For the record, Ken Mattingly never did get the German measles.
The previous NASA astronaut, who in 1970 was pulled from the Apollo 13 crew on account of being exposed to the Rubella virus, died on Tuesday (Oct. 31) on the age of 87. Mattingly’s death was confirmed by NASA.
“NASA astronaut TK Mattingly was key to the success of our Apollo Program, and his shining personality will ensure he’s remembered throughout history,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in an announcement released Thursday (Nov. 2). “As a frontrunner in exploratory missions, TK might be remembered for braving the unknown for the sake of our country’s future.”
Chosen with NASA’s fifth class of astronauts in 1966, Mattingly went on to fly to the moon after which led two space shuttle missions. He logged a complete of 21 days, 4 hours and 34 minutes in space, including 1 hour, 23 minutes on a spacewalk near the moon, the second deep-space extravehicular activity (EVA) in history.
Mattingly was exposed to the German measles by fellow astronaut — and later Apollo 16 crewmate — Charlie Duke. The one member of the unique Apollo 13 crew to not be immune, NASA’s flight doctors were concerned Mattingly would fall ailing in the course of the mission, resulting in the choice he get replaced by his backup, Jack Swigert.
“I’m driving up the road, turned the radio on they usually interrupt the news announcement that this afternoon NASA has announced that they’ve modified and substituted Jack Swigert for me,” said Mattingly, recalling how he first learned of his being grounded in a 2001 NASA oral history interview. “I just type of pulled over to the side of the road and sat there for some time.”
The swap was made just three days before the launch. When the Apollo 13 crew “had an issue” — an explosion that crippled their spacecraft on the technique to the moon — Mattingly joined the team working at Mission Control to bring Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Swigert home safely.
“Movies and every little thing makes it appear like we invented quite a lot of stuff. Well, due to the type of simulation training program we had, perhaps the things weren’t the exact same or in the exact same order, but every little thing we ended up doing had been done somewhere,” said Mattingly.
In hindsight, Mattingly said it was a very good thing he didn’t fly on Apollo 13, but not because he may need developed the measles.
“When my body gets below 60 degrees, it doesn’t function,” he said. “If I had been stuck up there, I’d have absolutely been a disaster. You’ll be able to go to this point on mental activities, but I do know me and I understand how my body behaves, and it might have shut down. So it might have been greater than just unpleasant for me.”
Casper, Columbia and Discovery
After Apollo 13, Mattingly was assigned to the crew of Apollo 16, the fifth moon landing mission, with commander John Young and lunar module pilot Duke. As command module pilot, Mattingly remained in lunar orbit while Young and Duke landed on the moon in April 1972.
For 3 days, 9 hours, 27 minutes (and 47 seconds), Mattingly circled the moon alone aboard the command module “Casper,” while photographing and mapping the lunar surface, in addition to conducting greater than 20 science experiments.
“I spent quite a lot of time trying to have a look at [the surface on the near and far sides of the moon] to see what could you see that was different or alike. It gave a captivating problem in attempting to see — I understand it looks different on the back than it does on the front,” Mattingly said. “Back side of the moon, it looks like a child’s sandbox. It’s really pummeled. Whereas the front side of the moon has features that look sharp and they give the impression of being like mountains, they give the impression of being like craters, there’s something to have a look at all over the place.”
After being reunited with Young and Duke and the three departing the moon for Earth, Mattingly conducted the second-ever deep-space EVA to retrieve the film from cameras mounted on Casper’s service module and to conduct two science experiments.
“Well, prior to opening the [hatch] — well, somewhere, I do not know where within the mission, I lost my wedding ring. It got here off, and I could not find it. Normally I discovered I could find things after an extended time frame — they’d collect on the air filters — but it surely never showed up. I had given up and said, ‘Well, guess I lost it,'” said Mattingly.
“So, I began to return to the service module when Charlie said, ‘Take a look at that.’ And there was my wedding ring floating out the door. I grabbed it and we put it within the pocket,” Mattingly said. “We had the possibilities of a gazillion to at least one.”
Apollo 16 splashed down within the South Pacific Ocean on April 27, 1972. Mattingly’s next flight launched 10 years and a couple of months later, on June 27, 1982.
STS-4 was the fourth flight of the space shuttle program, fourth flight of the orbiter Columbia and the ultimate test flight for the winged spacecraft. Mattingly commanded the week-long mission with Henry “Hank” Hartsfield serving as pilot.
