OT: R.I.P. - Astronaut Ken Mattingly

[colbert17]

Ken Mattingly, who piloted Apollo 16 to the Moon and later commanded two space shuttle missions has died. Most of use would know him from the movie "Apollo 13" (one of my favorites) where he was played by Gary Sinise. He was on the original crew of that mission but was pulled due to an exposure to measles, which he never contracted. He was a key member of the team that help save the crew through his tireless work in the flight simulator.


Age 87 - R.I.P

Ken Mattingly, astronaut who helped Apollo 13 crew return safely home, dies at age 87

“We lost one of our country’s heroes on Oct. 31,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a Thursday statement.

nypost.com

Mattingly is in the center, far left is mission commander Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks in the movie) who is still alive at age 95.

 

[angmo]

RIP legend.

 

[e5fdny]

Omega’s on the wrist, ‘vettes to tool around in, the coolest job of the era and a nice tan. And super smart to boot.

Those guys must have slayed. 😎

 

[RU848789]

A top ten all-time film for me. My dad, when he was at GE, led a team that designed the telemetry systems for communications between the command module in orbit and the lunar module on the ground, so it was fun to watch that film with him, as he had lots of inside insights on the technical issues facing that crew (and he said the film was quite accurate).

 

[e5fdny]

A top ten all-time film for me. My dad, when he was at GE, led a team that designed the telemetry systems for communications between the command module in orbit and the lunar module on the ground, so it was fun to watch that film with him, as he had lots of inside insights on the technical issues facing that crew (and he said the film was quite accurate).

He probably knew my friend’s dad who was part of the Command Module design team.