Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page C1

Though he is aging and achy, Jack Lousma is only 20 years old. The retired NASA astronaut who was born in Grand Rapids, graduated from the University of Michigan and lived in Washtenaw County for decades is arguably most famous leap day baby. Lousma (LOUZE-ma) spent more than 1,600 hours in space, but what been the most exciting space flight of his career a trip to the moon was canceled after the space program accomplished all i set out to do on the first 17 Apollo missions. The former Marine colonel had been slated for Apollo 18, 1 9 or 20. Instead, he piloted Skylab 3 (SL-3), irst space station, in 1973 and was commander of the third orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle Col umbia in 1982.

However, Lousma, who actually is 80, is best nown as the person who heard one of the most famous sentences in U.S. history we have a Not bad for someone who even know he wanted to go into that field. word was not even invented until I was a senior in col- he told the Free Press in an interview. Lousma ad jettisoned plans to be a business major after eciding it required too much reading, then switched to engineering and through the process of elimination, aeronautical engineering. I became an electrical engineer, probably lectrocute myself.

If I became a chemical engineer, I probably blow myself up. I always loved air- he said. decision to join the Marines was similarly straightforward: Two years into school, it was too late for him to join the ROTC, and the Army and Air Force cadet programs accept married tudents. already wed his high school sweet- eart, the former Gratia Smeltzer.) His path was paved when he saw some Marines in Angell Hall. said, guys have They said, I I fly And they said, ou always have to pass the he recalled.

He retired from NASA and the Marines in 1983 a nd worked in the private sector after a brief foray into politics a failed U.S. Senate run against Carl Levin, in what he believes was the closest race Levin faced. In 2014, Lousma and his wife moved to Texas ecause two of his four children live in the Lone Star State, along with 13 of his 16 grandchildren. The center of gravity of our family has he quipped. Groan.

But a pun only an astronaut can get away with. HERE ARE 29 LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS ABOUT MOST FAMOUS LEAP DAY BABY: 1. His real name is Jack. Not John. ack.

Like the Greektown Casino. 2 He likes to joke that he was born on Feb. 29, 1936, because he was eeping track of the calendar while in utero. quite a good he says now that out. three ut of four years I celebrate on March 1.

It goes by in a split second at 3 Political wonks would argue not most famous leap day aby. That superlative goes to former U.P. Congressman Bart Stupak, D- Menominee. 4 Too-large reading assignments tanked his plan to be a business major at U-M. engineering, maybe you ead three pages, but for two he explained.

5. He earned degrees in aeronautical engineering from U-M in 1959 and the Naval Postgraduate School in 1965. He also has honorary doctorates from U-M (1973), Hope College (1982), Cleary College (1986) and Sterling ollege (1988), though he use he title preferring colonel i nstead. 6 Though a Wolverine, he a ember of either of the two all-Michi gan NASA crews Gemini 4 in 1965 and Apollo 15 in 1971. 7.

He pointed out that the sentence best known for being on the receiving end of is misquoted. What Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert Jr. a ctually said was had aproblem According to the NASA transcript, Lousma who was the capsule communicator, or CAP- OM, the person in the flight control room through whom all communications with the astronauts passed a sked Swigert to repeat what he said, ecause been talking to the light supervisor about something lse. Swigert did. 8 Forty-six years later, he still remembers: cry wolf.

hen they said they had a problem, I realized they had one. We know what it was. We had a hard ime figuring it out. Nobody panicked. No one put their head on the esk and cried.

No one threw a fit. verything was done very 9 He enjoyed the Academy Award- winning Ron Howard film which tells the story of the fate- ul flight, calling it of the most accurate space 10. His pre-NASA resume included ears as a trained combat pilot. 11. He think he could get into the astronaut program.

It began in 1958, and he thought it was call us; call He realized he was wrong when he saw an ad in the weekly newsletter, inviting Marine pilots to apply. 1 2. His wife, Gratia, was very support ive of his decision to apply. won- ered why she was so willing. She hought the same thing I did 1 0,000 people (would apply).

Why tart an argument, when I make it It turned out she was wrong. 1 3. He has four children three sons and one daughter. Only one followed him into the aeronautical field. Tim, he oldest, is an FAA-certified airplane mechanic, who had jobs with NASA contractors working on trainers and simulators at the Johnson Space Cent er in Houston.

14. Despite recalling the deaths of his Apollo 1friends and taking a scary call rom Apollo 13 (disaster was later a verted), he nervous when itting on the launch pad in 1973 for he launch of Skylab 3. was a relief. I had he said, recalling the two and half years of work before hat exciting day. 15.

The mission insignia for Skylab 3, designed by the astronauts on the ission, featured Leonardo da Vitruvian Man drawing. However, hey gave him a slight hair cut look too much like a and obscured the genitals of he naked figure. 16. Apollo 18 never happened except in Hollywood. It was made into a eponymous movie about a mission to the moon that NASA covered up after aliens killed the astronauts a board.

