Flew with Donn Fulton Eisele and Wally Schirra on Apollo 7, the backup crew for the ill-fated Apollo 1 mission. The flight lasted almost 11 days in October 1968. Except for a nasty head cold caught by Schirra, the first test of the Apollo command module was a complete success.
He received a master's degree in physics from UCLA.
He served in the US Navy and Marines, and flew 54 missions in a fighter jet over Korea, retiring with the rank of colonel.