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, who guided the Apollo 13 mission safely back to Earth in 1970, has died aged 97. Nasa said he had "turned a potential tragedy into a success" after an attempt to land on the Moon was aborted because of an explosion onboard the spacecraft while it was hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth.

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