Early life and education Roosa was born on August 16, 1933, in
Durango, Colorado, to parents Dewey Roosa and Lorine Roosa () and grew up in
Claremore, Oklahoma. He attended Justus Tiawah Grade School and
Claremore High School in Claremore, Oklahoma, from which he graduated in 1951. Thereafter, he studied at
Oklahoma State University and the
University of Arizona, before graduating with a
Bachelor of Science degree in
aeronautical engineering with honors from the
University of Colorado Boulder in 1960.
Military service 's Class 64C, Roosa is in the front row, fourth from the left. To his left is
Hank Hartsfield; the top row includes
Al Worden (rightmost) and
Charlie Duke (third from the left). Roosa began his career as a
smokejumper with the
U.S. Forest Service, dropping into at least four active fires in
Oregon and
California during the 1953 fire season. He was a graduate of the
Aviation Cadet Program at
Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, where he received his flight training commission in the
U.S. Air Force. He also attended the
U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School (Class 64C) and was an experimental
test pilot at
Edwards Air Force Base in California before being selected for the
astronaut class of 1966. He was a fighter pilot at
Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, where he flew the
F-84F Thunderstreak and
F-100 Super Sabre aircraft. Following graduation from the University of Colorado, under the U.S.
Air Force Institute of Technology Program, he served as Chief of Service Engineering (AFLC) at
Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, for two years.
NASA career Roosa was one of 19 people selected as part of the
astronaut class of 1966. He was the
Capsule communicator (CAPCOM) at the
Launch Complex 34 blockhouse during the
Apollo 1 fire on January 27, 1967. In 1969, he served as a member of the astronaut support crew for the
Apollo 9 mission. Roosa served as backup Command Module Pilot for
Apollo 16 and
Apollo 17. Based on crew rotations, he would probably have commanded one of the
last missions had they not been cancelled. He was assigned to the
Space Shuttle program until his retirement as a colonel from the Air Force in 1976. He founded Gulf Coast Coors in 1981; he served as its president until his death. His wife Joan died on October 30, 2007, in
Gulfport, Mississippi. She was interred at Arlington with her husband. ==Organizations==