2023-11-03 03:24:00
While he was supposed to pilot the command module for the flight of Apollo 13, Thomas Mattingly – also called Ken Mattingly – was grounded 72 hours before launch after being exposed to rubella, said Bill Nelson, the head of NASA.
In April 1970, during the mission, an explosion paralyzed the spacecraft en route to the Moon. Mattingly, who did not become ill, went to Mission Control and developed energy-saving procedures so that the vehicle could reenter the atmosphere, saving the life of James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, the astronauts aboard the module.
The film “Apollo 13”, released in 1995 and in which Gary Sinise plays Mattingly, popularized the eponymous mission. A savior in spite of himself, the astronaut began his career as a pilot in naval aviation before being selected to become an astronaut in 1966.
At NASA, he was pilot of the command module of the Apollo 16 mission and captain of two Space Shuttle missions. “Thomas’ contributions have advanced our learning beyond space,” said Nelson.
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