Remembering astronaut Ken Mattingly (1936-2023)

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.

Happy birthday, Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke!

Charles "Charlie" Duke, born October 3, 1935 in Charlotte, North Carolina, went to the moon on Apollo 16 as Lunar Module Pilot in April 1972.  He became the tenth and youngest person to walk on the moon.

He retired in January 1976.

Apollo 16 launched 1972

Apollo 16 crew (L-R): Ken Mattingly, John Young, Charles Duke

Mission patch

Apollo 16, launched April 16, 1972, was the fifth mission to land on the moon and the tenth manned mission in NASA's Apollo program.  Its crew consisted of Commander John Young, Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke.

On Day 5 of the mission, Young and Duke undocked from the Command Module Casper and prepared the Lunar Lander Orion for landing.  They touched down in the lunar highlands, the area of the moon with brighter surfaces.

Young and Duke (the youngest person to walk on the moon) spent 71 hours on the lunar surface, which included three EVAs totalling just over 20 hours.  They drove almost 17 miles in the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

Ken Mattingly performed a one-hour EVA to retrieve several film cassettes from the exterior of the Service Module.

On April 23, the lunar module blasted off and rendezvoused with the Command Module.  They splashed down April 27 in the South Pacific Ocean.