Lovell famously delivered the news to mission control, saying “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” The exchange was later immortalized by Hanks in the “Apollo 13” movie, which costarred Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan and the late Bill Paxton.

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.

The Right Stuff gang has lost yet another member. Jim Lovell of Apollo 8 and 13 missions just died at age 97. This writer recalls past conversations with the great man.