50 years ago, Jack Swigert overlooked his taxes.
Dmitrii Kirsanov
11 Nov 2024
5 min read
"Uh oh; have you guys completed your income tax?"
50 years ago, Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert embarked on a mission to the moon, but there was one major thing he overlooked—his taxes.
To be fair, Swigert wasn't supposed to be on Apollo 13; he was on the backup crew. But original crewmember Ken Mattingly was exposed to the German measles close to launch, and so NASA decided to swap the two to ensure that the crew wouldn't be infected. (Mattingly never ended up getting sick and flew on Apollo 16.)
And because Swigert had to scramble to prepare after the swap, he (evidently) didn't file his taxes before leaving. Approximately 24 hours and 18 minutes into the mission, which was well before the disastrous oxygen tank explosion, Swigert asked Mission Control:"Uh oh; have you guys completed your income tax?"
Commander Jim Lovell, laughing, followed that up with: "How do I apply for an extension?" Mission Control burst into laughter. Swigert replied: "It ain't too funny; things kind of happened real fast down there, and I do need an extension." And, again, he was met with raucous laughter.
Despite the ribbing, Mission Control assured Swigert that they would help him get his taxes filed on time. While Swigert was not in a different country, he was still considered a U.S. citizen abroad, which qualified him for an extension to file his taxes late but penalty-free.