“They got [us] on orbit, and this thing worked, and I just couldn’t recover from the undeniable fact that after — you understand, those who I knew that were friends had built and conceived this whole thing, and it really works. It’s just magic. It does all of this stuff that we dreamed of, however the visuals are higher than the simulator now. So we just had an exquisite time of it,” said Mattingly, telling the NASA interviewer about how Columbia performed.
“Flying around Earth is just so spectacular,” he said. “I do not care how long you are up there, I am unable to imagine anyone ever getting bored with it. It’s just beautiful, and the orbiter with these big windows, it’s just wonderful.”
Mattingly was on the shuttle’s controls when he brought Columbia back to Earth to an Independence Day landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. President Ronald Reagan was waiting there to welcome him and Hartsfield home.
“It was no uncertain terms that we were going to land on the Fourth of July, irrespective of what day we took off. Even when it was the fifth, we were going to land on the Fourth,” Mattingly said with fun. “That meant, in case you didn’t do any of your test mission, that is okay, so long as you only land on the Fourth, since the president goes to be there. We thought that was type of interesting.”
Mattingly’s third and last spaceflight was as commander of the STS-51C crew on space shuttle Discovery. The primary mission dedicated to deploying a Department of Defense payload, lots of the main points of the flight remain classified today.
Lifting off on Jan. 24, 1985, Mattingly’s crew included pilot Loren Shriver, mission specialists Ellison Onizuka and Jim Buchli and payload specialist Gary Payton. The three-day flight was the one hundredth crewed mission to achieve orbit.
“I still cannot speak about what the mission [was],” said Mattingly in 2001. “When the books are written and anyone finally comes out and tells that chapter, everybody goes to be proud.”
Mattingly landed Discovery on Jan. 27, 1985, someday shy of a 12 months before the space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its launch. A later investigation found that STS-51C had suffered the identical issue with its solid rocket boosters that led to the Challenger tragedy.
TK Mattingly
Thomas Kenneth “TK” Mattingly II was born on March 17, 1936, in Chicago. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from Auburn University in 1958 after which enlisted within the U.S. Navy, earning his wings in 1960.
Mattingly flew A1H aircraft with the VA-35 squadron from the united statesSaratoga aircraft carrier from 1960 to 1963 and A3B craft with the VAH-11 from the united statesFranklin D. Roosevelt from 1964 to 1966. He was a student on the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base when he was chosen as considered one of NASA’s 19 latest astronauts in April 1966.
Prior to being assigned to the Apollo 13 prime crew, Mattingly was a member of the support crew for Apollo 8, serving as a capcom in Mission Control. He was then assigned to backup the command module pilot for Apollo 11, the primary moon landing mission.
Between his flights on Apollo 16 and STS-4, Mattingly served in astronaut managerial positions within the space shuttle development program. After landing on STS-51C, Mattingly decided to retire from NASA and return to the Navy.
“I used to be able to move on to something else. The one mission that I actually thought I could get considering was the primary [space shuttle mission to launch from] Vandenberg [Air Force Base, California], and Crip [Bob Crippen] was already doing that, and so I made a decision it was probably best to alter assignments.”
Mattingly remained with the Navy for another 12 months, retiring with the two-star rank of rear admiral, before entering the aerospace industry. He worked as a director in the Space Station Support Division of Grumman (today, Northrop Grumman) before joining Lockheed Martin, where he was vp in control of the corporate’s X-33 space plane development program. He accomplished his profession at Systems Planning and Evaluation in Virginia.
For his service to the U.S. space program, Mattingly was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Space Flight Medal, U.S. Navy Astronaut Wings and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots’ Ivan C. Kincheloe Award, amongst other honors.
Mattingly was inducted into the into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1983 and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997. In 2009, he accepted NASA’s Ambassador of Exploration award and presented the moon rock-adorned trophy for display at Auburn University, his alma mater.
In 1995, Mattingly was portrayed by actor Gary Sinise within the feature film “Apollo 13.” Three years later, actor Željko Ivanek played him within the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon.”
Mattingly married Elizabeth Dailey in 1970, and together that they had a son, Thomas Kenneth Mattingly III, born in 1972. The 2 were separated before Dailey died in 1991.