Ken Mattingly Mission Success

Biography march 17 1936 thomas kenneth ken mattingly ii born march 17 1936 is a retired american astronaut naval aviator and rear admiral in the united states navy who flew on the apollo 16 sts 4 and sts 51 c missions.

Ken mattingly mission success.

It was supposed to travel to the moon and three astronauts would attempt a lunar landing on the thirteenth day of the month. Apollo 13 was a mission that tested nasa and its astronauts to the hilt. He is perhaps best remembered however as the astronaut who stayed home from the ill fated. By coincidence they share a birthday today 83 64 respectively.

It just floated off somewhere and none of us could find it duke says. It was the first classified mission flown for the department of defense from which a secret payload was launched. The next and last mission mattingly flew for nasa was aboard discovery in 1985. On the second day of the 1972 11 day trip to the moon and back command module pilot ken mattingly lost his wedding ring.

He had been scheduled to fly on apollo 13 but was held back due to concerns about a. It was the thirtheenth scheduled lunar space exploration mission scheduled for liftoff at the thirtheenth minute after the thirteenth hour. Thomas kenneth mattingly ii born march 17 1936 radm usn ret better known as ken mattingly is a former american naval officer and aviator flag officer aeronautical engineer test pilot rear admiral in the united states navy and astronaut who flew on the apollo 16 sts 4 and sts 51 c missions. Apollo 13 pilot ken mattingly was famously pulled from his mission days before launch after being exposed to german measles.

In a 2001 interview with nasa ken mattingly the original command module pilot who was grounded due to exposure to german measles said turning the lunar module into a lifeboat wasn t. He had been scheduled to fly on apollo 13 but was held back. Radm thomas kenneth mattingly ii usn ret. It s also common for nasa to give limited explanations for these.

Gary played the role of mattingly in the tom hanks film. Mattingly had been scheduled to fly on apollo 13 but three days prior to launch he was held back and removed from the mission due to exposure to german. The mission was successful despite the need for a quick in flight repair of a so called getaway special experiment and landed on july 4 1982.