Ken Mattingly

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Ken Mattingly
Arlington, Virginia, U.S.
EducationAuburn University (BS)
Spouse
Elizabeth Dailey
(m. 1970)
Children1
Awards
Rear Admiral, USN
Time in space
21d 4h 34m
SelectionNASA Group 5 (1966)
Total EVAs
1
Total EVA time
1h 23m
Missions
Mission insignia
RetirementJune 1985

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II (March 17, 1936 – October 31, 2023) was an American

aeronautical engineer, test pilot, rear admiral in the United States Navy, and astronaut who flew on Apollo 16 and Space Shuttle STS-4 and STS-51-C
missions.

Mattingly was scheduled to fly on the

Command Module Pilot for Apollo 16 and made 64 lunar orbits,[1] making him one of 24 people to fly to the Moon.[2] Mattingly and his Apollo 16 commander, John Young, are the only people to have flown to the Moon and also a Space Shuttle mission. (Fred Haise, Mattingly's originally scheduled crewmate for Apollo 13, performed atmospheric flight testing of the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests
.)

During Apollo 16's return flight to Earth, Mattingly performed an

planetary body. As of 2023, it remains one of only three such EVAs which have taken place, all during the Apollo program's J-missions.[3]

Early life and education

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II was born on March 17, 1936, in Chicago, Illinois, to Thomas Kenneth Mattingly (1903–1995) and Constance Mason Mattingly (

Eastern Airlines soon after his son's birth, moved the family to Hialeah, Florida. Aviation became part of Mattingly's life from a very young age; he later recalled that his "earliest memories...all had to do with airplanes".[6]

Mattingly was active in the

Aeronautical Engineering from Auburn University in 1958.[6] He was also a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity (Epsilon Alpha chapter).[7]

Military career

Mattingly was commissioned in the U.S. Navy as an

While Mattingly was based at Sanford, a fellow officer invited him along on a mission to take aerial photos of the Cape Canaveral launch of Gemini 3 (carrying Mattingly's future Apollo 16 Commander John W. Young) from the air.[8]

During his second cruise, Mattingly attempted to join the

Henry W. Hartsfield Jr.
, whom Mattingly later commanded on STS-4.

NASA career

Mattingly (center) as part of the original prime crew for Apollo 13

Selection and training

On September 10, 1965, NASA began the selection process for the fifth astronaut group. From a pool of 351 applicants, NASA picked 159 candidates who met the basic qualifications, including being United States citizens born on or after December 1, 1929, who were no more than six feet tall. They were also required to have at least 1,000 hours of flight time in jet aircraft. Mattingly had previously shown little interest and inclination to apply for the astronaut program, but his views changed at the Air Force Test Pilot School where he and his classmates were offered the chance to apply for either NASA or the United States Air Force (USAF) Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Mattingly and Mitchell chose the latter and were rejected. The deadline for applying for the NASA group had passed, but one of their instructors was able to get NASA to accept their applications.[8] On the interview panel the astronaut office representatives were John W. Young and Michael Collins, who were at that time in training as prime crew for Gemini 10. Mattingly later recollected that he was "perplexed" by Young. Collins asked Mattingly how he felt about the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, to which Mattingly replied that he thought it was a "fun aircraft" but without worth in combat. Collins appeared to dislike the answer and Mattingly felt he had blown his chance. However, after the conclusion of the selection process, Mattingly was called by NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton with an offer to become an astronaut.[8]

At the time of his selection, Mattingly had 2,582 hours of flight experience, including 1,036 hours in jet aircraft. He also had a bachelor's degree in engineering or in the physical or biological sciences as required by the initial qualifications. From the 100 military personnel and 59 civilian candidates, NASA selected 19 to join the group for training as astronauts.[9]

Mattingly, a lieutenant in the Navy,[9] was a student at the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California, when NASA selected him as an astronaut in April 1966.[2][10]

Apollo 8 and Apollo 11

Mattingly poses at the launch pad.

