Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974)

James Arthur Lovell Jr. (March 25, 1928 – August 7, 2025)

The Apollo 13 commander was remembered for ‘legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight.’ Lovell died
on Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois. 

Jim Lovell, center, with fellow Apollo 13 astronauts Fred
Haise and Jack Swigert.

"Houston, we have a problem." The iconic five-word phrase spoken by Tom Hanks, portraying astronaut Jim Lovell, in
the 1995 blockbuster Apollo 13 instantly became one of the
most memorable movie quotes of all time.

Five years to the day that aviator Charles Lindbergh became
the first pilot to accomplish a solo, nonstop flight across the
Atlantic Ocean, female aviator Amelia Earhart became the
first pilot to repeat the feat, landing her plane in Ireland after
flying across the North Atlantic. Earhart traveled over 2,000
miles from Newfoundland in just under 15 hours.

Unlike Charles Lindbergh, Earhart was well known to the public
before her solo transatlantic flight. In 1928, as a member of a
three-person crew, she had become the first woman to cross
the Atlantic in an aircraft.

Although her only function during the crossing was to keep
the plane’s log, the event won her national fame. For her
solo transatlantic crossing in 1932, she was awarded a
Distinguished Flying Cross by the U.S. Congress.

Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, where Amelia Earhart set off
from on her record-breaking solo flight.

SANDY KOZEL

The Spirit is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution‘s National Air and Space Museum in
Washington, D.C..

At 7:52 a.m., American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh took off
from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, on the world’s
first solo, nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean and the first
ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris.

Lindbergh, a young airmail pilot, was a dark horse when he
entered a competition with a $25,000 payoff to fly nonstop
from New York to Paris. He ordered a small monoplane,
configured it to his own design, and christened it the Spirit
of St. Louis in tribute to his sponsor–the St. Louis Chamber
of Commerce.

Lindbergh’s achievement made him an international celebrity
and won widespread public acceptance of the airplane and
commercial aviation.