Fred Wallace Haise Jr. (/heɪz/ HAYZ;[1] born November 14, 1933) is an American former NASA astronaut, fighter pilot with the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air Force and test pilot. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon, having flown as Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 13. He was to have been the sixth person to land and walk on the Moon, but the Apollo 13 mission was aborted before lunar landing. He went on to fly Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests in 1977,[2] and retired from NASA in 1979.[3]
Born on November 14, 1933, and raised in Biloxi, Mississippi, Haise attended Biloxi High School, from which he graduated in 1950, and Perkinston Junior College, with original aims of a career in journalism, receiving an Associate of Arts degree in 1952.[4] He was a Boy Scout, earning the rank of Star Scout.[5] Eligible for the draft and despite being apprehensive of flying, he joined the Naval Aviation Cadet (NAVCAD) training program. Haise underwent Naval Aviator training from 1952 to 1954 and served as a U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, from March 1954 to September 1956.[3]