Jim Lovell, the American astronaut who commanded the ill-fated but ultimately successful Apollo 13 mission, has died at the age of 97. Lovell passed away in Lake Forest, Illinois, on Thursday, August 7, 2025, according to a statement from NASA. His family remembered him as a “beloved father,” “leader,” and “our Hero.”
Lovell was a pivotal figure in the early years of human spaceflight, becoming the first astronaut to fly four times and logging a world-record 715 hours in space at the time. Prior to the Apollo 13 mission, he flew on Gemini 7 and Gemini 12. Most notably, he was the command module pilot for Apollo 8 in 1968, a mission that made him one of the first three humans to orbit the moon. The crew of Apollo 8 famously captivated a global audience on Christmas Eve by reading from the Book of Genesis.
The Apollo 13 mission in April 1970 was intended to be the third lunar landing, but an oxygen tank exploded approximately 200,000 miles from Earth. The crew, consisting of Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert, had to use the lunar module as a “lifeboat” to survive the perilous journey back to Earth. Lovell’s famous communication to mission control, “Houston, we’ve had a problem,” became a defining moment of the crisis. Their safe return three days later transformed the mission into what is often called a “successful failure,” a testament to the teamwork and ingenuity of both the crew and ground controllers. The dramatic events of the mission were later chronicled in Lovell’s co-authored book, Lost Moon, and portrayed in the 1995 film Apollo 13, where he was played by actor Tom Hanks.
Lovell’s legacy extends beyond his space missions. His calm strength under pressure and quiet confidence were praised by his peers. Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy said in a statement that Lovell’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.”
