NASA astronaut James Lovell, best known as the flight commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, has died. He was 97 years old.

Here's more from the Associated Press:

James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97.

Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, NASA said in a statement on Friday.

'Jim’s character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount,' NASA said. 'We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements.'

Lovell was born in Cleveland, Ohio to parents James Lovell Sr. and Blanche Masek. The senior Lovell died in a car accident when James was five. After his father's passing, James and his mother lived in Indiana for a brief period before settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Lovell attended Juneau High School.

Lovell's family also issued a statement:

The entire post reads:

'We are saddened to announce the passing of our beloved father, USN Captain James A. 'Jim' Lovell, a Navy pilot and officer, astronaut, leader, and space explorer. He was 97.

We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight. 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.'

After high school, Lovell attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying engineering for two years. In 1948, citing fears of cutbacks to the Navy's preflight training program, Lovell applied to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Lovell graduated in 1952 and was commissioned as an ensign in the Navy.

On June 6, 1952, Lovell married Marilyn Lillie Gerlach, whom he had been dating since high school.

Truly a loss.

Lovell and Marilyn had four children together: Barbara, James, Susan, and Jeffrey.

Lovell applied to NASA during their 1962 recruitment push for the Gemini and Apollo programs.

In July 1964, Lovell was named backup pilot for Gemini 4.

His most notable command was of Apollo 13, where he led fellow astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise on a mission that was meant to land on the moon.

However, during a stir of the liquid oxygen, damage to insulation on wires in the tank sparked a fire and explosion and leak of a second oxygen tank. That scuttled plans to land on the moon and the focus of the mission became returning the astronauts to earth alive.

The mission was captured in 'Apollo 13,' the 1995 Ron Howard film starring Tom Hanks as Lovell.

'Houston, we have a problem' (a slight variation of Lovell's 'Houston, we've had a problem') became part of the pop culture lexicon.

Always and forever. A street in Milwaukee is named for Lovell.

And with Lovell's passing, there are just five Apollo-era astronauts with us, including Apollo 13's Fred Haise.

Lovell's wife, Marilyn, died in 2023 at age 93. He is survied by their children, eleven grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, loved ones, and friends.

Fair winds and following seas, Sailor.