Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell dies at 97

Astronaut Jim Lovell, who safely brought back the Apollo 13 mission to Earth in 1970, has died at the age of 97.

During the mission, the spaceship faced serious problems while thousands of miles away from Earth, but Lovell and his team managed to return safely.

Millions of people watched on TV as Lovell and his two fellow astronauts safely landed their spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean. This event is remembered as an important moment in space science.

Lovell was also part of the Apollo 8 mission, which orbited the moon twice, though they did not land on it. NASA’s deputy chief Sean Duffy said Lovell’s contribution to space science will always be remembered.

Jim Lovell was born on March 25, 1928, a year after Charles Lindbergh made his historic Atlantic Ocean flight. When Lovell was six, his father died in a car accident. His mother, Blanche, worked hard to raise him.

During World War II, the US needed pilots, not rocket scientists, so Lovell studied to become a pilot with military support. While many of his friends went to fight in the Korean War, he continued his college studies.