Jim Lovell, the astronaut played by Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, died Thursday at the age of 97. Lovell led the crew on the Apollo 13 mission, which became famous as the most “successful failure” in aerospace history. “We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight,” his family said in a statement. “But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind.”
Lovell helped Hanks and his co-stars Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton train at Space Camp in Hunstville, AL. Lovell also had a small cameo in the movie. He played the captain of the ship that recovers the Apollo crew. Lovell wore his own old Navy uniform as his costume.
Hanks paid tribute to Lovell on social media Friday, writing about the man he played in the 1995 film. “There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own,” Hanks wrote. “Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone father than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy.” Hanks noted that Lovell’s death comes right around a full moon — the Sturgeon Moon, to be exact. “On this night of a full Moon, he passes on,” he wrote, “to the heavens, to the cosmos, to the stars. God speed you, on this next voyage, Jim Lovell.”
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