Biography

MISSION ASSIGNMENTS

Apollo 8
Assignment: Support Crew & Capcom

Apollo 10
Assignment: Capcom

Apollo 11
Assignment: Support Crew & Capcom

Apollo 13
Assignment: Command Module Pilot (grounded, served as Capcom)

Apollo 16
April 16-27, 1972
Assignment: Command Module Pilot
Flight Duration: 11 days, 1 hour, 51 minutes

Apollo 17
Assignment: Capcom

STS-2
Assignment: Back-up Commander

STS-3
Assignment: Back-up Commander

STS-4
June 27 – July 4, 1982
Assignment: Commander
Flight Duration: 7 days, 1 hour, 9 minutes

STS-51C
January 24-27, 1985
Assignment: Commander
Flight Duration: 3 days, 1 hour, 34 minutes

HIGHLIGHTS

B.Sc., Aeronautical Engineering, Auburn University, 1958.

Joined the US Navy in 1958 and earned his wings in 1960.

Served aboard aircraft carriers USS Saratoga and USS Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1960 to 1963.

Attending USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School when selected by NASA.

April 1970, removed from Apollo 13, 72 hours prior to launch due to exposure to German measles. Replaced by back-up Jack Swigert.

April 1972, flew as command module pilot of Apollo 16 and performed the second Deep Space EVA on the return journey to retrieve film canisters from the SIM Bay on the side of the Service Module.

From 1973 to 1978, Head of The Astronaut Office Support to the STS Program.

1979-1981. Head of the Astronaut Office Ascent/Entry Group.

June 1982, CDR of the final test flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, proving the system ready for the operational phase.

1983-1984 Head of the Astronaut Office, Department of Defense Support Group.

January 1985, CDR of STS 51C the first dedicated Department of Defense mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Left NASA in May 1985 to join NAVSPACECOM. Later became Director of Utilization & Operations at the Grumman Space Station Office and Director of the X-33 program with Lockheed-Martin.

From September 1999, Chairman, Universal Space Network, Universal Space Lines Inc., Newport Beach, California.

Gallery