Jim Lovell, the commander of the famed Apollo 13 mission, has died, according to NASA. He was 97.
“We are saddened by the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 and a four-time spaceflight veteran,” the space agency said. “Lovell’s life and work inspired millions. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyond—a journey that continues today.”
His family said in a statement shared by NASA, “We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight. But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind.”
Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, according to a statement from acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy.
In 1968, as Apollo 8’s command module pilot, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the first three astronauts to fly to and orbit the Moon.
A veteran of several missions, Lovell became the commander for Apollo 13, which nearly avoided disaster after an oxygen tank in the service module exploded two days into the mission.
Lovell was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the Ron Howard-directed “Apollo 13,” which depicted the events surrounding the mission.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 25, 1928, Lovell attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the U.S. Naval Academy. He was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1962.
He served as a backup pilot for the Gemini 4 flight and backup commander for the Gemini 9 flight, and was selected as the backup commander for Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission.
In December 1965, he and Borman launched into space on the history-making Gemini 7 mission. The flight included the first rendezvous of two manned maneuverable spacecraft.
The Gemini 12 mission, commanded by Lovell with pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, began on Nov. 11, 1966. This 4-day, 59-revolution flight brought the Gemini program to a successful close.
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Lovell served as the command module pilot and navigator on the six-day journey of Apollo 8 in late December 1968. Lovell, Borman and Anders became the first humans to leave Earth’s gravitational influence and the first to reach the Moon, with the crew orbiting the Moon ten times without landing.
As commander of the Apollo 13, he became the first person to journey twice to the Moon. Launching on April 11, 1970, and scheduled to last 10 days, the mission was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module exploded.
Lovell and fellow crewmen, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise, working with Houston ground controllers, then converted their lunar module into an effective lifeboat. Their emergency activation and operation of lunar module systems conserved both electrical power and water in sufficient supply to assure their survival while in space.
The Apollo 13 crewmembers returned safely to Earth on April 17, 1970.
Lovell retired from the Navy and the space program on March 1, 1973. He worked in the telecommunications industry and retired as executive vice president of Centel Corporation in 1991.
He was a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He was married to his wife Marilyn for over six decades until her death in 2023. He is survived by four children.
