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 has died at the age of 97, NASA said on Friday.

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

The Cosmosphere is honored to be one of the leading museums in the world for telling the story of the “Space Race”. Remar said there’s no better place for Lovell to be memorialized. “To be able to continue to provide an opportunity for people to remember, but also ignite that spark of passion for future is something that we take a lot of pride in.