Apollo 13 Insignia: What’s with the horses?
Steeds of Apollo behind the bar at Lovell's of Lake Forest
In 1969, the St. Regis Hotel in New York City commissioned artist Luman Winter to depict a mural of the great horses of the sun-god Apollo, whose mission was to pull the Chariot of the Sun across the sky.
The Apollo 13 crew asked Winter to design the mission’s insignia based on this 20-by-8 foot mural titled “Steeds of Apollo.” The symbolic patch illustrates three flying horses pulling the Apollo crew’s “chariot” through the cosmos. The motto “Ex luna, scientia,” means “From the moon, knowledge.”
“Steeds of Apollo” was displayed in the main lobby of the St. Regis Hotel for several years, but it went missing after the hotel was refurbished.
In 1994, the painting resurfaced at an auction of space artifacts in California during the filming of “Apollo 13.” Tom Hanks, who portrayed Jim Lovell in the Academy Award-winning film, purchased the mural and gave it to the Lovell family.
Apollo 13 Insignia, designed by Luman Winter
It is now on display behind the bar at the entrance to Lovell’s of Lake Forest in Lake Forest, Ill.
Lovell said the mural has an important symbolic value: the fourth horse in the background represents Ken Mattingly, Apollo 13’s original command module pilot. After it was found that he had been exposed to German measles, Mattingly was replaced by Jack Swigert — two days before launch.
From Houston, Mattingly played a key role in helping the crew to navigate a safe return to Earth after the oxygen tank explosion.
Tags: apollo, Apollo 13, horses, insignia, Jim Lovell, luman winter, NASA, steeds of apollo, tom hanks
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