Fred Wallace Haise, Jr. (born November 14, 1933) is an
engineerAn engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and former
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
astronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. Having flown on
Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
, Haise was to be the sixth human to walk on the Moon, but the mission did not land due to a failure aboard the spacecraft.
Early life and education
Haise was born in
Biloxi, MississippiBiloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....
. He attended
Biloxi High SchoolBiloxi High School is the only public high school located in the city of Biloxi, Mississippi. It has approximately 1400 students and 100 faculty. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, there were 1201 students. Biloxi High School is the Alma Mater of Fred Haise, a member of the Apollo 13 mission to the...
and Perkinston Junior College (now
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community CollegeMississippi Gulf Coast Community College consists of four campuses and four centers: the main campus, located in Perkinston, Mississippi; the Jackson County Campus, in Gautier; the Jefferson Davis Campus, in Gulfport; the Community Campus, a non-traditional campus without walls; the George County...
). He graduated with honors in aeronautical engineering from the
University of OklahomaThe University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
in 1959. He completed post-graduate courses at the USAF Aerospace Test Pilot School at
Edwards Air Force BaseEdwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
in 1964 and the
Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
PMD Program in 1972.
He completed
naval aviatorA United States Naval Aviator is a qualified pilot in the United States Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard.-Naming Conventions:Most Naval Aviators are Unrestricted Line Officers; however, a small number of Limited Duty Officers and Chief Warrant Officers are also trained as Naval Aviators.Until 1981...
training in 1954 and served as a
United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
fighterA fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
pilot.
NASA career
His
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
career began as an aeronautical research pilot at Lewis Research Center in 1959. Further assignments were held as a research pilot at the NASA's
Dryden Flight Research CenterThe Dryden Flight Research Center , located inside Edwards Air Force Base, is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. On March 26, 1976 it was named in honor of the late Hugh L. Dryden, a prominent aeronautical engineer who at the time of his death in 1965 was NASA's deputy administrator...
in 1963 and as an astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in 1966. Haise was the first of the
1966 groupNASA's Astronaut Group 5 selected by NASA in April 1966. Of the six Lunar Module Pilots that walked on the Moon, three came from Group 5. The group as a whole is roughly split between the half who flew to the Moon and the other half who flew Skylab and Shuttle, providing the core of Shuttle...
to be assigned to Apollo duties – ahead of some group 3 members. He served on the back-up crew for the
Apollo 8Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
,
Apollo 11In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
, and
Apollo 16Young and Duke served as the backup crew for Apollo 13; Mattingly was slated to be the Apollo 13 command module pilot until being pulled from the mission due to his exposure to rubella through Duke.-Backup crew:...
moonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
missions.
Apollo 13
Haise flew as the lunar module pilot on the aborted
Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
lunar mission in 1970. Due to the free return trajectory on this mission, Haise, and
Jim LovellJames "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered a critical failure en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission...
and
Jack SwigertHe later became staff director of the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives.Swigert was elected as a Republican to Colorado's newly created 6th congressional district in November 1982. He defeated Democrat Steve Hogan, 98,909 votes to 56,518...
, the other two astronauts on Apollo 13, likely hold the record for the furthest distance from the Earth ever traveled by human beings. Haise was slated to become the sixth human to walk on the Moon during Apollo 13 behind Lovell, who was to be fifth.
Alan ShepardAlan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...
and Edgar Mitchell eventually became the fifth and sixth, respectively, on the
Apollo 14Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the American Apollo program, and the third to land on the Moon. It was the last of the "H missions", targeted landings with two-day stays on the Moon with two lunar EVAs, or moonwalks....
mission. Both missions were targeted for the
Fra Mauro formationThe Fra Mauro formation is a lunar geological formation on the near side of the Moon that served as the landing site for the American Apollo 14 mission in 1971. It is named after the 80-kilometer-diameter crater Fra Mauro, located within it...
.
Space Shuttle program
Haise was also scheduled as commander for the cancelled Apollo 19 mission. He later flew five flights as the commander of the
space shuttleThe Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
EnterpriseThe Space Shuttle Enterprise was the first Space Shuttle orbiter. It was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform test flights in the atmosphere. It was constructed without engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight...
, in 1977, for the
Approach and Landing Tests-Crew 2:This crew later flew on STS-2.-Shuttle Carrier Aircraft:In addition to the two assigned shuttle crews, who would alternate crewing the orbiter, a single flight crew was attached to the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the entire program:...
Program at
Edwards Air Force BaseEdwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
, and was selected to command the original STS-2 mission to rescue the
SkylabSkylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of...
space station in 1979, but was cancelled due to the long delays in the Shuttle's development as well as the break-up of the Skylab in mid-1979.
Personal life
Fred Haise is married to the former F. Patt Price of Rogers, Texas. He has four children from a previous marriage to the former Mary (Sissy) Grant of Biloxi, Mississippi: Mary M. (Margaret) born on January 25, 1956; Frederick T., born on May 13, 1958; Stephen W., born on June 30, 1961 and Thomas J., born on July 6, 1970.
Fred Haise was presented with the
Presidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
in 1970 by President
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
.
Haise retired from NASA in June 1979, and became a manager with Grumman Aerospace, before retiring in 1996. In 1995, Haise was inducted into the
Aerospace Walk of HonorThe Aerospace Walk of Honor in Lancaster, California, USA, honors test pilots who have contributed to aviation and space research and development....
.
Haise on film
Bill PaxtonWilliam "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
played the role of Haise in the film
Apollo 13Apollo 13 is a 1995 American drama film directed by Ron Howard. The film stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan and Ed Harris. The screenplay by William Broyles, Jr...
in 1995.
Adam BaldwinAdam Baldwin is an American actor, known for his roles as Animal Mother in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, Ricky Linderman in My Bodyguard, Knowle Rohrer in The X-Files, and Marcus Hamilton in Joss Whedon's Angel...
also played Haise in the mini-series
From The Earth To The Moon.
External links