On The Space Show for Wednesday, 13 August 2025:

James (Jim) A. Lovell Jr. (1928-2025) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and mechanical engineer. This two-part special episode of The Space Show celebrates the 97-year life of this Gemini 7 & 12 and Apollo 8 & 13 astronaut.

Largely told in his own words, listen out for his story about how he was almost “selected” to be the 7th astronaut of the original Mercury Seven.

As fate would have it, Jim Lovell was instead to be the last surviving member of NASA Astronaut Group 2 (nicknamed the "Next Nine" or the "New Nine"), the group of astronauts selected after the Mercury Seven in September 1962. In addition to Lovell, the nine astronauts included: Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, James McDivitt, Elliot See, Tom Stafford, Ed White, and John Young

(Inserts courtesy of the Johnson Space Center)