Astronaut John Swigert - Denver, Colorado
Posted by: 
DougK
N 39° 51.530 W 104° 40.420
13S E 527912 N 4412140
John Leonard "Jack" Swigert, Jr. was an American test pilot and NASA astronaut, one of the 24 persons who have flown to the Moon.
Waymark Code: WMMH9X
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2014
Views: 12
This life-size figure of John Swigert is located at the B Gates transfer station at Denver International Airport. He's portrayed in full astronaut suit, holding his helmet.
Swigert was born and raised in Denver and became an aviation enthusiast as a young boy. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and later earned a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1965.
Wikipedia tells us:
Swigert was one of three astronauts aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 moon mission launched April 11, 1970. Originally part of the backup crew for the mission, he was assigned to the mission three days before launch, replacing astronaut Ken Mattingly. The prime crew had been exposed to German Measles (the rubella virus) and, because Mattingly had no immunity to the disease, NASA did not want to risk his falling ill during critical phases of the flight. Incidentally, this made Swigert the first American bachelor astronaut to fly in space.
The mission was the third lunar-landing attempt, but was aborted after the rupture of an oxygen tank in the spacecraft's service module. Swigert was the astronaut who made the famous dramatic announcement, "Houston, we've had a problem here". Swigert, along with fellow astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, returned safely to Earth on April 17th after about 5 days and 23 hours in space, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom later that year.
Swigert received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
This statue is an exact replica of one in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.
The sculptors were Mark Lundeen and George Lundeen.