2023-11-03 01:44:37
Undated NASA photo showing astronaut Thomas Mattingly. HANDOUT / AFP
Destiny had decided to entrust him with a mission other than the one for which he had been assigned. And he had done it successfully. NASA astronaut Thomas Mattingly, who helped bring back the crew of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission safely through his efforts from the ground control cell, died Tuesday, November 2, at the age of 87 years old, announced the American space agency.
While he was supposed to pilot the command module for Apollo 13’s flight to the Moon, Thomas Mattingly was grounded 72 hours before launch, after being exposed to rubella, said Bill Nelson, the head of The NASA.
During the mission, which took place in April 1970, a tank explosion damaged the spacecraft when it was 320,000 kilometers from Earth. Thomas Mattingly, who ultimately did not become ill, then went to the mission control center and developed energy-saving procedures so that the vehicle could return to the atmosphere, saving the lives of James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, the astronauts aboard the module, who, after circling the Moon without landing, landed in the Pacific.
Captain of two Space Shuttle missions
The film Apollo 13 released in 1995, in which Gary Sinise plays Mattingly, popularized the eponymous mission.
Thomas Mattingly began his career as a pilot in naval aviation before being selected to become an astronaut in 1966. At NASA, he was pilot of the command module of the Apollo 16 mission and captain of two shuttle missions. spatial.
“Thomas’ contributions have advanced our learning beyond space”greeted Mr. Nelson.
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