David K. Stone (American, 1922 - 2001) "Captain James A. Lovell, Jr., USN" Signed lower right. Original Oil painting on Masonite. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting originally appeared on the Fleetwood James A. Lovell Commemorative Cover postmarked September 22, 1990. Born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, James A. Lovell, Jr. probably never imagined he would become a hero in American aerospace history. Lovell served on missions for the Gemini and Apollo programs. The Gemini 7 mission, with Frank Borman, set a record of fourteen days in earth orbit and made the first space rendezvous with Gemini 6. With Edwin Aldrin, he flew Gemini 12, the final mission of the Gemini program. On December 21, 1968, Lovell, Borman and William Anders became the first men to leave earth's gravity and orbit the moon in the Apollo 8 spacecraft, returning to earth the first close-up views of the lunar surface and of the moon's back side. Further, Apollo 8 demonstrated the technology which would later permit crews to actually land on the moon. In 1970, Lovell headed to the moon with Fred Haise, Jr. and John Swigert, Jr. in Apollo 13. Due to an on-board emergency, the mission had to be aborted en route to the moon, but the herioc and innovative efforts of Lovell and the crew combined with the help of ground control to bring the three astronauts safely back to Earth. Captain James A. Lovell retired from the Navy and NASA in 1973 to embark on a distinguished career in the business world. Image Size: 18.25 x 21.25 in. Overall Size: 23.75 x 26.75 in. Unframed. (B12637) See More