South Mississippi native Fred Haise was one of the three American astronauts on the Apollo XIII mission that was originally intended to land on the moon. Haise visited Stennis Space Center to greet the public and sign autographs. Haise, and fellow astronauts Jim Lovell and Jack Swigert were outward bound, 200,000 miles from Earth, when both Serice Module oxygen tanks ruptured. The crew returned safely to Earth. The incident became the topic for the feature film, Apollo 13.