At first, Mattingly was part of the support crew for

CAPCOM during Apollo 8's second television transmission and subsequent preparation for trans-Earth injection.[12]

Mattingly then trained in parallel with Bill Anders for Apollo 11 as backup command module pilot, because Anders was going to retire from NASA in August 1969 and, in case of mission delay, would be unavailable.[8]

Apollo 13

Mattingly was to be the Command Module Pilot on the

German measles (which he never contracted) and was replaced by the backup CM pilot, Jack Swigert.[13] As a result, he missed the dramatic in-flight explosion that crippled the spacecraft.[14] However, Mattingly played a large role in helping the crew solve the problem of power conservation during re-entry.[13][15]

Apollo 16

Mattingly performs a deep-space EVA during Apollo 16

The swapout from Apollo 13 placed Mattingly on the crew that flew

Lunar Module Pilot). The mission assigned to Apollo 16 was to collect samples from the lunar highlands near the crater Descartes. While in lunar orbit the scientific instruments aboard the Command/Service Module Casper extended the photographic and geochemical mapping of a belt around the lunar equator. A combined total of 26 separate scientific experiments were conducted in lunar orbit and during cislunar coast.[2]

During the return leg of the mission, Mattingly carried out an extravehicular activity (EVA) to retrieve film and data packages from the science bay on the side of the service module. Although the mission of Apollo 16 was terminated one day early out of concern over several spacecraft malfunctions, all major objectives were accomplished.[2]

Space Shuttle flights

Following his return to Earth, Mattingly served in astronaut managerial positions in the Space Shuttle development program.[2]

Mattingly was named to command

duckweed growth in space to fruit fly and brine shrimp genetic studies). STS-4 completed 112 orbits of the Earth before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on July 4, 1982.[2] Mattingly and Hartsfield were greeted by President Ronald Reagan after the landing; Reagan recognized the pair, both graduates of Auburn University, as "you two sons of Auburn" in his welcoming speech.[17]

Payload Specialist). STS-51-C performed its DOD mission which included deployment of a modified Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) vehicle from the Space Shuttle Discovery. Landing occurred on January 27, 1985.[2]

  • Mattingly (foreground) with Henry Hartsfield salutes President Ronald Reagan, next to First Lady Nancy Reagan, after the STS-4 landing on July 4, 1982
    Mattingly (foreground) with Henry Hartsfield salutes President Ronald Reagan, next to First Lady Nancy Reagan, after the STS-4 landing on July 4, 1982
  • "President Ronald Reagan chats with NASA astronauts Henry Hartsfield and Thomas Mattingly on the runway as first lady Nancy Reagan scans the nose of Space Shuttle Columbia following its Independence Day landing at Edwards Air Force Base on July 4, 1982."[18]
    "President Ronald Reagan chats with NASA astronauts Henry Hartsfield and Thomas Mattingly on the runway as first lady Nancy Reagan scans the nose of Space Shuttle Columbia following its Independence Day landing at Edwards Air Force Base on July 4, 1982."[18]
  • Mattingly in his Navy uniform in 1985
    Mattingly in his Navy uniform in 1985

Post-NASA career

In 1985, Mattingly retired from NASA, then retired from the Navy the following year with the two-star rank of

X-33 development program.[11] He then worked at Systems Planning and Analysis in Virginia.[20]

Mattingly logged 7,200 hours of flight time, including 5,000 hours in jet aircraft.[2]

Mattingly was a member of many organizations. He was an associate fellow,

U.S. Naval Institute.[2]

Personal life and death

In 1970, he married Elizabeth Dailey.[13] They had one child.[21]

Mattingly died in

Arlington, Virginia, on October 31, 2023, at age 87.[22][23] NASA announced his death two days later on November 2.[22]

