Forty years ago this week, an American hero who was elected to Congress, but tragically never served, was laid to rest at Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Jack Swigert was born and raised in Denver and graduated from Denver East High School. He played football at the University of Colorado before graduating in 1953. He then joined the U.S. Air Force, where he became a fighter pilot.

He also joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1966 and was part of the support crew for the Apollo 7 mission.

Swigert was also on the support crew for the Apollo 13 mission, but three days before the launch in April 1970, he was tapped to replace Ken Mattingly who was exposed to measles. Apollo 13 was supposed to be the third manned space mission to land on the moon.

An oxygen tank exploded as Apollo 13 approached the moon and Swigert dramatically but dryly notified mission control with the immortal words, “Okay, Houston we’ve had a problem here.”

America’s intense interest in moon landings had started to subside after the first two were so successful and uneventful. But Americans were riveted for the next few days as the Apollo 13 crew and mission control found a way to bring the damaged spacecraft home.

Swigert left NASA and eventually returned to his native Colorado to run for the U.S. Senate in 1978. He was defeated for the Republican nomination by Congressman Bill Armstrong of Aurora, who went on to unseat Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Floyd Haskell.

Colorado added a sixth congressional district in 1982 that encompassed large parts of Jefferson and Arapahoe counties along with a small part of Denver, where Swigert lived, and he announced his candidacy for the new seat.

He was diagnosed with cancer during the campaign but his physicians expressed strong optimism it could be successfully treated, allowing Swigert to serve in Congress if he won the election.

Swigert convincingly defeated his Democratic opponent, Steve Hogan, who went on to be a respected mayor of Aurora. But his health declined and he was flown to Washington, D.C., and admitted to George Washington University Hospital hoping to live long enough to be sworn in to Congress on Jan. 3, 1983.

But he passed away on Dec. 27, 1982, seven days short of becoming a member of Congress representing Colorado’s 6th Congressional District. Sitting at Swigert’s bedside, as he had done for several days, was his close friend and former political opponent in the 1978 primary, U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong.

His funeral Mass was conducted at the Church of the Risen Christ in Denver, where he and his beloved mother were parishioners. Fifteen NASA astronauts attended including his Apollo 13 colleagues, Fred Haise and Jim Lovell. He was buried next to his parents on a cold, snowy Tuesday, Jan. 4, in Mount Olivet Cemetery, just a day after he would have been sworn in to Congress.

Every state is entitled to two statues in Statuary Hall or elsewhere in the United States Capitol. Colorado placed a statue in 1959 honoring Dr. Florence Rena Sabin, who pioneered research of tuberculosis and led the effort to improve Colorado’s public health.

Attempts to determine who should be honored with the second statue could not find consensus, but Colorado’s congressional delegation set up a selection process in the 1990s. Swigert’s inspiring story of survival in space in the face of imminent death set in motion a grassroots movement to honor him with Colorado’s second statue in the U.S. Capitol, which was dedicated in 1997.

There is much to learn about the life of Jack Swigert, not the least of which is the grace and respect two former political opponents showed each other in the face of tragic illness when Armstrong was at Swigert’s bedside as he passed away. Today’s hard-edged extremists in both parties seem incapable of grasping such a concept.

An exact replica of the Swigert statue sits in Concourse B at Denver International Airport. It is always intriguing to watch travelers stop for a few minutes to read the plaque under the smiling Swigert in his white spacesuit while cradling his helmet, seemingly looking into the future.

I am sure they find inspiration in this man of exceptional achievement, one who was elected to Congress but tragically never served, even after turning a failed moon mission into a dramatic success story of survival.

Dick Wadhams is a Republican political consultant and a former Colorado Republican state chairman.