Astronaut Thomas Ken Mattingly, who helped the Apollo 13 crew return safely home, died in the wee hours of Saturday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced in a tweet. He was 87.
“We lost one of our country’s heroes on Oct. 31,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. Nelson hailed Mattingly’s contribution to the Apollo mission and said, “NASA astronaut TK Mattingly was key to the success of our Apollo Program, and his shining personality will ensure he is remembered throughout history.”
The NASA didn’t mention where or how Mattingly died. However, The New York Times reported that Mattingly died in Arlington, Virginia.
Who was Ken Mattingly
Mattingly was a former Navy pilot. He joined the NASA in 1966. “He helped with the development of the spacesuit and backpack for the Apollo moon missions,” the NASA said. He was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966.
He served as a member of the astronaut support crews for the Apollo 8 and 11 missions and was the astronaut representative in the development and testing of the Apollo spacesuit and backpack.
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“Beginning his career with the US Navy, TK received his wings in 1960 and flew various aircraft across multiple assignments. Once he joined the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School as a student, NASA chose him to be part of the astronaut class in 1966,” the NASA administrator said.
He added that before flying into space, Mattingly aided the Apollo Program while working as the astronaut support crew and took leadership in the development of the Apollo spacesuit and backpack.
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However, his first spaceflight only came in 1972 when he orbited the moon as pilot of the Apollo 16 command module, while two other crew members landed on the moon’s surface, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.
On the trip back to Earth, Mattingly spacewalked to collect film cannisters with photographs he had snapped of the moon’s surface.
In the following years, Mattingly commanded two space shuttle missions and retired from the agency and the Navy as a rear admiral, the report said.
His most dramatic mission was one that he never flew.
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How Mattingly became a ‘hero’
“…his most dramatic role at NASA was after exposure to rubella (German Measles) just before the launch of Apollo 13,” the NASA said.
The administrator said Mattingly stayed behind and provided key real-time decisions to successfully bring home the wounded spacecraft and the crew of Apollo 13 – NASA astronauts James Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise.
What had exactly happened?
In 1970, Mattingly was supposed to have joined the crew of Apollo 13, piloting the command module. But he was removed from the mission a few days before launch after being exposed to German measles. He didn’t contract the illness but was replaced aboard the mission by John Swigert Jr.
Several days into the mission, an oxygen tank on the spacecraft’s service module exploded, knocking out most of the power and oxygen to the command module. The lunar landing was scrapped and NASA began frantic efforts to save Swigert, James Lovell and Fred Haise.
Mattingly, who knew the spacecraft intimately, worked with engineers and others as they analysed the situation and scrambled to find solutions and pass on instructions to the crew. He played a key role in the rescue by helping the crew conserve power during re-entry into the atmosphere, Skynews reported.
The trio of astronauts eventually crowded into the lander, which was designed for only two, and used it as a lifeboat for four days as Apollo 13 swung around the moon and then landed safely on Earth.
“One of the many lessons out of all this is starting on day one it was from the very first moment, assume you’re going to succeed and don’t do anything that gets in the way,” Mattingly recalled in an oral history interview for NASA in 2001.
(With inputs from Associated Press)
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Updated: 04 Nov 2023, 06:40 PM IST