's like flying with a dead elephant on our back.

Jim Lovell: Just a little while longer Freddo. Just a little while longer, we're gonna hit that water in the South Pacific. Open up that hatch. It's 80 degrees out there.

Fred Haise, Sr.: 80 degrees.

[On the night of the Apollo 11 landing]

Jim Lovell: Christopher Columbus, Charles Lindbergh, and Neil Armstrong. Ha, ha, ha. Neil Armstrong!

[as they pass over the lunar surface]

Fred Haise, Sr.: Mare Tranquilitatis - Neil and Buzz's old neighborhood. Coming up on Mount Marilyn. Jim, you've got to take a look at this.

Jim Lovell: I've seen it.

Patty: How do you go to the bathroom in space?

Jim Lovell: Well, um... I tell you it's a very complicated procedure that involves cranking down the window and looking for a gas station.

Jim Lovell: Uh, Houston, we are ready for the beginning of PTC, and I think once we're in that barbecue roll, Jack and I will eat.

Fred Haise, Sr.: Hey, I'm hungry.

Jim Lovell: Are you sure?

Fred Haise, Sr.: I could eat the ass out of a dead rhinoceros.

Jim Lovell: [after the center engine cuts out shortly after takeoff] Looks like we've had our glitch for this mission.

Deke Slayton: Jim, we've got a problem. I got some blood work back from the lab. Charley Duke has the measles.

Jim Lovell: [Unconcerned] So we need a new back-up.

Deke Slayton: You've all been exposed to it.

Jim Lovell: Oh, I've had the measles.

Deke Slayton: Ken Mattingly hasn't.

Jeffrey Lovell: Dad, did you know the astronauts in the fire?

Jim Lovell: [pause] Yeah, I knew them. Knew all of them.

Jeffrey Lovell: Could that happen again?

Jim Lovell: Well, I'll tell you something about that fire, a lot of things went wrong. The door, called the hatch? They couldn't get it open when they needed to get out, that was one thing. Well, a lot of things went wrong.

Jeffrey Lovell: Did they fix it?

Jim Lovell: Oh, absolutely, they fixed it. It's not a problem anymore.

Ken Mattingly: Uh, one more thing, Jim. While Jack is working on the power-up, we'd like you and Freddo to transfer some ballast over to the command module.

Jim Lovell: Say again, Houston? Ballast?

Ken Mattingly: That's affirm. We want to get the weight right, we were expecting you to be toting a couple hundred pounds of moon rocks.

Jim Lovell: [flatly] Right, Houston...

[watching the Apollo 11 landing on TV]

Pete Conrad: Jim, you think it's too late for him to abort?

Jim Lovell: No, he still has time to get outta there, he just needs someone to wave him off.

Jack Swigert: I've been going over the numbers again. Have they called up with a re-entry plan yet? 'Cause we're coming in too shallow, we're coming in too damn fast.

Jim Lovell: We're working on something, Jack, just hold on.

Jack Swigert: Listen, listen, they gave us too much delta vee, they had us burn too long. At this rate, we're going to skip right out of the atmosphere and we're never going to get home.

Fred Haise, Sr.: What are you talking about? How'd you figure that?

Jack Swigert: I can add.

Jim Lovell: Jack, they've got half the Ph.D.'s on the planet working on it.

Fred Haise, Sr.: Houston says we're right on the money.

Jack Swigert: And what if they had made a mistake, all right? And there was no way to reverse it, you think they would tell us? There's no reason for them to tell us!

Fred Haise, Sr.: What do you mean they're not going to tell us? That's bullshit!

Jim Lovell: All right, there's a thousand things that have to happen in order. We are on number eight. You're talking about number six hundred and ninety-two.

Jack Swigert: And in the meantime, I'm trying to tell you we're coming in too fast. I think they know it, and I think that's why we don't have a God-damned reentry plan.

Jim Lovell: That's duly noted, thank you Jack.

Jim Lovell: Ah, Guenter Wendt! I wonder where Guenter Wendt?

Marilyn Lovell: [Jim is standing outside, looking up at the moon, covering and uncovering it with his thumb. Marilyn comes out with a garbage bag] You're drunk, Lovell.

Jim Lovell: Yeah, I'm not used to the champagne.

Marilyn Lovell: Me neither...

[She picks at a few glasses on a table, then drops the bag in exasperation]

Marilyn Lovell: I can't deal with cleaning up, let's sell the house.

Jim Lovell: All right, we'll sell the house.

[Still looking up at the moon]

Jim Lovell: They're back inside now. Looking up at us. Isn't that something?

Marilyn Lovell: [Settles into a lawn chair] I'll bet Jenny Armstrong doesn't get a wink of sleep tonight. When you were on the far side on 8, I didn't sleep at all. I just vacuumed over and over again.

William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: Aquarius, watch that middle gimbal. We don't want you tumbling off into space.

Jim Lovell: Freddo, inform Houston I'm well aware of the God-damned gimbals!

Fred Haise, Sr.: [calmly] Roger that, Houston.

Jim Lovell: I don't need to hear the obvious, I've got the frappin' 8-ball right in front of me!

INCO White: Hey, we're on VOX.

William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: Aquarius, this is Houston. We've got you both on VOX.

Fred Haise, Sr.: You want what, you want us to go to VOX?

William 'Bill' Pogue, CAPCOM: You have a hot mic, we're reading everything you say.

Fred Haise, Sr.: [sheepish] Sorry, Jim.

[Fred switches the microphones to push-to-talk]

Jim Lovell: [Jack has just killed himself, Jim and Fred in the NASA simulator during a failed attempt at reentry] So what happened?

Jack Swigert: [morosely] Came in too steep. We're dead.

Fred Haise, Sr.: [even more morose] No shit.