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Astronaut Rear Adm. (ret.) Thomas Ken 'TK' Mattingly, who is credited for leading the efforts to return the damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft back to Earth safely, has died at the age of 87, according to NASA officials.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson confirmed that Mattingly had died on Tuesday (October 31) in a news release shared on NASA's official website Thursday (November 2).
“We lost one of our country’s 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," Nelson said.
“TK’s contributions have allowed for advancements in our learning beyond that of space," Nelson added. "He described his experience in orbit by saying, ‘I had this very palpable fear that if I saw too much, I couldn’t remember. It was just so impressive.’ He viewed the universe’s vastness as an unending forum of possibilities. As a leader in exploratory missions, TK will be remembered for braving the unknown for the sake of our country’s future.”
NASA didn't provide details regarding Mattingly's cause of death in its news release. The 87-year-old was reported to have died in Arlington, Virginia, according to the New York Times.
Mattingly joined NASA in 1966 and helped in the development of the spacesuit and backpack worn by astronauts during the first Apollo moon missions. The Chicago native was supposed to join the Apollo 13 crew in piloting the command module, but was exposed to German measles and later worked with engineers and others to analyze the situation after the spacecraft's service module exploded, knocking out most of the ship's power and oxygen.
The three Apollo 13 astronauts eventually crowded into a lander -- which was designed to hold only two people -- and used it as a lifeboat for four days as the aircraft traveled around the moon before making a safe return to Earth.
“One of the many lessons out of all this is starting on day one it was from the very first moment, assume you’re going to succeed and don’t do anything that gets in the way,” Mattingly said in an oral history interview for NASA that took place in 2001.
Mattingly's own first spacefight took place in 1972 when he piloted the Apollo 16 command module that orbited the moon as two others landed on its surface. Mattingly later commanded two space shuttle missions and retired from NASA and the Navy while holding the rank of rear admiral.