17. He was part of the back-up crew of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first joint U.S.-Soviet space mission in 1975. He end up flying the flight, but he picked up some Russian words and KGB stories. 18. His next space flight was supposed help rescue the Skylab, but it end- up crashing to Earth into the I ndian Ocean and the Australian Out- ack.

1 9. Instead, he returned to the sky in 1 982, as commander of the third orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia after Fred Haise, een on Apollo 13, retired. 20. He know at the time that would be his last space flight. Later, said he thought, I going to tread water for the next two years.

My heart in it 21. He logged 1,619 hours, 13 minutes, a nd 52 seconds in his two space flights and spent 11hours and 2 minutes in two separate spacewalks outside the kylab on his first flight. 22. After retiring from NASA and the arines, he ran for the U.S. Senate a gainst Carl Levin, who was camp aigning as an incumbent for the first time.

Part of what did him in during hat 1984 campaign was the anger that his son owned a Toyota. 23. In all his years living in Michigan, never voted for Levin. 24. When politics proved a no-go, he ent into the private sector, doing echnical consulting and project management and helping IT and electron- i medical device start-ups.

25. He and his wife moved to Texas in January 2014. He joked, thought 5 2 winters in Michigan was 26. His hobbies include golf, hunting, fishing, visiting his children and randchildren and working with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. 27.

The morning the Challenger blew up 30 years ago this year, he was on his way to Houston, crossing the Huron River in his car with the radio on. He immediately determine what had happened, so he turned a round and canceled his trip. He atched the coverage at home and ook calls from people in the NASA ommunity. 2 8. He later attended the memorial ervice.

have camaraderie. We know how all these people feel. We try to console and comfort recalled. do all the best we can to continue to support them even after the astronaut has been laid to est and still keep in touch with those who have lost their loved ones. a big family, a unique one.

Astronauts never forgot those types of things, ut it deter 29. He likes Tang. Contact Zlati Meyer: 313-223-4439 or Follow her on witter NASA Jack Lousma ad been scheduled to fly to the oon, but remaining flights were anceled after Apollo 17. WWW.FREEP.COM SATURDAY, FEB.27,2016 LIFE Coming Sunday Entertainment: Previewing he Oscars Life: Meet the new Detroit- inspired American Girl doll Travel: New England is cool THE WHO: Pete Townshend, 70, and Roger Daltrey, 72 in a couple of weeks, are ready to call it a wrap after half a century. heard farewell intimations before, but this time it appears to be the real deal, as the two surviving Who members lead a career-spanning set of hits and favorite album cuts.

7:30 p.m. today, Joe Louis Arena, 600 Civic Center, Detroit. 313-396-7000. AT FREEP.COM new on Mackinac Island? Try a recipe: Lenten fish tacos. Dear Carolyn: Two people i my life recently wanted me to say specific things to them to fulfill their emotional needs.

It a personal preference, as in, refer to my wedding as my a simple request but, want you to say sorry even though you think done anything Or, want you to ask me about this because I want to talk about I told both of these people I thought these requests were ludicrous. hat aggravates me is that I think they got what hey were looking for, which is asking me to feel emotions feel, then to express these insincere emotions to heir satisfaction. But I ant You to Say ow hard to see past your dukes, up so high. These people want something from you that obviously not giving and I not talking about the tock, insincere phrasing that ou rightly question but too- combatively deride to their faces. talking about the emo- ional satisfaction they would erive from knowing een heard.

If I read correctly between the lines here, knowingly denied them the hear assur- a nce they seek. he thing is, hem have to mean you agree with what saying. You can understand their points even as you disagree. a broadening of hat you treat as valid. where you see ludicrous equests, I see unfortunately phrased versions of understand Try that next time.

Listen carefully and make it clear you grasp how they feel, even hen your experience puts you entirely somewhere else. Re: Ludicrous: I get this a air amount from my 20-year- old daughter. We have a good relationship, but sometimes I miss my lines. You know, the, or poor or so or whatever form of she is ooking for at that moment. Then she might tell me, not very good at Truth is, I want to give her everything she ants, every time.

not what a parent should do. Still, a friend who tells you hat she wants you to say is also saying: could use some sympathy or validation right ow, and it have to be I think anything wrong with sometimes honoring a request like that. Dad is key. You also have options besides just caving at one extreme or batting it down at the other: know you want ympathy, for example comes up so often I think sympathy is always room for a truth kindly told. Read Carolyn Hax every day in the Free Press.

Write to her care of the ashington Post, Style 15th NW, Washington, D.C. 20071 or e-mail People want to know you get them CAROLYN HAX 29 things you know about leap day baby Jack Lousma By Zlati Meyer Detroit Free Press.