Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell Dies at 97 | WPN World People News

Jim Lovell, a renowned American astronaut, passed away on the 7th at the age of 97. He was best known as the commander of the famous Apollo 13 mission, which was later adapted into a film in which Tom Hanks portrayed him.

NASA announced that Lovell died on the 7th in Lake Forest, Illinois. The agency said his steadfast character and courage helped America reach the Moon and turned what could have been a tragedy into a success. “We mourn his passing and honor his remarkable achievements,” NASA stated.

Lovell commanded the historic Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970. When the spacecraft was about 200,000 miles from Earth, an oxygen tank in the service module exploded, putting the three astronauts’ lives in grave danger. The crew used the lunar module as a makeshift lifeboat and, after a tense three-day journey, successfully returned to Earth. The mission became known as NASA’s “most successful failure,” and Lovell’s calm report to Mission Control — “Houston, we’ve had a problem” — became an iconic phrase.

In 1995, the film Apollo 13 was released, with Tom Hanks playing Lovell. In the movie’s closing scenes, after the astronauts’ safe return to Earth, the captain of the USS Iwo Jima — the amphibious assault ship sent to recover them — was portrayed in a cameo by Lovell himself.

On Instagram, Tom Hanks mourned his passing: “Some men dare to challenge, dare to dream, and lead others to places we cannot reach alone. Jim Lovell was such a man. He explored space longer and farther than anyone else on Earth.”

Lovell was a member of America’s early space program, flying on multiple space missions. With over 715 hours in space, he once held the record for the longest total time spent in space and still holds the record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth. Despite flying on two lunar missions, he never set foot on the Moon. Following the Apollo 13 mission, Lovell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970, retired from the U.S. Navy and NASA in 1973, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993, and received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton in 1995.