Astronaut James Lovell, who was commander of the 1970 Apollo 13 mission that managed to get back to earth safely after an oxygen tank explosion, has died. He was 97.

Astronaut Jim Lovell, whose history-making leadership of a near-disastrous 1970 moon mission was chronicled in the hit film Apollo 13, died Thursday.

American astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the failed 1970 mission to the moon that nearly ended in disaster but became an inspirational saga of survival and the basis for the hit movie "Apollo 13," has died at the age of 97,