Fred W. Haise

NASA astronaut Fred Wallace Haise, Jr., was born on November 14, 1933 in Biloxi, Mississippi. He pursued a career in journalism before joining the naval aviation cadet training program. Haise subsequently served with the United States Marine Corps, the Oklahoma Air National Guard, and the United States Air Force. He studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Oklahoma, graduating with honors in 1959.

Haise began his career with NASA in the 1950s, working as a research pilot. In April 1966, he was selected to join the fifth group of astronauts. Four years later, Haise embarked on his first space mission as the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 13. Unfortunately, he never walked on the Moon as expected. The mission’s lunar landing was aborted after the Service Module experienced a critical failure two days after launch. In total, Haise logged 142 hours and 54 minutes in space. President Richard Nixon awarded him and his Apollo 13 crewmates the Presidential Medal of Freedom for the actions they took to safely return to Earth.

Haise remained in the astronaut rotation after Apollo 13, moving to the Space Shuttle program in 1973. In 1977, he served as Commander for the test of the program’s shuttle prototype, Enterprise. Haise resigned from NASA in 1979, becoming the Vice President of Space Programs at Grumman Aerospace Corporation.