Thomas "Ken" Mattingly, an American astronaut who went into space three times, passed away October 31. He was 87.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, he moved with his family to Hialeah, Florida and soon, airplanes became an early fascination. He graduated from Miami Edison High School in 1954 and received a BS degrees in aeronautical engineering from Auburn University in 1958. He then joined the navy and in 1966 he was selected as an astronaut.
He was scheduled to be the Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 13 mission, but he was removed form the mission because he had been exposed to German measles (which he didn't catch) and was replaced by Jack Swigert. Mattingly did play a large role in helping the crew get safely back to Earth.
He was placed onto the crew of Apollo 16, the fifth lunar landing mission with John Young and Charlie Duke. Mattingly and Young were the only two Apollo astronauts to fly on the Space Shuttle missions. Mattingly carried out an EVA to retrieve film and data packages from the science bay on the side of the service module.
Mattingly served as commander of Columbia (STS-4) in June 1982, the fourth and final orbital test of Columbia.
He served as commander on Discovery (STS-51-C), a Department of Defense mission, in January 1985.
He retired from the Navy in 1986 as Rear admiral. He passed away in Arlington, Virginia.
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