Astronaut James Lovell preparing for the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. | © Bettmann/CORBIS via Getty Images

A look back at the esteemed personalities who left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.

By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan. The Associated Press contributed to this gallery.

When astronaut James Lovell (March 25, 1928-Aug. 7, 2025) was launched aboard Apollo 8, just four days before Christmas 1968, NASA's flight director believed they only had a 50-percent chance of coming home safely. "Some of the odds of trying to be successful in that mission are overwhelming, and perhaps at that time we didn't even understand what the odds were," Lovell told "CBS Evening News" in 2018 .

On Christmas Eve, they became the first human crew to

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