{"id":2092038,"date":"2023-11-06T15:57:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T20:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/astronaut-who-helped-guide-apollo-13-back-to-earth-dies-at-87\/"},"modified":"2023-11-06T15:57:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T20:57:02","slug":"astronaut-who-helped-guide-apollo-13-back-to-earth-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/astronaut-who-helped-guide-apollo-13-back-to-earth-dies-at-87\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronaut Who Helped Guide Apollo 13 Back To Earth Dies At 87"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fastronaut-who-helped-guide-apollo-13-back-to-earth-dies-at-87%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2092038&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thomas K. Mattingly, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/nasa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA<\/a> astronaut who helped guide Apollo 13 back to Earth after the spacecraft was damaged in space, died on October 31 at the age of 87.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NASA Administrator Bill Nelson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/news-release\/nasa-administrator-remembers-apollo-astronaut-thomas-k-mattingly-ii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a> Mattingly\u2019s death on Thursday, describing Mattingly as a hero and praising the astronaut\u2019s long aeronautic career, which saw him play a pivotal role in several Apollo missions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe lost one of our country\u2019s heroes on Oct. 31. NASA astronaut TK Mattingly was key to the success of our Apollo Program, and his shining personality will ensure he is remembered throughout history,\u201d Nelson said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1966, NASA chose Mattingly to be part of that year\u2019s astronaut class after which he started working as part of the astronaut support crew and in the development of the Apollo spacesuit and backpack.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHis unparalleled skill as a pilot aided us when he took on the role of command module pilot for Apollo 16 and spacecraft commander for space shuttle missions STS-4 and STS 51-C. The commitment to innovation and resilience toward opposition made TK an excellent figure to embody our mission and our nation\u2019s admiration,\u201d Nelson said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mattingly is best known for his role in 1970 in helping get the crew of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/missions\/apollo\/apollo-13-mission-details\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Apollo 13<\/a> back to Earth after a service module oxygen tank on the ship ruptured causing the astronauts to lose access to electricity, water, and light 200,000 miles away from Earth.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mattingly had been set to travel on Apollo 13, but ended up being exposed to rubella so he was unable to go on the mission. He ended up playing a vital role from the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cPerhaps his most dramatic role at NASA was after exposure to rubella just before the launch of Apollo 13. He stayed behind and provided key real-time decisions to successfully bring home the wounded spacecraft and the crew of Apollo 13 \u2013 NASA astronauts James Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise,\u201d Nelson said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1972, Mattingly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/thomas-k-mattingly-astronaut-space-pioneer-guided-apollo-13-safety-die-rcna123496\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">would go on<\/a> to be the command module pilot for the Apollo 16 mission where astronauts explored the moon\u2019s Descartes Highlands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1699191223117000&#038;usg=AOvVaw01Gcl0KH4Jw3L7BcHpV3A1\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who landed on the moon alongside Neil Armstrong in July 1969, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheRealBuzz\/status\/1720513070567432554\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">praised<\/a> Mattingly in a statement on X, calling him a friend.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHe was a great test pilot, a Navy veteran, a class act, and a heck of a good man. I\u2019ll always remember him for his natural ability to handle an immense degree of responsibility under pressure without getting rattled \u2013 a true professional of the rarest kind. He will be truly missed. Rest in Peace, Ken,\u201d Aldrin said. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas K. Mattingly, a NASA astronaut who helped guide Apollo 13 back to Earth after the spacecraft was damaged in space, died on October 31 at the age of 87.\u00a0 NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced Mattingly\u2019s death on Thursday, describing Mattingly as a hero and praising the astronaut\u2019s long aeronautic career, which saw him play<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2092039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2092038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2092038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2092039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2092038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2092038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2092038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}