Space News
space history and artifacts articles

Messages
space history discussion forums

Sightings
worldwide astronaut appearances

Resources
selected space history documents

  collectSPACE: Messages
  Stamps & Covers
  Space Cover 364: Tribute to Fred Haise

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
profile | register | preferences | faq | search

next newest topic | next oldest topic
Author Topic:   Space Cover 364: Tribute to Fred Haise
Bob M
Member

Posts: 1744
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-16-2016 08:01 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Bob M   Click Here to Email Bob M     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Space Cover of the Week, Week 364 (April 17, 2016)

Space Cover #364: A Tribute to Astronaut Fred Haise

Fred W. Haise, Jr., was born in Biloxi, MS in 1933 and will be 83 years old in November. As the LMP on Apollo 13, he was scheduled to become the sixth man to walk on the moon. The Apollo 13 in-flight abort canceled that, but Haise continued his NASA career as the Space Shuttle Enterprise Commander and piloted three of the five Enterprise Approach and Landing Test (ALT) flights in 1977.

An accident in 1973, though, came close to ending his NASA career and even his life. While ferrying a WWII T6 trainer aircraft, it crashed and Haise suffered burns over 50% of his body. After recovery, he continued his career and after his important involvement in the ALT Program, was selected as one of the eight astronauts to pilot the first four Space Shuttle flights, referred to as the Orbital Flight Tests (OFT).

Haise was selected at the CDR of STS-3, with Jack Lousma as the PLT. However, in June 1979 Haise decided to leave NASA and became a test pilot and executive with Grumman Aerospace.

Haise's departure from NASA and the OFT Program resulted in several crew changes, with Lousma and Gordon Fullerton forming the STS-3 crew and Vance Brand moving to the 5th flight, as CDR of the first Shuttle Operational Flight.

Fred Haise had a very distinguished career and is one of only 24 men to fly Apollo missions to the moon. He has long been a friend to us space collectors and his graciousness in autographing has resulted in his autograph gracing countless Apollo 13 and ALT covers, as these four covers shown here testify.

The top cover above is nicely signed by Haise as the Apollo 13 LMP, with the bottom cover signed by Haise as the ALT Enterprise CDR and Gordon Fullerton as the PLT. The cover marks the first of five ALT Enterprise free flights.

This cover, unfortunately not signed by John Young, displays the names of the eight astronauts that comprised the original four, two-man, OFT crews. I considered having Young sign this special cover at his first Novaspace signing, but the $500 fee discouraged that and this cover will forever remain incomplete - signed by seven of the eight original OFT astronauts.

This cover, unlike the cover above signed by seven of the eight original OFT team members, is complete and is signed by the final eight OFT astronauts who flew the first four Space Shuttle missions. After Haise left NASA, Ken Mattingly and Hank Hartsfield were selected to fly STS-4 and their autographs were added to this cover later.

The ten autographs on this cover include autographs of the eight original OFT astronauts; the eight final OFT astronauts; the four ALT astronauts (Haise, Fullerton, Engle, Truly); and Brand, the STS-5 CDR.

Ken Havekotte
Member

Posts: 2913
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 04-16-2016 09:08 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Let me be the first to post on Bob's tribute to Fred Haise. A wonderful tribute to a humble and gracious Apollo and early pioneer shuttle astronaut.

The covers depicted are superb, however, it's too bad that the third depicted cover, with all the original signatures of the first orbital flight test crews, lacks John Young. Too bad it couldn't had been signed by Young during one of the offered Novaspace private signings years ago. But during those early astronaut signing opportunities, Bob, did Young refuse to sign any covers?

Thanks again Bob for the posting tribute about LMP Haise and the first shuttle ALT commander. He's always been one of my favorite astronauts that I've had the pleasure to know and work with since the late 1990's. Just a terrific all-around easy-going great guy!

Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member

Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-16-2016 09:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hart Sastrowardoyo   Click Here to Email Hart Sastrowardoyo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Well, Bob could always have asked Shaw to get Young to sign some covers...

Interesting that Lousma was originally scheduled to be a shuttle PLT, while Weitz, who was a PLT on Skylab, became a shuttle CDR.

Ken Havekotte
Member

Posts: 2913
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 04-16-2016 10:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If I recall, Hart, I think Bob did ask Brewster Shaw if John Young could sign a cover or two for him. But I can't recall how the STS-9 pilot at the time had responded.

Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member

Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-16-2016 10:23 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hart Sastrowardoyo   Click Here to Email Hart Sastrowardoyo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I do, and that's why I made that comment.

Bob M
Member

Posts: 1744
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-16-2016 01:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Bob M   Click Here to Email Bob M     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Ken Havekotte:
But I can't recall how the STS-9 pilot at the time had responded.
The note "I do not (underlined) ask John to sign covers!!" was included with the return of my STS-9 cover to Brewster Shaw asking if he could have John Young sign and complete the cover.

I had had good autograph results from the crews of STS-1 thru STS-8, but all I had for STS-9 were 3-4 covers signed by five but not Young. So I took a chance and sent one of the 5/6 signed STS-9 covers to Shaw and got that very clear message in response.

Ken Havekotte
Member

Posts: 2913
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 04-16-2016 02:25 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Now I recall seeing a copy of that brief note from Shaw about having Young sign a cover for you (a crew completion for STS-9). But does anyone know if Young did sign covers during any of his Novaspace signings?

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42985
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 04-16-2016 07:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Bob mentions in his post above that sending his cover to Novaspace was an option but it was the fee that put him off doing so...

Bob M
Member

Posts: 1744
From: Atlanta-area, GA USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-17-2016 09:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Bob M   Click Here to Email Bob M     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
To respond to a couple of comments above: Hart mentioned about it being interesting that flown Skylab astronaut Lousma was selected originally as a shuttle PLT, while flown Skylab astronaut Weitz became a CDR of another flight, STS-6. While Weitz had the distinction of being the CDR of the 1st Challenger flight, in my opinion, Lousma had a greater distinction of being one of the eight Orbital Flight Test astronauts chosen to fly the unproven Space Shuttle on its first four critical test flights and also flying earlier than Weitz. I doubt either have complained.

And John Young did sign covers as well as photos in his several Novaspace paid signings, but his $500 fee (probably more for completions, don't remember) was just too much for that particular cover, especially when there were other flights of his (he had five previous flights) where I needed his $500 autograph on other covers/photos.

Ken Havekotte
Member

Posts: 2913
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 04-17-2016 11:23 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My mistake, Robert and Bob, as I just saw Bob's original posting that a Young signing with Novaspace had been considered earlier.

Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member

Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-18-2016 11:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hart Sastrowardoyo   Click Here to Email Hart Sastrowardoyo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Bob M:
While Weitz had the distinction of being the CDR of the 1st Challenger flight, in my opinion, Lousma had a greater distinction...
Off topic, but I was just curious as to why one would have been chosen as a PLT and the other as a CDR when both were pilots during Skylab. (True, both are pilots...) Wondering, too, where Pogue would have flown had he not left before shuttle flights began.

Chuckster01
Member

Posts: 873
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Jan 2014

posted 04-18-2016 04:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Chuckster01   Click Here to Email Chuckster01     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Although it is only my opinion, except for the STS-2 crew, all of the test flight commanders had flown to the moon. So Fred Haise got commander and Lousma got pilot. when Fred Haise retired Jack Lousma swapped seats and Fullerton moved from STS-4 pilot to STS-3 putting Hank Hartsfield in the pilot seat of STS-4.

Ken Havekotte
Member

Posts: 2913
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 04-18-2016 05:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I don't think flying to the moon was a consideration for either Slayton or Abbey when selecting the ALT flight crews in 1975 and later the first shuttle orbital astronaut flight teams.

Haise was probably in a good position at the time when the initial ALT/Enterprise cockpit seats were assigned and Deke even said that Freddo had been a "NASA test pilot" before his astronaut selection. He was more qualified and familiar with the demands of a new flight test program like ALT than most of his astronaut peers were.

When the Abbey shuttle orbital flight crew selections were made in March 1978, the 4th assigned team was Brand and Fullerton, the "D" crew. Brand never flew to the moon, but of course, the original "D" crew later on were replaced by Mattingly and Hartsfield for STS-4.

All times are CT (US)

next newest topic | next oldest topic

Administrative Options: Close Topic | Archive/Move | Delete Topic
Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Hop to:

Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts

Copyright 2020 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved.


Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a





advertisement