Famed NASA astronaut Jim Lovell, who commanded the harrowing Apollo 13 mission that was forced to abandon a lunar landing attempt in 1970, has died aged 97.
Lovell died on August 7 in Lake Forest, Illinois, according to a NASA news release.
The cause of death was not immediately clear, reports CNN.
Lovell’s family requested privacy but said, “We are saddened to announce the passing of our beloved father, USN Captain James A. ‘Jim’ Lovell, a Navy pilot and officer, astronaut, leader, and space explorer,” in a statement.
“We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight,” the family noted in its statement.
Before being selected to command Apollo 13, which would have marked NASA’s third successful crewed moon landing, Lovell had flown to space thrice on the Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8 missions.
However, during the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, an oxygen tank located on the crew’s service module exploded when they were about 200,000 miles (322,000 kilometers) away from Earth, forcing the three-person crew of Lovell as well as astronauts John Swigert Jr. and Fred Haise Jr. to abruptly abandon their trek to the lunar surface and put themselves on a course back toward Earth.
The crew made a thrilling splashdown return in the South Pacific Ocean about three days after the tank explosion incident.
The ordeal was fictionalized in Ron Howard’s 1995 film “Apollo 13”, in which Lovell was portrayed by actor Tom Hanks.
“There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to places we would not go on our own,” Hanks said in a statement posted to Instagram on Friday.
Because of this, Lovell harboured resentment that his last mission had been a “failure”. Years later, he fully realized what a success Apollo 13 had been, with the safe return of the crew to Earth.