American astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the failed 1970 mission to the moon that nearly ended in disaster but became an inspirational saga of survival and the basis for the hit movie "Apollo 13," has died at the age of 97,

Lovell commanded the mission that almost ended in disaster after an explosion that threatened the crew's oxygen and electrical supply. The inspiring story of their survival was made into a hit movie.

Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97.