Jim Lovell dies at 97.

 Jim Lovell dies at 97.

It was 1970 and we knew that our rental TV black and white DER set was about to disappear into obscurity, never to appear again quite literally. Our hitherto trustworthy TV had had enough. It needed to wind down and rest. It had lived in our dining room for so many years that we'd quite forgotten how long we'd been watching it for. Our black and white TV was in its last cathode ray, ready to conk out at any minute, about to witness its Last Supper. It had been a good friend to us for many years, faithfully flickering onto the screen with fuzzy images and lines at times but then flourishing when there was something good to see. 

Jim Lovell, one of the last all conquering Apollo 13 astronauts, had travelled to the Moon and back but never got the chance to take those first steps on the Moon. You were still a child at the time but the now vague memories are barely discernible images in your consciousness. Lovell was live and black and white and in our family home, a source of immense fascination. Planet Earth was still the place you wanted to remain but here was a man whose remarkable sense of adventure, enduring curiosity and scientific mind had most of us spellbound. 

Shortly before, Lovell, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were gripped by a sense of wild experimentation. What would happen if you wanted to really go to the Moon and actually walk on it? But, Armstrong bravely ventured where none had gone before by actually stepping onto the Moon's surface. And then it happened. Armstrong climbed out of his rocket and capsule and started jumping up and down on the Moon's surface before seemingly dancing with sheer delirium, relieved to have created an epic moment in history for mankind. 

But Lovell, who yesterday died at the age of 97, was more than just a fascinated visitor to outer space. He was commander of Apollo 13, a ground breaker, pioneer, general genius and huge intellect. He knew he was doing something that most of us could have only dreamt of achieving in our wildest fantasies. But Lovell went up to the Moon before floating around, observing the spectacular and barely able to take in the vast scope of his achievements. 

Lovell never actually stepped on the Moon. That was after Armstrong took those giant steps for mankind and played golf, broke into song and then began spinning around delightedly in his NASA suit, laughing as if somebody had just cracked the funniest joke and then just enjoying that iconic moment. They'd always maintained that man would never step onto the surface of the Moon because it was physically impossible but, 55 years ago, you sat down right in front of your TV and were transported to another world. 

You crossed your legs literally with your eyes riveted to the screen and ignored your mum's warning to the effect that, sitting so close to the TV,  your eyes would be severely damaged and you'd need glasses in later life. Of course mum was right and the glasses came later on in adult life. But then the Apollo space missions were scheduled to appear on two of the TV channels and this was compulsive watching. So it was that ITV or Thames Television and the BBC joined forces and devoted saturation coverage to the Apollo missions. 

You can still remember the professorial and science teacher extraordinaire Patrick Moore, pince nez or glass in one eye, engaging with his enraptured TV audience and talking about the planets around the solar system quite naturally. There was the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Pluto and Moore left us with enormous wisdom and was the ultimate authority on all matters relating to space and some far distant corner of the universe. Moore was intriguing, admirably knowledgeable and a man with an insatiable thirst for more information. 

But Jim Lovell was just one of many boldest astronauts, a man possessed of lifelong ambitions and whose inquisitive nature would take him to places that most of us would never see or experience. To this day, the likes of Lovell were taking calculated risks, regarded as mad by the cynics but then revered by millions of TV viewers. And yesterday was his final journey into the unknown, exploring areas of far away constellations and craters that none of us could possibly imagine. 

These days our modern imaginations are taken to different dimensions. Now, we watch those science fiction TV classics as Star Trek and will tell our children and grandchildren about the make believe exploits of Spock and Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise. We'll tell them about the immense contribution made to the film industry where Star Wars and then the Empire Strikes Back left us breathless and richly entertained. It was space but not as we would know it. 

Jim Lovell, who sadly passed yesterday, would have been proud to know that the generational baton was in safe and capable hands. Hollywood legend Tom Hanks did wonderful justice to the role of astronaut and, more recently, William Shatner, Captain Kirk, who just fancied a whirlwind visit into outer space. It did seem a quite logical development and perhaps we should have known that Shatner would do something like it. Lovell and the great Apollo missions will always be synonymous with some of the greatest moments in our childhood.