Apollo 13 astronaut and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Fred Haise in an official NASA photo.

POTSDAM -- Apollo 13 astronaut and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom Fred Haise will speak at Clarkson University's Alumni Reunion Weekend Saturday, July 11.

Haise, who was portrayed by actor Bill Paxton in the Ron Howard blockbuster film “Apollo 13,” served as the lunar module pilot during the ill-fated 1970 space mission. He retired as president of Northrop Grumman Technical Services.

He will deliver the keynote speech for Reunion Weekend at 11 a.m. in Clarkson's Student Center. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Born in Biloxi, Miss., Haise graduated with honors in aeronautical engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1959. After completing his U.S. Navy flight training in 1954, he served as a U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot. He had further assignments as a tactics and all-weather flight instructor at NAS Kingsville. He was recalled into the U.S. Air Force in 1961 with the Ohio ANG 164th TAC Fighter Squadron.

He has logged 9,100 hours of flying time in more than 80 types of aircraft.

Haise began his 20-year NASA career as an aeronautical research pilot at Lewis Research Center in 1959. He performed further assignments as a research pilot at the NASA Flight Research Center in 1963 and as an astronaut at Johnson Space Center in 1966. He served as backup crew for the Apollo 8, 11 and 16 missions and flew as the lunar module pilot on the aborted Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970.

He was involved in crash of a BT 13 aircraft in 1973 and suffered burns on more than 65 percent of his body. He recovered and regained his flight status in 1974, and he later flew five flights as the commander of the Space Shuttle Enterprise in 1977 for the Approach and Landing Program at Edwards Air Force Base.

President Richard M. Nixon presented Haise with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970. Haise's honors include the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Haley Astronautics Award, the General Thomas D. White Space Trophy, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Award, the NASA Special Achievement Award and induction into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

He is an associate fellow of the AIAA and a fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and The American Astronautical Society. In addition, he is a member of the Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Gamma Tau and Phi Theta Kappa honor societies.

A full schedule of events for Reunion Weekend can be viewed at www.clarkson.edu/alumni.