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.

The late astronaut Jim Lovell "blazed that trail on the Apollo 8 voyage that showed that humans could truly leave the Earth," says Mark Davis. In "his Apollo 13 heroism," Lovell reminded "us of the best qualities Americans — and all people — can display.

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.