American pilot and astronaut (died 1982)

Jack Swigert

John Leonard Swigert Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer, United States Air Force pilot, and politician. In April 1970, as command module pilot of Apollo 13, he became one of 24 Apollo astronauts who reached the Moon. Due to the "slingshot" route around the Moon they chose to safely return to Earth, the Apollo 13 astronauts flew farther away from Earth than any other astronauts until the Artemis II lunar flyby in 2026, though they had to abort the Moon landing.

Born

1931

August 30

Died

1982

Era

1930s

Country

—

About

Jack, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1931 Born
1982 Died

Also on August 30

What else happened on this day, through history

70 Titus ends the siege of Jerusalem after destroying Herod's Temple.
1057 Elderly Byzantine Emperor Michael VI Bringas abdicates after just one year on the throne.
1060 The Mirdasids defeat the Fatimid Caliphate at the Battle of al-Funaydiq, signalling the definitive loss of Aleppo for the Fatimids.
1282 Peter III of Aragon lands at Trapani to intervene in the War of the Sicilian Vespers.

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The world in 1931

When Jack arrived

april 14 The Second Spanish Republic is proclaimed and King Alfonso XIII goes into exile. Meanwhile, in Barcelona, Francesc Macià proclaims the Catalan Republic.
april 17 After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.
august 24 Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.
august 5 Judge and Nazi Party member Werner Best drews the Boxheim Documents, which described a violent takeover of the government by the NSDAP.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on August 30

Anna Politkovskaya 1958–2006 Russian journalist and activist (died 2006) Evelyn De Morgan 1855– English painter (died 1919) Fred Hampton 1948–1969 American activist and revolutionary, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (died 1969) Huey Long 1893–1935 American lawyer and politician, 40th Governor of Louisiana (died 1935) John Phillips 1935–2001 American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2001) Ravi Shankar Prasad 1954– Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Communications and IT Roy Wilkins 1901–1981 American journalist and activist (died 1981)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1931

Albert DeSalvo 1931– American serial killer known as the Boston Strangler (died 1973) Alex Delvecchio 1931–2025 Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (died 2025) Allen Klein 1931–2009 American businessman and music publisher (died 2009) Bernard Francis Law 1931– Mexican-American cardinal (died 2017) Bob Johnson 1931–1991 American ice hockey player and coach (died 1991) Buddy Ryan 1931–2016 American football coach (died 2016) Cardiss Collins 1931–2013 American politician (born 1931) Cecil Parkinson 1931–2016 English politician (born 1931) Chalmers Johnson 1931–2010 American scholar and author (died 2010)

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More to explore

Jack's birthday August 30 Jack's zodiac Virgo When Jack arrived 1931