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(T)Hanks for the memory

					liked it a lot.”
				6	When the film’s makers,
					Universal, heard about the plan
					for the flight, executives went into
					a tailspin, terrified their superstar
					was not properly insured. “I told
					them not to worry,” says Lovell.
					“His best insurance would be
					sitting right next to him.”
				7	Lovell showed the same cool-
					ness back in 1970 when, halfway
					to the moon, his spacecraft was in
					deep trouble. He helped steady
					his crew’s nerves and with the
					help of Houston Mission Control
					they plotted a split-second
					manoeuvre to make it possible for
					them to re-enter the earth’s
					atmosphere - safely.
				8	He is glad of all the renewed
1	IT WAS the week the whole		Tom Hanks with the mission,		interest, feeling the mission has
	world held its breath. For four		rather than the real commander		been neglected over the years
	heart-stopping days everyone’s		of Apollo 13.		“because we in the United States
	attention was focused on three	4	Hanks spent four days with		like to forget our failures”. As if
	American astronauts stranded in		him preparing for the role and		to prove his point, his study in his
	total darkness and sub-zero		Lovell remembers how the two of		house is littered with awards and
	temperatures 200,000 miles from		them were drinking in a bar when		trophies from his first three space
	home. Only a dazzling combina-		the owner asked him to sign a		flights, two Geminis and Apollo 8,
	tion of technological wizardry and		picture hanging on the wall.		while the only recognition of
	a display of great human spirit		Lovell just pointed to Hanks. “I		Apollo 13 is a letter of con-
	prevented the crippled spacecraft		told the guy, ‘Hey, that’s the real		gratulations from flying legend
	Apollo 13 spinning out of control		Jim Lovell, let him go over and		Charles Lindbergh.
	for ever into deep space.		sign it.’ I know that once this	9	As a boy who grew up with the
2	Commander Jim Lovell and his		movie comes out, it’s not going to		Apollo missions, Hanks wor-
	crew became instant heroes as		be me any more. Tom Hanks is		shipped the space heroes of the
	they splashed down safely in the		going to be Jim Lovell.		Sixties and Seventies. “They were
	Pacific. But almost as quickly, they	5	I wanted him to get the feeling		princes among men,” he says.
	were forgotten - their mission,		of what it’s like to be a test pilot		“These guys in their gold flight
	after all, still a failure, no matter		and an aviator and an astronaut		suits with matching jackets - they
	how heroic, in a country geared		so I decided the best way was to		were real stars.To be an astronaut
	only to success.		let him fly my light plane at night.		in Houston in the Sixties was like
3	Now, a quarter of a century		To recreate the constricted view		being a Beatle.”
	later, Hollywood is making a		from a spacecraft, I installed a	10	“Apollo 13 is the ultimate
	movie about the unsuccessful		triangular cardboard cut-out on		human interest story,” says Lovell.
	mission, with Tom Hanks playing		his side of the cockpit,” says		“And it’s perfect for Hollywood.
	Lovell.Yet the irony is that Lovell		Lovell. “Then I took him out west		It’s got a happy ending.”
	still seems destined to be the		where there were no lights. I let
	forgotten hero. The public will		him control the airplane, because
	soon associate the familiar face of		it’s a little bit like a spacecraft. He		‘Sunday Mirror’, June 18, 1995