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Thomas Okay. Mattingly, a key commander through the Apollo 16 mission to the moon, died at age 87, NASA introduced Thursday.
Mattingly, often known as Ken or T.Okay., died on Oct. 31, NASA confirmed in an announcement.
“NASA astronaut TK Mattingly was key to the success of our Apollo Program, and his shining character will guarantee he’s remembered all through historical past,” NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson stated.
A talented pilot, Mattingly was hailed for his accomplishments because the command module pilot for the Apollo 16 mission that landed on the moon in 1972. Throughout that mission, the astronaut staff was in a position to acquire samples from the lunar highlands and obtain all its main aims.
However he was additionally well-known for being faraway from the ill-fated Apollo 13 crew 72 hours earlier than its scheduled launch.
Mattingly was eliminated on the final minute after publicity to German measles. Backup command module pilot Jack Swigert changed Mattingly. On April 11, 1970, the Apollo 13 blasted off with Swigert on the helm and astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise.
Nearly 56 hours after take off, oxygen tank No. 2 exploded on Apollo 13, inflicting tank No. 1 to fail as properly. “Houston, we have had an issue,” Lovell famously known as all the way down to mission management.
Mattingly performed an vital position in serving to convey the crew again to Earth. “He stayed behind and supplied key real-time selections to efficiently convey residence the wounded spacecraft and the crew of Apollo 13,” Nelson stated within the assertion.
Born in Chicago, Mattingly started his profession with the U.S. Navy in 1958, and have become a pilot two years later. He was deployed on the battleship USS Franklin D. Roosevelt from which he flew planes for 2 years.
In 1966, NASA selected him to be one among 19 astronauts in that yr’s class. He served as a member of the astronaut help crew for the Apollo 8 and 11 missions, and was instrumental within the growth and testing of the Apollo spacesuit and backpack.
After being a command module pilot for the Apollo Program, he had a stretch nearly of just about a decade earlier than he took the helm once more. In 1982 and 1985, Mattingly was the spacecraft commander for 2 house shuttle missions and he flew 504 hours in house.
— William Harwood contributed to this report.
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