In 1962, while serving as a test pilot in the United States Navy, Jim Lovell applied to NASA for astronaut training. He was ultimately selected as one of NASA’s second group of astronauts, who would fly in the Gemini and Apollo programs. Although Lovell didn’t make his first spaceflight until December 1965, as a pilot aboard Gemini 7, he experienced the astronaut lifestyle much sooner. Like many of his peers, Lovell found himself behind the wheel of a Corvette.
Corvettes became associated with astronauts after General Motors gifted Alan Shepard a 1962 Corvette. This relationship expanded through Jim Rathmann, an Indianapolis 500 winner and owner of a Chevrolet dealership near Cape Canaveral. Astronauts were allowed to lease a Chevrolet for one dollar a year through Rathmann’s dealership, and most chose Corvettes as their personal cars.
Lovell leased several Corvettes during his astronaut career, including this silver C3 from 1968. It features a 327ci engine producing 300 horsepower and an automatic transmission. Lovell may have driven this Corvette while preparing for the Apollo 8 mission. Launched in December 1968, Apollo 8 became the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon. On Lovell’s final spaceflight, Apollo 13, he and his crew had to abort a planned lunar landing after an oxygen tank exploded. Working with Mission Control, the crew repurposed the lunar module as a lifeboat and returned safely to Earth.
Lovell’s 1968 Corvette, now owned by Dawn and Mike Scanlon, is on display at the National Corvette Museum. Several artifacts on loan from the U.S. Space and Rocket Center accompany the car. These include a commemorative medallion that flew into space with the Apollo 8 crew, a lunar navigational chart signed by nine astronauts, a pair of gloves used by Lovell, and an issue of Newsweek magazine covering the Apollo 8 mission. The magazine’s cover features Lovell alongside fellow astronauts Frank Borman and William Anders.
