NASA honors Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise Jr.

Apollo 13 astronaut and Biloxi native Fred Haise Jr. smiles during a Dec. 2 ceremony at Gorenflo Elementary School in Biloxi honoring his space career. During the ceremony, Haise was presented with NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award (an encased moon rock). He subsequently presented the moon rock to Gorenflo officials for display at the school. Haise is best known as one of three astronauts who nursed a crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft back to Earth during a perilous 1970 mission. Although he was unable to walk on the moon as planned for that mission, Haise ended his astronaut career having logged 142 hours and 54 minutes in space. During the ceremony, he praised all those who contributed to the space program.