Fred Haise is a real American hero. Not many people have served with three different branches of the military. Fewer have gone on to become astronauts. Only 24 Apollo-era astronauts also served with NASA’s Space Shuttle program, and only 24 people have ever flown to the Moon. Fred Haise has done all of these things. Fred began his 20-year NASA career as an aeronautical research pilot, after having been a Marine Corps fighter pilot. He has accumulated 9,300 hours of flying time, including 6,200 hours in jets.

In 1966, Fred was accepted into NASA’s Astronaut Group 5, and served as backup Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 8 and Apollo 11. But he is best known as the Lunar Module Pilot on the ill-fated 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission, immortalized by actor Bill Paxton in the blockbuster film, Apollo 13. Following the Apollo 13 mission, Fred commanded the Space Shuttle Enterprise during its Approach & Landing Tests, becoming part of the first crew to ever fly and land a Space Shuttle.