Joseph Peter Kerwin (born February 19, 1932) is an American physician and former NASA astronaut, who served as Science Pilot for the Skylab 2 mission from May 25 – June 22, 1973. He was the first physician to be selected for astronaut training. Joe Kerwin was the one who uttered the words during Apollo 13: “Farewell, Aquarius, and we thank you.” Kerwin was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997.
Born of Irish descent in Oak Park, Illinois, on February 19, 1932, Kerwin graduated from Fenwick High School, a private school in Oak Park, in 1949. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1953; a Doctor of Medicine degree from Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, in 1957; completed his internship at the District of Columbia General Hospital in Washington, D.C.; and attended the United States Navy School of Aviation Medicine at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, being designated a naval flight surgeon in December 1958.
Kerwin was a Captain in the Navy Medical Corps, commissioned in July 1958. He earned his flight surgeon's wings at Beeville, Texas, in 1962. He has logged 4,500 hours flying time.

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