DENVER—NASA will give its Ambassador of Exploration Award to Colorado astronaut Jack Swigert, who died in 1982 just after he was elected to Congress.
NASA will present the award to Swigert’s family on Friday at the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum in Denver. The award, a moon rock encased in Lucite, will be displayed at the museum.
Astronauts in the first three NASA programs—Mercury, Gemini and Apollo—are receiving the award.
Swigert was the command module pilot for the Apollo 13 mission, which had to be aborted when an oxygen tank ruptured.
He was born in Denver and received a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado. He died of complications from cancer before he could take his seat in the U.S. House.