30 Facts About Ken Mattingly

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II was an American aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, rear admiral in the United States Navy, and astronaut who flew on Apollo 16 and Space Shuttle STS-4 and STS-51-C missions.

Ken Mattingly flew as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 16 and made 64 lunar orbits, making him one of 24 people to fly to the Moon.

Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II was born on March 17,1936, in Chicago, Illinois, to Thomas Kenneth Mattingly and Constance Mason Mattingly.

Ken Mattingly was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout.

Ken Mattingly graduated from Miami Edison High School in 1954, and went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Auburn University in 1958.

Ken Mattingly was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

Ken Mattingly was commissioned in the US Navy as an ensign in 1958 and received his aviator wings in 1960.

Ken Mattingly had previously shown little interest and inclination to apply for the astronaut program, but his views changed at the Air Force Test Pilot School where he and his classmates were offered the chance to apply for either NASA or the United States Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory program.

Collins asked Ken Mattingly how he felt about the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, to which Ken Mattingly replied that he thought it was a "fun aircraft" but without worth in combat.

Collins appeared to dislike the answer and Ken Mattingly felt he had blown his chance.

However, after the conclusion of the selection process, Ken Mattingly was called by NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton with an offer to become an astronaut.

At the time of his selection, Ken Mattingly had 2,582 hours of flight experience, including 1,036 hours in jet aircraft.

Ken Mattingly had a bachelor's degree in engineering or in the physical or biological sciences as required by the initial qualifications.

At first, Ken Mattingly was part of the support crew for Apollo 8.

Ken Mattingly served as CAPCOM during Apollo 8's second television transmission and subsequent preparation for trans-Earth injection.

Ken Mattingly was to be the Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 13 mission.

Originally, Jim Lovell, Ken Mattingly and Fred Haise were scheduled to fly on Apollo 14 but his crew was switched to Apollo 13 so that the commander of the other crew, Alan Shepard, who was grounded during Project Gemini could train longer.

However, Ken Mattingly played a large role in helping the crew solve the problem of power conservation during re-entry.

In 1985, Ken Mattingly retired from NASA, then retired from the Navy the following year with the two-star rank of Rear admiral, and entered the private sector.

Ken Mattingly worked as a Director in Grumman's Space Station Support Division.

Ken Mattingly then headed the Atlas booster program for General Dynamics in San Diego, California.

Ken Mattingly then worked at Systems Planning and Analysis in Virginia.

Ken Mattingly logged 7,200 hours of flight time, including 5,000 hours in jet aircraft.

Ken Mattingly was an associate fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; fellow, American Astronautical Society; and member, Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and the US Naval Institute.

Ken Mattingly died in Arlington, Virginia, on October 31,2023, at age 87.

Ken Mattingly was inducted with a group of Apollo astronauts into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1983.

Ken Mattingly was one of 24 Apollo astronauts who were inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997.

Ken Mattingly's name appears on The Astronaut Monument in Husavik, Iceland, commemorating 32 Apollo astronauts who were sent to Iceland for geological training in the 1960s.

Ken Mattingly was portrayed by Gary Sinise in the 1995 movie Apollo 13 and by Zeljko Ivanek in the 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

Interviews with Ken Mattingly were used as part of the narrative track on the 1989 documentary film For All Mankind.