Bill Text: IL SR1280 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Declares December 21, 2024 as Captain James A. Lovell Day in the State of Illinois.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2024-11-22 - Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Tom Bennett [SR1280 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SR1280-Introduced.html

---

SR1280 LRB103 43090 ECR 76347 r
SENATE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Captain James A. Lovell, a resident of Lake
Forest, is the oldest living former astronaut of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); and
WHEREAS, Captain Lovell was born in Cleveland, Ohio on
March 25, 1928; he attended the University of Wisconsin and
received a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Naval Academy in
1952; he graduated from Test Pilot School at the Naval Air
Training Command in 1958, Aviation Safety School at the
University of Southern California in 1961, and the Advanced
Management Program at the Harvard Business School in 1971; he
has received honorary doctorates from a number of institutions
of higher learning, including Rockhurst College, Illinois
Wesleyan University, Western Michigan University, Mary
Hardin-Baylor College, and the Milwaukee School of
Engineering; and
WHEREAS, During his naval career, Captain Lovell had
numerous aviator assignments, including a four-year tour as a
test pilot at the Naval Air Test Center; while there, he served
as program manager for the F4H Phantom Fighter; he also served
as safety engineer with Fighter Squadron 101 at the Naval Air
Station; he has logged more than 7,000 hours of flying time and
more than 3,500 hours in jet aircraft; and

SR1280 - 2 - LRB103 43090 ECR 76347 r
WHEREAS, Captain Lovell was selected to be an astronaut
for NASA in September 1962; he served as a backup pilot for the
Gemini 4 flight, as a backup commander for the Gemini 9 flight,
and as a backup commander to Neil Armstrong for the Apollo 11
lunar landing mission; and
WHEREAS, On December 4, 1965, Captain Lovell and Frank
Borman were launched into space on the history-making Gemini 7
mission, where the first rendezvous of two manned maneuverable
spacecraft occurred; along with pilot Edwin Aldrin, he flew
the Gemini 12 mission from November 11 through November 14,
1966; and
WHEREAS, Captain Lovell served as command module pilot and
navigator on the six-day journey of Apollo 8 from December 21
to December 27, 1968; he and his fellow crewmen, Frank Borman
and William A. Anders, became the first humans to leave the
Earth's gravitational influence and orbit the moon, and this
mission marked the first time humans were able to see and
photograph the far side of the moon, leading to the capture of
the famous Earthrise photograph; and
WHEREAS, Captain Lovell completed his fourth mission as
spacecraft commander of the Apollo 13 flight from April 11 to
April 17, 1970, becoming the first man to journey twice to the

SR1280 - 3 - LRB103 43090 ECR 76347 r
moon; despite a catastrophic malfunction on the Apollo 13, he
and his crew were able to return to Earth safely; and
WHEREAS, Captain Lovell retired from the Navy and from the
Space Program to the join Bay-Houston Towing Company in
Houston, Texas on March 1, 1973; he was promoted to the
position of president and chief executive officer at the
company on March 1, 1975; he became president of Fisk
Telephone Systems, Inc. in Houston, Texas on January 1, 1977;
he was appointed group vice president of Business
Communications Systems at the Centel Corporation on January 1,
1981; he retired from Centel as executive vice president and
as a member of the board of directors on January 1, 1991; and
WHEREAS, Captain Lovell served as a trustee of the
National Space Institute, as a fellow of the Society of
Experimental Test Pilots and the American Astronautical
Society, as a member of the Explorers Club, on the board of
directors of the Federal Signal Corporation, the Astronautics
Corporation of America, and the Astronaut Memorial Foundation,
on the Sports Medicine Advisory Board at Rush Presbyterian at
St. Luke's Medical Center, on the board of trustees of Lake
Forest College, as a trustee of the National Space Institute
and the Association of Space Explorers, and as the chairman of
the National Eagle Scouts Association; he served as director
of the Federal Signal Corporation and the Chicago Astronautics

SR1280 - 4 - LRB103 43090 ECR 76347 r
Corporation of America; he is a regent emeritus for the
Milwaukee School of Engineering; and
WHEREAS, Captain Lovell received the Harmon International
Trophy in 1966, 1967, and 1969, the FAI De Laval and Gold Space
Medals in 1967, the Robert J. Collier Trophy in 1968, the
Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy in 1969, the H. H. Arnold
Trophy in 1969, the General Thomas D. White USAF Space Trophy
in 1969, the City of New York Gold Medal in 1969, the City of
Houston Medal of Valor in 1969, the National Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences Special Trustees Award in 1969,
the Institute of Navigation Award in 1969, the AIAA Haley
Astronautics Award in 1970, the University of Wisconsin's
Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 1970, the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1970, the Sam Houston Area Council
Distinguished Eagle Scout Award in 1976, the Lincoln
Leadership Prize in 2010, the Order of Lincoln Award in 2012,
the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, two Navy Distinguished
Flying Crosses, the American Academy of Achievement Golden
Plate Award, and the Henry G. Bennett Distinguished Service
Award; he was also the co-recipient of the American
Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award in 1966 and
1968; and
WHEREAS, Despite his myriad of achievements, Captain
Lovell believes his family to be his greatest accomplishment;

SR1280 - 5 - LRB103 43090 ECR 76347 r
he married Marilynn Lillie Gerlach at St. Anne's Church in
Annapolis, Maryland on June 6, 1952, and she passed away on
August 27, 2023; the two had begun dating while they were in
high school, and as a college student, Marilyn transferred
from Wisconsin State Teachers College to George Washington
University in Washington, D.C., so she could be near Jim while
he was at Annapolis; together, they welcomed four children,
Barbara, James, Susan, and Jeffrey; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare December
21, 2024 as Captain James A. Lovell Day in the State of
Illinois; and be it further