Jack was born 29 February 1936 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lousma and his wife, Gratia Kay, have been married since 1956. They have four children and six grandchildren. He enjoys golf, hunting, fishing and aviation.

Lousma graduated from Ann Arbor High School and received a bachelor of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1959, a master of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1965; presented an honorary doctorate of Astronautical Science from the University of Michigan in 1973, an honorary Doctor of Science from Hope College in 1982 and an honorary Doctor of Science in Business Administration from Cleary College in 1986. He is a member of the Association of Space Explorers, the U of M Club, the Officer’s Christian Fellowship, and others.

He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, 1973; the AAS Flight Achievement Award for 1974, inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame, 1982, Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame, 1988, and others.

He was a reconnaissance pilot at Cherry Point, NC before being assigned to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center at Houston. Lousma became a Marine Corps officer in 1959. He was assigned as an attack pilot and has logged 7,000 hours of flight time. He is one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April, 1966 and served as support crews for Apollo 9, 10 and 13 missions. He was pilot for Skylab-3 (1973) and spacecraft commander on STS-3, Columbia, (1982) He spent 11 hours on two spacewalks outside the Skylab space station. He left NASA in 1983.