The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed that astronaut Jim Lovell, who guided the Apollo 13 mission safely back to Earth in 1970, has passed away at age 97.
On Friday, August 8, the agency confirmed that the renowned space explorer died a day prior in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Lovell is best known for his 1968 voyage on the Apollo 8 space flight, which made history as the first space expedition to take human beings past the Earth's gravitational field and around the moon.
For the flight, which took more than six days to complete, Lovell served as command module pilot, alongside astronauts Frank Borman II and William Anders. They circled the moon 10 times before returning to Earth.
The 97-year-old was the last surviving crew member from that flight.
He also served as the mission commander on the doomed 1970 Apollo 13 flight, which was meant to conduct the third lunar landing.
However, the flight turned into a near-death experience as its oxygen tank exploded in space.
With his and his two colleagues, John Swigert Jr and Fred Haise Jr, lives at stake, Lovell remained calm as he helped bring back the lunar module, making it his last space flight.
NASA's acting administrator Sean Duffy, in his tribute to the astronaut, noted, "Jim's character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success."
Known by the nickname "Smilin' Jim," Lovell began his aviation career in the 1950s as part of the US Navy before being selected as a NASA astronaut in 1962.
His first space flight took place as part of the Gemini project, a series of flights designed to improve space travel in order to pave the way for the later Apollo moon missions.
Jim Lovell retired from the navy in 1973 and opted for a quiet life.
