apollo13_bios_000411_MB_ Who were the three brave men who miraculously made it home from the Apollo 13 mission? SPACE.com takes an autobiographical look at Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise.
From left, Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise
Jim Lovell was commander of the Apollo 13 mission.
Even before his Apollo 13 mission Lovell held the title for "world's most-traveled human," with 572 hours in space and nearly 7 million miles (11.3 million kilometers) under his belt. With Apollo 13, Lovell, born March 25, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, became the first astronaut to make four spaceflights.
Before becoming an astronaut Lovell was a safety engineer for Fighter Squadron 101 at the Naval Air Station in Oceana, Virginia. He was one of nine astronauts selected by NASA in September 1962. At NASA Lovell was known for his easygoing manner, which masked a competitive spirit. Early on, he was given the unfortunate nickname of "Shaky" by his good friend and fellow astronaut, Pete Conrad.
Lovell's first space crew assignment was as the backup co-pilot for Gemini 4. In December 1965 Lovell and Frank Borman orbited Earth for 14 days aboard Gemini 7. He was not originally scheduled to fly another Gemini mission, but that changed when Gemini 9 astronauts Elliott See and Charlie Bassett were killed in a plane crash in St. Louis in February 1966, requiring backup astronauts Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan to replace them. Lovell and his co-pilot Buzz Aldrin became the new Gemini 9 backup crew, and in November 1966 the pair flew the final Gemini mission, Gemini 12. After Gemini 12 and the tragic Apollo fire, Lovell was assigned with Neil Armstrong and Aldrin to the backup crew for what eventually became Apollo 8. In July 1968, Lovell was promoted to the prime crew, replacing Mike Collins, who had to undergo an unexpected surgery. On Apollo 8 Lovell became one of the first three humans to fly around the moon on Christmas Eve, 1968.
Lovell's goal to lead a lunar landing flight was realized when he was assigned as commander of Apollo 14. However, in August 1969 Lovell was asked if he and his crew could be ready in time to fly Apollo 13, then slated for March 1970, under the command of Alan Shepard. Lovell agreed and switched places with Shepard's crew -- a move that proved fateful.
Following Apollo 13's miraculous return to Earth Lovell was named deputy director for science and applications at the Johnson Space Center in May 1971. During the final three Apollo moon landings, Lovell directed the "back room" of scientists monitoring the moonwalks. He resigned from NASA in 1973.
Today Lovell is president of Lovell Communications. He also serves as chairman of Mission HOME, a program that tries to encourage enthusiasm and support for space. Lovell and his wife Marilyn have four children -- Barbara, James, Susan and Jeffrey. They live near Chicago.
Jack Swigert was command module pilot for Apollo 13.
Jack Swigert was born on August 30, 1931 in Denver, Colorado. Swigert started flying as a teenager, earning his private pilot's license at the age of 16. He flew jet fighters in Korea and Japan after completing his flight training. He logged more than 8,000 hours of flying time.
He was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April, 1966. By the time these new astronauts arrived at NASA, most of the crews for the Gemini and early Apollo missions were already in training. Swigert's group doubted they would get the chance to fly on lunar missions. But they took their role as support crewmen with self-deprecating humor, calling themselves the "Original 19," a wry reference to the seven Mercury astronauts.
As an astronaut Swigert was quiet and unassuming, but hard-working. He became an expert on the Apollo command module emergency procedures, expertise that later served him well during Apollo 13's harrowing aborted mission.
Swigert served as a member of the support crews for Apollos 7 and 11 before being assigned to the backup crew of Apollo 13. When prime crewman Ken Mattingly was exposed to German measles a week before launch, Swigert was named to replace him on the flight. On Apollo 13, his only spaceflight, Swigert served as command module pilot. Swigert logged a total of 142 hours and 54 minutes in space.
In 1972 Swigert was recommended for the crew of the joint U.S.-Soviet Apollo-Soyuz mission. But he was later disqualified when he acknowledged that he had been paid for his autograph by a German stamp dealer.
Swigert left NASA in 1973 and became executive director of the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives, a post he held until 1977.
In 1978 Swigert made a bid for the U.S. Senate seat in his home state of Colorado, but was defeated in the Republican primary. He gave politics another try in 1982, when he ran for Congress in the newly created 6th Congressional District. During the election he was diagnosed with a malignant tumor, which was surgically removed. He went on the win, but not before the cancer had spread.
Before he was sworn into office, Swigert died on December 27, 1982.
Fred Haise was lunar module pilot for Apollo 13.
Before he became an astronaut, Haise -- born in Biloxi, Mississippi, on November 14, 1933 -- was a research pilot at the NASA Flight Research Center at Edward's Air Force Base, California. He was one of the "Original 19" astronauts selected by NASA in April, 1966. His aircraft flying time totals more than 8,700 hours, including 5,700 hours in jets.
Haise served on the support crew for the first flight of the lunar module, Apollo 9, until he was promoted to become the backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 8. He held the same position on Apollo 11, as backup to lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin. Following Apollo 11 Haise began training as a prime crewman on the Apollo 13 mission.
On that flight Haise logged 142 hours and 54 minutes in space.
During the years leading up to his first space crew assignments, Haise worked on the development and testing of the Apollo lunar module (LM), and became an expert on the LM and its systems. This knowledge proved invaluable during Apollo 13, when Haise and his crew mates used their lunar module as a "lifeboat" for the return to Earth.
After Apollo 13 Haise served as backup commander for the Apollo 16 mission. He would have landed on the moon as commander of Apollo 19, had that mission not been canceled in mid-1970.
Haise suffered a serious accident in 1973 while piloting a replica of a Japanese World War 2 fighter plane for the Confederate Air Force. The plane crashed and Haise was badly burned, narrowly escaping death.
From April 1973 to January 1976, he was technical assistant to the manager of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Project. Haise commanded one of the two two-man crews who piloted the first space shuttle orbiter, Enterprise, in approach and landing test (ALT) flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center during the period June through October 1977.
He resigned from NASA in June 1979 to become vice president, space programs at Grumman Aerospace Corporation. He is now retired and living in Texas.
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