DECATUR – When an oxygen tank blew up 200,000 miles from Earth as Apollo 13 was closing in on the moon, a plan to save the three astronauts on board had to be crafted on the fly.
But lunar module pilot Fred Haise is living proof of the innovation that launched America into space, the same kind that propelled him through life from the time he left his native Mississippi to serve as a naval aviation cadet during the Korean War.
“Normally, religiously, we followed step-by-step procedures, but there was no Plan B, (and we) had to wing it,” he said.
Haise, 80, spoke Tuesday evening before a large crowd at Kirkland Fine Arts Center as part of Millikin University's annual T.W. Samuels Lecture.
The former astronaut's appearance in Decatur came five days after the 44th anniversary of the day Apollo 13's crippled command module safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970.
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Haise said his biggest worry was how well the “mother ship” would function after the crew was forced to power it down to conserve energy while using the lander in a way never intended – as a lifeboat to get the astronauts back home.
“We had the second-most accurate splashdown in the program,” he said. “Only Apollo 10 did better.”
Haise also talked about his recovery from second- and third-degree burns he suffered in 1973 when he crashed a World War II training plane in Galveston, Texas, and how his medical team fixed his right leg in such a way that it could withstand the pressure differentials of flight.
He not only regained flight status in 14 months, he also went on to serve in 1977 as commander of the space shuttle Enterprise for its approach and landing test program at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
In his more than 25 years with the military and NASA, Haise logged 9,100 hours of flying time in more than 80 types of aircraft and served as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 8 and 11 missions and backup spacecraft commander for Apollo 16.
He was also assigned to command another Apollo mission – Apollo 19 – one that never got off the ground because of budget cuts.
Haise said the Apollo program was the only one fully supported and funded by the U.S. government and that he would like to see the country actively pursue space exploration again.
Noting that the world has already undergone five major extinctions, he said humankind must eventually “move outward” to survive. “We're not going to be here forever if we stay here forever,” he said.
Haise left NASA in 1979 to work with Grumman Aerospace Corp. and retired in 1996 as president of Northrop Grumman Technical Services.
While disappointed he never walked on the moon, Haise said he's grateful to be among just 24 astronauts who had the chance to go there.
“I've had a very enjoyable career, a very blessed career really,” he said. “I was lucky to have been at the right place at the right time.”
