He led the three-man crew that survived a near catastrophic explosion in space in 1970, and was later immortalized by Tom Hanks in the movie “Apollo 13.”
James A. Lovell Jr., right, and Fred W. Haise Jr., two of the three Apollo 13 crew members, appeared at a news conference in Cape Kennedy, Fla., before their ill-fated journey to the moon.Credit...Associated Press
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By Richard Goldstein
James A. Lovell Jr., the commander of the three-man Apollo 13 spacecraft that survived a near catastrophic explosion as it approached the moon in April 1970, before safely returning to Earth in an extraordinary rescue operation, died on Thursday in Lake Forest, Ill. He was 97.
