Jim Lovell (born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut. The
first person to fly four times in space, he commanded Apollo 13 (1970),
which suffered a failure en route and looped around the Moon. Lovell
also flew twice during Project Gemini, and flew with Frank Borman and
William Anders on Apollo 8 (1968), the first crewed mission to orbit
the Moon. Lovell was the first person to fly to the Moon twice, though
due to the Apollo 13 abort, he never landed on it. A graduate of the
Naval Academy class of 1952, Lovell became a test pilot, and missed
selection by NASA as one of the Mercury Seven astronauts due to a
temporarily high bilirubin count. He was accepted in September 1962 as
a member of NASA's second group of astronauts, and is a recipient of the
Congressional Space Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of
Freedom. He co-authored the book Lost Moon, the basis for the film
Apollo 13, in which he appeared in a cameo. (This article is part of a
featured topic: NASA Astronaut Group 2.).
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/NASA_Astronaut_Group_2>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1410:
The Yongle Emperor of Ming China launched the first of his
military campaigns against the Mongols, resulting in the fall of the
Mongol khan Bunyashiri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongle_Emperor%27s_campaigns_against_the_Mongols>
1807:
The Slave Trade Act became law, abolishing the Atlantic slave
trade in the British Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807>
1903:
The Scottish National Antarctic Expedition anchored in the
South Orkney Islands with the intention of establishing the first
weather station in Antarctic territory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_National_Antarctic_Expedition>
1934:
Enrico Fermi published his discovery of neutron-induced
radioactivity, for which he was later awarded the Nobel Prize in
Physics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
Augean stables:
1. An extremely filthy or untidy place or situation.
2. (figuratively) A place or situation characterized by corruption or
moral decay.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Augean_stables>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can't build a peaceful world on empty stomachs and human
misery.
--Norman Borlaug
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug>