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.

Jim Lovell died over the weekend at age 97. Actor Tom Hanks, who played the astronaut in the movie “Apollo 13,” posted a touching statement on Instagram. “God speed you, on this next voyage,” he wrote.

Once America's most experienced astronaut, Apollo 13's Jim Lovell, who died at 97, was the first to visit the moon twice.