Meet the astronauts

Commander: James ‘Jim’ Lovell

Lovell was a spaceflight veteran, having flown in Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and Apollo 8. During the latter, he trialled a method of navigation using Earth’s terminator which he used again during the Apollo 13 disaster. Like all the Apollo 13 crew, he never flew in space again.

Lunar module pilot: Fred Haise

Before joining NASA, Haise served in the Marines and the Air Force. He was meant to fly on Apollo 19 but this was later cancelled, and he moved into development of the new Space Shuttle. He went on to work for Grumman Aerospace Corporation, the company which built the lunar modules, including Aquarius.

Command module pilot: Jack Swigert

Swigert was in the Air Force and worked as a test pilot before joining NASA in 1966. He was one of the few astronauts who requested to be a command module pilot rather than walk on the Moon. He later entered politics and was elected to Congress but died before being sworn in.

Original command module pilot: Ken Mattingly

A former naval officer, Mattingly had been with NASA since 1966. During the Apollo 13 disaster, he ran simulations to help bring his crewmates home. He eventually reached the Moon with Apollo 16 in 1972 and flew two Shuttle missions. He still hasn’t contracted German measles.