Image Credentials: Portrait of astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr. in his space suit beside a model of the Moon, by NASA – NASA Human Space Flight Gallery, Public Domain, (Wikipedia)
By Staff Writer | Open Chronicle with Agencies
Washington – American astronaut Jim Lovell, best known as the commander of NASA’s ill-fated 1970 Apollo 13 mission, has died at the age of 97, the space agency announced Friday. Lovell’s leadership during the near-disaster inspired generations and became the basis for the acclaimed 1995 film Apollo 13, in which he was portrayed by Tom Hanks.
Apollo 13 was intended to be humanity’s third lunar landing, but an explosion in an oxygen tank 200,000 miles from Earth transformed it into a desperate struggle for survival. Lovell and crewmates Jack Swigert and Fred Haise endured freezing temperatures, severe rationing of water and food, and mounting carbon dioxide levels while working with Mission Control to bring the crippled spacecraft home.
Lovell described the mission as “a successful failure” because, although its goal to land on the moon was lost, it became a triumph of human ingenuity and teamwork. “It was a great success in the ability of people to take an almost-certain catastrophe and turn it into a successful recovery,” he said during the 40th anniversary of the flight.
The drama began shortly after a routine television broadcast from space, when a spark ignited in a damaged oxygen tank. The now-famous phrase “Houston, we have a problem” was first spoken by Swigert, though the film adaptation gave the line to Lovell. Forced to abandon the main command module, the astronauts used the lunar module as a lifeboat for the three-and-a-half-day journey back to Earth.
Jim Lovell, one of only three men to have gone to the moon twice, first on Apollo 8, then again as commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, has died at the age of 97. He was a true American hero, and we should all mourn his passing. pic.twitter.com/IPyPj8eiVT
— Ed Powell (@DrEdPowell) August 8, 2025
People around the globe followed the crisis closely, and relief was widespread when the crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970.
Lovell’s distinguished NASA career spanned four spaceflights. He flew on Gemini 7 in 1965 and Gemini 12 in 1966, missions that helped pave the way for Apollo. In 1968, he commanded Apollo 8, the first crewed spacecraft to orbit the moon, delivering a Christmas Eve broadcast that included a reading from the Book of Genesis.
Born in Cleveland in 1928, Lovell lost his father at age five and moved with his mother to Milwaukee. He developed a fascination with space as a teenager, later graduating from the US Naval Academy in 1952 and serving as a test pilot before joining NASA in 1962.
After retiring from the space program in 1973, Lovell worked in the private sector and co-authored Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, which inspired Ron Howard’s film. Lovell himself made a cameo in the movie as the naval officer greeting the returning astronauts.
Tom Hanks, paying tribute Friday, called Lovell “the kind of guy who dares, dreams, and leads others to places we would not go on our own,” adding that his voyages “were not made for riches or celebrity but because such challenges are what fuel the course of being alive.”
Lovell is survived by his wife, Marilyn, and their four children.