Fred Haise
Haise and fellow crewmen, James A. Lovell and Jack Swigert returned to Earth safely after using their lunar module “Aquarius” as a lifeboat after the life-threatening Apollo 13 accident.
Quick Facts
Haise served with the U.S. Air Force as a tactical fighter pilot.
Haise was commander of one of the two 2-man crews who piloted space shuttle approach and landing test (ALT) flights in 1977.
Haise was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997.
Fred W. Haise Jr. was a research pilot and an astronaut for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 1959 to 1979. He began flying at the Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio (today the Glenn Research Center), in 1959. He became a research pilot at the NASA Flight Research Center (FRC), Edwards, Calif., in 1963, serving NASA in that position for three years until being selected to be an astronaut in 1966 His best-known assignment at the FRC (later redesignated the Dryden Flight Research Center) was as a lifting body pilot. Shortly after flying the M2-F1 on a car tow to about 25 feet on April 22, 1966, he was assigned as an astronaut to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. While at the FRC he had also flown a variety of other research and support aircraft, including the variable-stability T-33A to simulate the M2-F2 heavyweight lifting body, some light aircraft including the Piper PA-30 to evaluate their handling qualities, the Apache helicopter, the Aero Commander, the Cessna 310, the Douglas F5D, the Lockheed F-104 and T-33, the Cessna T-37, and the Douglas C-47. After becoming an astronaut, Haise served as a backup crewmember for the Apollo 8, 11, and 16 missions. He flew on the aborted Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, spending 142 hours and 54 minutes in space before returning safely to Earth. In 1977, he was the commander of three free flights of the Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise when it flew its Approach and Landing Tests at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Meanwhile, from April 1973 to January 1976, Haise served as the Technical Assistant to the Manager of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Project. In 1979, he left NASA to become the Vice President for Space Programs with the Grumman Aerospace Corporation. He then served as President of Grumman Technical Services, an operating division of Northrop Grumman Corporation, from January 1992 until his retirement. Haise was born in Biloxi, Miss., on November 14, 1933. He underwent flight traini
NASA
Astronaut Fred W. Haise Jr. in 1969.
NASA
S76-29562 — The two crews for the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) are photographed at the Rockwell International Space Division’s Orbiter assembly facility at Palmdale, California on the day of the rollout of the Shuttle Orbiter 101 “Enterprise” spacecraft. They are, left to right, Astronauts C. Gordon Fullerton, pilot of the first crew; Fred W. Haise Jr., commander of the first crew; Joe H. Engle, commander of the second crew; and Richard H. Truly, pilot of the second crew. The DC-9 size airplane-like Orbiter 101 is in the background.
NASA
Biography
Fred Haise
Haise was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He served as backup lunar module pilot for the Apollo 8 and 11 missions, and backup spacecraft commander for the Apollo 16 mission. Haise has logged 142 hours and 54 minutes in space.
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Astronaut Fred W. Haise Jr., lunar module pilot of the Apollo 13 lunar landing mission.
NASA
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