Awards and honors

Mattingly was a recipient of numerous awards. He was awarded the

Mattingly was inducted with a group of Apollo astronauts into the

U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997.[26] His name also appears on The Astronaut Monument in Húsavík, Iceland, commemorating 32 Apollo astronauts who were sent to Iceland for geological training in the 1960s.[27]

In media

Mattingly was portrayed by Gary Sinise in the 1995 movie Apollo 13 and by Željko Ivanek in the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.[28] Interviews with Mattingly were also used as part of the narrative track on the 1989 documentary film For All Mankind.[29]

References

  1. ^ NASA Apollo 16 summary page
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Astronaut Bio: Thomas K. Mattingly II" (PDF). NASA. January 1987. Retrieved April 14, 2021. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ LePage, Andrew (December 17, 2017). "A History of Deep Space EVAs". drewexmachina.
  4. ^ "Mattingly, Thomas Kenneth, II". Naval History and Heritage Command. May 5, 1972. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  5. ^ "Thomas Kenneth Mattingly: Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871–1940". FamilySearch. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  6. ^ .
  7. ^ "Famous Delts". Delta Tau Delta. Archived from the original on May 15, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2012
  8. ^ a b c d e Wright, Rebecca (November 6, 2001). "Thomas K. Mattingly II". NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. NASA. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Newly-Selected Group of 19 Astronauts Reports Next Month for Duty" (PDF). NASA. April 15, 1966. pp. 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 13, 2009. Retrieved December 9, 2019. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  10. ^ Thompson, Ronald (April 5, 1966). "19 New Spacemen Are Named". The High Point Enterprise. High Point, North Carolina. p. 2A – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b Howell, Elizabeth (April 16, 2013). "Ken Mattingly: Apollo 16 Astronaut". Space.com. Future plc. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  12. ^ Lovell & Kluger 1994, p. 54.
  13. ^ a b c Rensberger, Boyce (April 17, 1972). "Thomas Kenneth Mattingly 2d". The New York Times. p. 24. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  14. ^ "Biographical Data: John L. Swigert, Jr., NASA astronaut (deceased)" (PDF). Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. NASA. January 1983. Retrieved December 9, 2019. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  15. .
  16. ^ Snyder, Robert S.; Rhodes, Percy H.; Miller, Teresa Y. (October 1987). "Continuous flow electrophoresis system experiments on shuttle flights STS-6 and STS-7" (PDF). NTRS – NASA Technical Reports Server. NASA. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  17. ^ "Remarks at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Completion of the Fourth Mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia". Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
  18. ^ "Independence Day at NASA Dryden - 30 Years Ago". NASA. July 3, 2012. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  19. ^ "International Space Hall of Fame: Thomas K. Mattingly II". New Mexico Museum of Space History. 2005. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  20. ^ "Ken Mattingly, who launched to the moon on Apollo 16, dies at 87". Collect Space. November 2, 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  21. .
  22. ^ a b Donaldson, Abbey (November 2, 2023). "NASA Administrator Remembers Apollo Astronaut Thomas K. Mattingly II" (Press release). NASA.
  23. ^ Goldstein, Richard (November 2, 2023). "Ken Mattingly, Astronaut Scrubbed From Apollo 13, Is Dead at 87". The New York Times.
  24. ^ "National Aeronautics and Space Administration Honor Awards". Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  25. ^ Sheppard, David (October 2, 1983). "Space Hall Inducts 14 Apollo Program Astronauts". El Paso Times. El Paso, Texas. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Meyer, Marilyn (October 2, 1997). "Ceremony to Honor Astronauts". Florida Today. Cocoa, Florida. p. 2B – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Apollo astronauts revisit training area in Iceland and explore a new lava flow – The Exploration Museum". www.explorationmuseum.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  28. ^ "Ken Mattingly (Character)". IMDb. Retrieved June 2, 2012.
  29. ^ "For All Mankind – Criterion UHD Blu-ray Review". Home Theater Forum. May 4, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2023.

Further reading

External links