2023-11-02 23:44:35
Undated NASA photo showing astronaut Thomas Mattingly. HANDOUT / AFP
Destiny had decided to entrust him with a mission other than the one for which he had been assigned. And he had done it successfully. NASA astronaut Thomas Mattingly, who helped bring the crew back safely from the ill-fated Apollo-13 mission through his efforts from the ground control cell, died Tuesday, Nov. 2, at age 87 years old, announced the American space agency.
While he was supposed to pilot the command module for Apollo-13’s flight to the Moon, Thomas Mattingly was grounded 72 hours before the launch, following being exposed to rubella, said Bill Nelson, the boss from NASA.
During the mission, which took place in April 1970, a tank explosion damaged the spacecraft when it was 320,000 kilometers from Earth. Thomas Mattingly, who ultimately did not become ill, then went to the mission control center and developed energy-saving procedures so that the vehicle might return to the atmosphere, thus saving the lives of James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, the astronauts aboard the module, who, following circling the Moon without landing, landed in the Pacific.
Captain of two missions
The film Apollo 13, released in 1995, in which Gary Sinise plays Mattingly, popularized the eponymous mission.
Thomas Mattingly 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 missions of the spaceship.
“Thomas’ contributions have advanced our learning beyond space”greeted Mr. Nelson.
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