James A. Lovell—the astronaut who commanded NASA’s 1970 Apollo 13 mission and was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 1995 film of the same name—has died. He was 97. “We are enormously proud of [Lovell’s] amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight,” his family said. “But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero.” NASA’s Apollo 13 flight to the moon became known as a “successful failure” after an oxygen tank exploded aboard the spacecraft, which was thousands of miles from Earth. Lovell was praised as the guiding force behind the flight’s safe return, which was watched by millions of people around the world. Moments after the explosion, Lovell reported to NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” His sang froid was immortalized, if misquoted, as “Houston, we have a problem.” A Navy pilot from Cleveland, Ohio, Lovell had been to space before Apollo 13 on two Gemini missions and Apollo 8, which was the first to circle the moon. The explosion on Apollo 13 cost him the chance to walk on the moon but made him an American hero. Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy said Friday, “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.”
