US astronaut Thomas Kenneth Mattingly, who played an important role in the rescue mission of the Apollo 13 crew in 1970, has died at the age of 87. This was announced by the US space agency NASA.
“We lost one of our country’s heroes on October 31,” it said in a statement. The Navy-trained pilot played a key role in the success of the Apollo program.
Mattingly, known as “TK,” was originally scheduled to be a command module pilot at the time. Since he was exposed to rubella shortly before takeoff and was not immune to it, he had to stay on the ground to be on the safe side. NASA didn’t want to risk him getting sick during the lunar mission. “Of course I was very disappointed,” he said years later.
Mattingly at headquarters
An explosion in an oxygen tank of the space capsule put the crew – Commander Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert, who stood in for Mattingly – in acute danger of their lives. “Houston, we have a problem,” the crew reported to the control center in Houston.
From headquarters, Mattingly helped a team of experts find solutions for his comrades’ safe return, such as emergency power supplies. “He made important decisions to successfully bring the damaged spacecraft and crew home,” NASA wrote. On April 17, 1970 – after four anxious days – the team finally landed safely near American Samoa in the Pacific Ocean.
Ron Howard filmed the dramatic rescue in 1995 in the successful Hollywood film “Apollo 13” with Tom Hanks as Lovell, Bill Paxton as Haise, Kevin Bacon as Swigert and Gary Sinise as Mattingly. With “Apollo 16” in 1972 he went on his first space flight as a command module pilot.
