Ken Mattingly

On September 10, 1965, NASA began the selection process for the fifth astronaut group. From a pool of 351 applicants, NASA selected 159 candidates that met the basic qualifications that required that applicants must be United States citizens born on or after December 1, 1929, and no more than six feet tall. They were also required to have at least 1,000 hours of flight time in a jet aircraft. Mattingly, at the time of his selection, had 2,582 hours of flight experience, including 1,036 hours in a jet aircraft. He also had a bachelor's degree in engineering or in the physical or biological sciences as required by the initial qualifications. From the 100 military personnel and 59 civilian candidates, NASA selected 19 astronauts to join the group.[8]

Mattingly, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy,[8] was a student at the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards AFB, California, when NASA selected him as an astronaut in April 1966.[2][9]

Mattingly poses at the launch pad

At first, Mattingly was part of the support crew for Apollo 8. Mattingly served as CAPCOM during Apollo 8's second television transmission and subsequent preparation for trans-Earth injection.[10]

He then trained parallel with Bill Anders for Apollo 11 as backup Command Module Pilot, because Anders was going to retire from NASA in August 1969, and in case of mission delay, Anders would be unavailable.

Mattingly's first prime assignment was to be the Command Module Pilot on the Apollo 13 mission. Three days prior to launch, he was removed from the mission due to exposure to German measles (which he never contracted) and was replaced by the backup CM pilot, Jack Swigert.[11] As a result, he missed the dramatic in-flight explosion that crippled the spacecraft.[12] However, Mattingly was involved in helping the crew solve the problem of power conservation during re-entry.[11][13]

Mattingly performs a deep-space EVA during Apollo 16

The swapout from Apollo 13 placed Mattingly on the crew that would fly Apollo 16 (April 16–27, 1972), the fifth crewed lunar landing mission. The crew included John W. Young (Commander), Mattingly (Command Module Pilot), and Charles M. Duke Jr. (Lunar Module Pilot). The mission assigned to Apollo 16 was to collect samples from the lunar highlands near the crater Descartes. While in lunar orbit the scientific instruments aboard the Command/Service Module Casper extended the photographic and geochemical mapping of a belt around the lunar equator. Twenty-six separate scientific experiments were conducted both in lunar orbit and during cislunar coast. Major emphasis was placed on using man as an orbital observer, capitalizing on the human eye's unique capabilities and man's inherent curiosity.[2]

During the return leg of the mission, Mattingly carried out an extravehicular activity (EVA) to retrieve film and data packages from the science bay on the side of the service module. Although the mission of Apollo 16 was terminated one day early, due to concern over several spacecraft malfunctions, all major objectives were accomplished through the ceaseless efforts of the mission support team and were made possible by the most rigorous preflight planning yet associated with an Apollo mission.[2]

Following his return to Earth, Mattingly served in astronaut managerial positions in the Space Shuttle development program.[2]

Mattingly (foreground) with Henry Hartsfield salutes President Ronald Reagan, next to First Lady Nancy Reagan, after the STS-4 landing on July 4, 1982

"President Ronald Reagan chats with NASA astronauts Henry Hartsfield and Thomas Mattingly on the runway as first lady Nancy Reagan scans the nose of Space Shuttle Columbia following its Independence Day landing at Edwards Air Force Base on July 4, 1982."[14]

Mattingly was named to command STS-4, the fourth and final orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 27, 1982 with Henry W. Hartsfield Jr., as the pilot. This 7-day mission was designed to further verify ascent and entry phases of shuttle missions; perform continued studies of the effects of long-term thermal extremes on the orbiter subsystems; and conduct a survey of orbiter-induced contamination on the orbiter payload bay. Additionally, the crew operated several scientific experiments located in the orbiter's cabin and in the payload bay. These experiments included the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis System experiment designed to investigate the separation of biological materials in a fluid according to their surface electrical charge.[2][15] This experiment was a pathfinder for the first commercial venture to capitalize on the unique characteristics of space. The crew is also credited with effecting an in-flight repair which enabled them to activate the first operational "Getaway Special" (composed of nine experiments that ranged from algae and duckweed growth in space to fruit fly and brine shrimp genetic studies). STS-4 completed 112 orbits of the Earth before landing on a concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on July 4, 1982.[2] Mattingly and Hartsfield were greeted by President Ronald Reagan after the landing; Reagan recognized the pair, both graduates of Auburn University, as "you two sons of Auburn" in his welcoming speech.[16]

STS-51-C, the first Space Shuttle Department of Defense mission, launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on January 24, 1985. The crew included Ken Mattingly (spacecraft commander), Loren Shriver (pilot), James Buchli and Ellison Onizuka (Mission Specialists), and Gary Payton (DOD Payload Specialist). STS-51-C performed its DOD mission which included deployment of a modified Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) vehicle from the Space Shuttle Discovery. Landing occurred on January 27, 1985.[2]