There aren't too many places Jim Lovell hasn't been.
The 71-year-old former astronaut has made two trips to the moon -- the historic first lunar orbit flight, December 1968's Apollo 8, and the aborted Apollo 13 mission in April 1970. And now he's added a new destination to his exotic resume -- the South Pole.
Last January, Lovell accompanied planetary scientist Paul Sipiera to Antarctica's Thiel Mountains, and visited the South Pole as part of a privately funded meteorite expedition. The team spent five days camping out in snow and ice, and found 19 meteorites.
"It was cold, and it was windy," Lovell says. "We were in two-man tents. The wind kept blowing the snow over; we had to keep shoveling snow. And I said, 'Why is a guy who's 71 still out here shoveling snow?'"
The answer is that even today, Lovell has exploration in his blood. "Life can get awful boring if you're not doing anything," he says.
No one could accuse Lovell of not doing anything. He still flies his own airplane, a Beechcraft Baron. And he visited the North Pole on April 13, 1987 -- exactly 17 years after his Apollo 13 spacecraft was crippled by an explosion on its way to the moon. That episode almost cost Lovell his life and, more recently, made him a household word in 1995 when Ron Howard brought the Apollo 13 story to the screen.
The movie, based on Lovell's 1994 book, Lost Moon, was a box-office smash, and it gave Lovell a new career in public speaking. With his lecture earnings, he's launched a new venture, a restaurant called Lovell's of Lake Forest.
Getting into the restaurant business was inspired by Lovell's older son, Jay, who is a professional chef. The younger Lovell told his father he wanted to run his own restaurant. "During a weak moment on my part -- I must have had too much wine -- I said, 'Sure, I'll help you.' The result is this restaurant, of which he is the executive chef."
Lovell's of Lake Forest, near Chicago, opened in May 1999, serving what Lovell calls "modern American" food. Lovell's favorite dish? "I have to tell you, the filet here is absolutely outstanding."
The restaurant features a $30,000 wine cellar, and in the plush Captain's Quarters, many items from Lovell's collection of space memorabilia are on display. There's even a coffee table made from a relief map of the Apollo 17 landing site. Lovell's had the map ever since the Apollo program ended in 1972.
Initially, Lovell was disappointed that the near-disastrous Apollo 13 mission robbed him of his only chance to land on the moon. "For years, you know, I was frustrated that I didn't land," Lovell confesses. "I don't think there was envy of the other guys' landing. But it was a case of, 'Hey, why couldn't I have done that?'"
Lovell's feelings have changed over the years, however, and the popularity of the Apollo 13 book and movie has helped make up for the sense of loss. "When you look at the effect that Apollo 13 has had on giving a boost to the space program, " Lovell explains, "it was a sort of victory in a negative sense, you might say."
When he's not on the road speaking, Lovell spends most of his time at the restaurant, and handles many of its financial aspects -- a role he's finding tougher than anything he faced in space.
"This is the hardest business in the world," Lovell says. I thought space was difficult. But I can tell you, making a restaurant profitable is a 24-hour-a-day job."
With all the traveling he's done, is there anyplace Lovell longs to visit? "I've never been to the Middle East," he says. And when John Glenn became the oldest space traveler in 1998, Lovell would have happily gone along. "I've often said I volunteered to go as his backup," Lovell quips, "but I was too young for the job."
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