James Lovell, the US astronaut who led the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission that turned into a celebrated story of survival, passed away at the age of 97, NASA announced Friday.
Lovell, along with crewmates Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, faced extreme cold, dehydration, and hunger after an oxygen tank explosion crippled their spacecraft in April 1970, 200,000 miles from Earth. Working with Mission Control in Houston, they devised emergency solutions to bring the lunar-bound crew safely home, in what Lovell famously described as a "successful failure."
The mission, intended as the third lunar landing, was forced to abandon its goal after the accident. The astronauts used the lunar module as a lifeboat for a tense three-and-a-half-day journey back, with the world watching until their safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Lovell's NASA career included four spaceflights, beginning with Gemini 7 in 1965 and concluding with Apollo 13. He also commanded Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the moon. Following his retirement in 1973, Lovell co-authored *Lost Moon*, the basis for the 1995 film *Apollo 13*, in which Tom Hanks portrayed him.
Born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland, Lovell became a naval test pilot before joining NASA in 1962. He is survived by his wife, Marilyn, and their four children.