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.

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

Tom Hanks posted a tribute on social media to James Lovell, who died on Aug. 7. Lovell was a NASA astronaut known for commanding the troubled Apollo 13 mission. That mission was turned into a hit 1995 film from director Ron Howard starring Hanks as Lovell.