Apollo 13 astronaut who 'inspired millions' dies

Retired astronaut and the commander of the famous Apollo 13 mission, Jim Lovell, has died aged 97.

Lovell was one of NASA's most-travelled astronauts in the agency's first decade and flew four times - on Gemini 7, Gemini 8, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13.

Lovell helped turn the failed Apollo 13 moon mission into a triumph after managing to get back to Earth safely following an oxygen tank explosion.

He was supposed to have become the fifth man to walk on the moon but the flight was thrown into jeopardy by the sudden explosion - which occurred when the spacecraft was 200,000 miles away from Earth.

Lovell and the two other astronauts on board - Fred Haise and Jack Swigert - barely survived and spent four cold days in the cramped lunar module as a lifeboat while working with engineers and controllers on the ground to devise a rescue plan.

In a post on X, NASA said: "We are saddened by the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 and a four-time spaceflight veteran.

"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."

The agency also shared a statement from Lovell's family, which read: "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 humour, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind."

NASA administrator Sean Duffy said Lovell's life and work "inspired millions of people across the decades".

"Jim's character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount," he said. "We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements.

"From a pair of pioneering Gemini missions to the successes of Apollo, Jim helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the moon and beyond."

Read more:Remains of 9/11 victims identified 24 years onStar Wars actor settles Disney lawsuit

Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks played Lovell in the 1995 film Apollo 13, bringing the astronaut renewed fame.

In the movie, the line "Houston, we have a problem" is famously said by Hanks - but in real life, it was Swigert who spotted a warning light and said a slightly different sentence to Mission Control: "Houston, we've had a problem here."

The year of the film's release, Lovell was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by then US president Bill Clinton.