Woodberry Forest students, faculty, alumni, and guests were taken on a space odyssey December 6 by Fred W. Haise, Jr., its thirty-seventh Fitzpatrick lecturer. In 1970, Haise served as the lunar module pilot during the space mission known as Apollo 13, an ill-fated flight later dramatized in a movie by the same name. During the lecture, which was accompanied by original NASA footage, Haise compared and contrasted the realities of the mission with their depiction in the film, which most of the students had viewed in advance of his visit.

Haise maintained that incredible teamwork, both on the ground and in the module, resulted in the astronauts’ successful return to earth. He described the thousands of hours of preparatory training the team underwent in “sims,” or simulations, provided by functional training modules and simulated equipment failures. After each training session, the astronauts and their ground crew would evaluate how the simulated failures were handled and would adjust procedures or equipment as needed. As the result of this demanding training, the crew was well prepared to handle real failures, which, unknown to many in the general public, occurred on each of the Apollo missions. Haise downplayed the physical discomforts endured by the crewmembers on Apollo 13: three days of freezing ambient temperatures, diminished waste handling capability, and significant dehydration. Instead, he emphasized the importance of knowing what can be overcome with teamwork and persistence.

After his experience with the Apollo 13 mission, Haise continued to fly. In 1973, he survived yet another disaster when his airplane crashed, leaving burns over sixty-five percent of his body. Haise explained that overcoming such a devastating level of physical injury, a process that took fourteen months, was more difficult than managing the deprivations and difficulties of the Apollo 13 mission.

In the mid-1970s, the space shuttle program was launched, and Haise became a test pilot for the program. He completed eight test flights in the space shuttle Enterprise, work that he described as the most rewarding among his experiences in the space program.

Before concluding his remarks and meeting with faculty and a few alumni and special guests, Haise offered with a bit of advice for the students. “You’re on your first step on the way uphill. Find your innate talent; each of us is blessed with that,” he said. The veteran astronaut explained that finding a career path that capitalizes on such talent would allow a young man to find a line of work that would be fun. “You spend one-third of your life at work,” Haise cautioned, adding that, with effort and talent, anyone could one day think to himself, “Wow, I get paid to do this!”