An Apollo 13 astronaut will speak at Northwest Missouri State Wednesday.

Fred Haise spent 20 years with NASA and is part of the Distinguished Lecture Series at Northwest.

Haise will present his speech Failure is not an Option.

He began his career with NASA in 1959, working as a research pilot. Haise flew as the lunar module pilot on the aborted Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970.

He was burned on 65% of his body during a plane crash while flying for the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! In 1973.

Haise went on to fly five flights as the commander of Space Shuttle Enterprise in 1977 for the Approach and Landing Program at Edwards Air Force base.

Haise was honored by President Nixon in 1970 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

His speech starts at 7:30 Wednesday night at the Ron Houston Performing Arts Center. It’s free to the public.

The final lecture will be in April, featuring Karen Arenson, education reporter for the New York Times.