Haise was commander of one of the two 2-man crews who piloted space shuttle approach and landing test (ALT) flights during the period June through October 1977. This series of critical orbiter flight tests involved initially Boeing 747/orbiter captive-active flights, followed by air-launched, unpowered glide, approach, and landing tests (free flights). There were 3 captive mated tests with the orbiter "Enterprise" carried atop the Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, allowing inflight low-altitude and low-speed test and checkout of flight control systems and orbiter controls, and 5 free flights which permitted extensive evaluations of the orbiter's subsonic flying qualities and performance characteristics during separation, up and away flight, flare, landing, and rollout--providing valuable real-time data duplicating the last few minutes of an operational shuttle mission.