NASA astronaut Thomas Mattingly, who safely returned Apollo 13 to Earth after an oxygen tank exploded in 1970, passed away on the 31st of last month (local time), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reported. 2023.11.02 © AFP=News1 © News1 Reporter Jeong Ji-yoon
American astronaut Thomas Mattingly, who helped return Apollo 13 to Earth, has died at the age of 87.
According to AFP, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced in a statement on the 2nd (local time) that NASA astronaut Thomas Mattingly passed away on the 31st of last month.
Mattingly was appointed as the command module pilot for Apollo 13, which went on a lunar mission in 1970. However, 72 hours before launch, he was excluded from the mission due to health problems.
When Apollo 13, which was heading to the moon, faced an emergency due to an oxygen tank explosion, Mattingly designed a procedure at the mission control center to allow the spacecraft to re-enter the atmosphere. All three astronauts on the spacecraft survived.
Afterwards, Mattingly took command again on the Apollo 16 mission and served as spacecraft commander on two space shuttle missions.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remembered Mattingly as “a man who brought advances not only to space but also to our learning in general.”
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