Lovell died on Thursday in Lake Forest in the American state of Illinois, reports the space agency Nasa in a statement.
"Jim's character and unwavering courage helped our country reach the moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount", it says in the statement.
Lovell was one of Nasa's most prolific astronauts during the organization's first decade and made four space flights. He participated in both the Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 expeditions.
During the dramatic Apollo 13 flight, Lovell would have been the fifth person to enter the moon. In connection with the journey there, an explosion occurred in an oxygen tank. The astronauts survived with difficulty and spent four cold and humid days in the cramped moon module that served as a lifeboat.
The event was dramatized in 1995 in the popular film "Apollo 13" where Tom Hanks played Lovell.
