'We go to heaven when we’re born,' astronaut Jim Lovell once told us, explaining his spiritual insights

After Jim Lovell, a longtime resident of Lake Forest, died last week at the age of 97, the obituaries that followed focused largely on his bravery in going to space, the harrowing Apollo 13 mission that was immortalized in the eponymous film in which Tom Hanks played him, and his place in a long-ago era in which the moon was the new frontier.

But his contributions came to Chicago Sun-Times readers in other ways when he agreed to an interview for our old podcast called “Face to Faith” in 2017, in which he spoke about his own spirituality and the impact his trips to space, and his longevity in living, had on his belief system.

Click below for unedited audio of 2017 interview

Out of the dozens of people we featured for that project, Lovell stood out — his beliefs were so thought-provoking