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,

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 Lovell, who led his crew on Apollo 13 back to safety after an accident on the way to the movement, was born in Cleveland and grew up in Parma.