Jim Lovell

Hearing that Jim Lovell has died makes me sad.  Here is his wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lovell 

there is a high resolution version of this portrait on the wiki page

Two things on Lovell:  he grew up in Milwaukee so naturally he was my favorite astronaut.  Second, he was something of a tinkerer - I remember seeing a video where he mentions creating a map light so that he could look at a map while flying his Navy plane at night.  Unfortunately something went wrong when he tried it on a night flight near Japan and his cockpit instruments went dark !  Getting home was a bit of an adventure (with the help of the bioluminescent wake of the aircraft carrier) but I suspect it cured him of trying similar stuff while flying for NASA  :)

Here is a video where he tells the story (starts about 22 minutes in):

He seemed to have a knack for getting out of tight situations, not just depending on luck but using his well-trained skill to work the problem.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm