#Escaping gravity lori garver movie#

Later that evening, Hanks pulled Garver aside and said if she was able to arrange for the medal for Lovell, he would like to be there to see it awarded. Hearing this, Hanks caught Garver's eye 'and we both silently acknowledged the mention,' Garver recalled.

'The comment was made in passing, while he was explaining to the table that at the time of Apollo 13, the mission was considered a failure and NASA had done its best to sweep it under the rug.'

#Escaping gravity lori garver movie#

'Jim Lovell expressed his disappointment during dinner that he had never received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor,' wrote Garver, recounting an event that brought together the real Apollo 13 astronauts with the actors portraying them before the movie began filming. Lovell believed that he was overlooked because of how Apollo 13 was perceived by NASA prior to the movie being made. Among the six chosen were Alan Shepard, the first American to fly into space Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth the late Virgil 'Gus' Grissom, commander of the ill-fated Apollo 1 crew Frank Borman, Lovell's commander on Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the moon Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon and Conrad, commander of the first crew to live on board the United States' first space station, Skylab. Garver, who went on to become deputy administrator of NASA, recalls the events of Jfor the first time in her new book, ' Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age,' released by Diversion Books on Tuesday (June 21).īy all measures, Lovell should have been among the first group of astronauts to receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor when it was first bestowed in October 1978. Then the executive director of the National Space Society (NSS), a non-profit organization championing the creation of a spacefaring civilization, Garver had not only been instrumental in arranging for the medal to be awarded to Lovell, but, as only a few people knew at the time, she also helped save the event from being canceled the night before. 'While you may have lost the moon,' Clinton said to Lovell, 'but you gained something perhaps far more important, the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people.'Īs the President draped the medal over Lovell's head, watching the ceremony from off to the side was Lori Garver. Joined in the Oval Office by former medal recipients Charles 'Pete' Conrad and Senator John Glenn, as well as by Tom Hanks, who portrayed Lovell in the hit film, Clinton noted that because of the movie Americans now knew why Lovell was deserving of praise more so than they did in the 25 years that had past since the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission made it safely back to Earth in 1970. Democrats additionally support strengthening NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth observation missions to better understand how climate change is impacting our home planet.- Less than a month after 'Apollo 13' opened in movie theaters in June 1995, then-President Bill Clinton met with mission commander Jim Lovell to present one of the highest awards an astronaut can receive - the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. We support NASA's work to return Americans to the moon and go beyond to Mars, taking the next step in exploring our solar system. We will strengthen support for the United States' role in space through our continued presence on the International Space Station, working in partnership with the international community to continue scientific and medical innovation. We believe in continuing the spirit of discovery that has animated NASA’s human space exploration, in addition to its scientific and medical research, technological innovation, and educational mission that allows us to better understand our own planet and place in the universe. Quote from: of the Draft Democratic Party Platform Democrats continue to support the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and are committed to continuing space exploration and discovery.