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CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: NASA (3); RALPH MORSE/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES; RON GALELLA, LTD./WIREIMAGE/GETTY I

MAGES; NASA

TO THE MOON AND BACK:

An Astronaut’s Loving Tribute

Finally Acknowledged

❯

IN 1968, AS NAVIGATOR ON APOLLO 8 — the

first mission around the moon — Jim Lovell

carefully documented his path above the Sea

of Tranquility, where NASA would land Apollo 11. He

spotted a small, pyramid-shaped mountain

near the landing site and named it Mount

Marilyn, after his wife. Lovell knew he

wouldn’t forget the landmark.

Mount Marilyn proved vital on

Apollo 11, when Neil Armstrong

relied on it for navigation during

a harrowing landing. And yet

the mountain is among dozens of

features named by astronauts but

not on official moon maps.

For nearly half a century, astronomy’s official

nomenclature group, the International Astronomical

Union (IAU), wouldn’t make any of the names official;

scientists used an asterisk if they cited them. But in

July, after multiple applications by Lovell and

Arizona State University astronomer Mark

Robinson, the IAU reversed course for

three of the landmarks, including

Mount Marilyn, without explanation.

Lovell, who kept the campaign

a secret from Marilyn, enjoyed

revealing it at last. “She was

quite amazed,” Lovell says. “In

exploration there’s romanticism,

too.” — ERIC BETZ

The love of astronaut Jim Lovell for his wife, Marilyn,

shown together above in 1965 and 1995, was immortalized

in 2017. During the Apollo 8 mission, Lowell (bottom, at

far right) named a pyramid-shaped mountain (left) after

Marilyn. The name was officially recognized in July.

Sea of

Tranquility

Apollo 11

landing site