Famed NASA astronaut Jim Lovell, who died at the age of 97 on Thursday, played a role in the making of the hit movie Apollo 13 that chronicled the mission where Lovell served as commander. The 1970 mission was considered a "successful failure" after the spacecraft experienced an oxygen tank

Tom Hanks honored astronaut Jim Lovell, whom he portrayed in "Apollo 13," with a touching tribute celebrating the space pioneer’s bravery and extraordinary life.

Astronaut Jim Lovell, whose history-making leadership as commander of a near-disastrous 1970 mission to the moon is one of the most celebrated tales of the U.S. space program and was chronicled in the hit Ron Howard film Apollo 13,

Commander and Astronaut James A. Lovell, Jr. – died Thursday at the age of 97. He was one of the three-man Apollo 13 spacecraft crew that set for the moon in April 1970.  In 1970, the Apollo 13 spacecraft launched from the Kennedy Space Center.

The Cosmosphere is honoring the memory of the doomed Apollo 13 Mission Commander Jim Lovell. Official photo of Commander Jim Lovell (Courtesy NASA) Lovell served as commander for the 1970 Apollo 13 mission,

T he crew of Apollo 13 had been awake for nine hours; it was their third day in space. The Saturn V rocket carrying them to the moon had lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 11 April 1970.