Mattingly s first flight to space was aboard the apollo 16 mission on april 16 1972 of which he served as commander.
Ken mattingly space missions apollo 16.
But this wasn t supposed to be his first apollo mission.
Mattingly was originally been scheduled to fly aboard the ill fated apollo 13but was swapped out at the last minute with jack swigert after being exposed to measles.
Apollo 16 was the tenth manned mission in the united states apollo space program the fifth and penultimate to land on the moon and the first to land in the lunar highlands.
Despite the ship s tight confines and the crew s best efforts they could not locate the ring.
He is perhaps best remembered however as the astronaut who stayed home from the ill fated.
Instead mattingly made his first spaceflight in april 1972 going into lunar orbit as command module pilot of apollo 16.
The first apollo mission to get to space was apollo 7.
Thomas kenneth mattingly ii born march 17 1936 radm usn ret better known as ken mattingly is a former american naval officer and aviator flag officer aeronautical engineer test pilot rear admiral in the united states navy and astronaut who flew on the apollo 16 sts 4 and sts 51 c missions.
The second of the so called j missions it was crewed by commander john young lunar module pilot charles duke and command module pilot ken mattingly.
According to duke on the second day of the 11 day apollo 16 mission to the moon and back mattingly the command module pilot reported his wedding ring missing.
Born march 17 1936 is a former american aviator aeronautical engineer test pilot rear admiral in the united states navy and astronaut who flew on the apollo 16 sts 4 and sts 51 c missions.
He had been scheduled to fly on apollo 13 but was held back due to concerns about a potential illness which he did not contract.
The expended saturn s ivb stage as photographed from the apollo 7 spacecraft during transposition and docking maneuvers at an approximate altitude of 125 nautical miles at ground elapsed time of three hours and 16 minutes beginning of third revolution.
Radm thomas kenneth mattingly ii usn ret.
Thomas kenneth ken mattingly ii born march 17 1936 is a retired american astronaut naval aviator and rear admiral in the united states navy who flew on the apollo 16 sts 4 and sts 51 c missions.