Jack Swigert

John Leonard "Jack" Swigert, Jr. ( born August 30, 1931 in Denver, Colorado, † December 27, 1982 in Washington, DC ) was an American astronaut.

Swigert was a test pilot for North American Aviation, before joining NASA. He served in the Air Force from 1953 to 1956 and as a fighter pilot in Japan and Korea. From 1957 to 1964 he was a test pilot for Pratt & Whitney.

Swigert was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He was a member of the support team for the missions Apollo 7 and Apollo 11 Swigert was initially a member of the backup crew for Apollo 13 He then replaced the command module pilot Ken Mattingly 72 hours before the start of the Apollo 13 mission, after the doctors for Mattingly had predicted the outbreak of rubella. With Swigert so happened to be the astronaut aboard Apollo 13, the best who could handle the emergency response in the Apollo Command Module, as he had been personally involved in the drafting of the corresponding procedures by chance. Immediately after landing Swigert as the other two astronauts from the Apollo 13 by President Richard Nixon was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States.

Swigert took in April 1973, a leave of absence from NASA to become Executive Director of the Science Committee in the House of Representatives of the United States. He left NASA and the Committee in August 1977, to engage in politics. In 1979 he was the Vice President of BDM Corporation in Golden. In November 1982 he was elected for the Republican Party as a Member of the 6th District of Colorado House of Representatives. He died on 27 December 1982 from bone cancer before he could take office. Daniel Schaefer received his mandate at the next election.

Since 1997, a statue of Swigert Statuary Hall Collection in the National stands in the Capitol of Washington.

Special features and Records

  • Spaceman with the farthest distance from the Earth
  • First bachelor NASA in space
  • In the Hollywood film about the Apollo 13 mission of 1995, he was portrayed by Kevin Bacon
Golden (Colorado) Bone tumor National Statuary Hall Collection United States Capitol Apollo 13 (Film) Buzz Aldrin William Anders Frank Borman Michael Collins (Astronaut) Pete Conrad Walter Cunningham Donn F. Eisele Edward Gibson Richard F. Gordon, Jr. Fred Haise James Irwin Joseph P. Kerwin Edgar Mitchell Deke Slayton Thomas P. Stafford Paul J. Weitz Alfred Worden
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