ADRIAN MA, HOST:
A moment to remember NASA astronaut James Lovell. Lovell flew in space four times, including as commander of the near-catastrophic Apollo 13 mission in April of 1970. An oxygen tank exploded aboard the spacecraft, but after enormous effort, the three astronauts aboard the craft made it safely home. And while the explosion cost Jim Lovell his only chance to land on the moon, he did get to coin one very iconic phrase. You might remember it from the 1995 film about the mission, where Tom Hanks played Lovell.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "APOLLO 13")
TOM HANKS: (As Jim Lovell) Houston, we have a problem.
MA: Our colleague Mary Louise Kelly spoke with Jim Lovell a few years ago and asked him to tell the story.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
MARY LOUISE KELLY: On Apollo 13, who actually said the famous words? I'll let you say it now. Houston...
JIM LOVELL: The way this went was the fact the explosion occurred.
KELLY: Yeah.
LOVELL: I was in the lunar module going down into the command module when Jack said, Houston, we got a problem.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JACK SWIGERT: OK, Houston, we've had a problem here.
LOVELL: And Jack Lousma down in Mission Control Center said, say again, please.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JACK LOUSMA: This is Houston. Say again, please.
LOVELL: By that time, I got down there, saw that we lost two fuel cells. And I said, Houston, we have a problem here.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LOVELL: Houston, we've had a problem.
We have a main B bus undervolt.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LOVELL: We've had a main B bus undervolt.
And that was how that all came down to pass. And, of course, then they just said, Houston, we have a problem. And I - God, I wish I had copyrighted that.
KELLY: (Laughter).
LOVELL: I would be in my yacht right now on the Riviera (laughter).
KELLY: And I went back and looked 'cause there's some controversy over - the official transcript reads, Houston, we've had a problem. And then it got changed...
LOVELL: What it is, is Houston...
KELLY: ....And misquoted.
LOVELL: ...We have had a problem. We have had a problem. We have had a main B bus undervolt. And, of course, you know, it got picked up, and every time someone has a problem (laughter), they say, Houston, we've had a problem.
KELLY: Do you ever catch yourself saying that around the house?
LOVELL: (Laughter) Yeah.
KELLY: (Laughter).
MA: More than 55 years after the mission that nearly took his life, Jim Lovell died on Thursday this past week. He was 97 years old.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOAN SHELLEY SONG, "OVER AND EVEN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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