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OT: AU alum Ken Mattingly passed


TigerHorn

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Not much traffic on the All Things Considered Board, thought I'd post this here. CNN Link

In addition to his pivotal role in saving Apollo 13 (Gary Sinise's character, if you've seen the movie, if not, what are you waiting for?), Mattingly went to the moon on Apollo 16 and commanded two space shuttle missions, one of which was the only shuttle mission up to that time to feature two alumni from the same university. I still remember the bumper sticker with Aubie riding a shuttle. 

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1 hour ago, Elephant Tipper said:

Thank you for posting TigerHorn.  Mattingly was a true American hero and a great role model.

WDE !!!

I haven't seen that. Thanks for posting. An AU man for sure. 

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As a little boy I was fascinated with Apollo missions. 

IMG_0725.jpeg

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I didn't watch Apollo 13 for the first time until a couple of years ago, but good grief was that a good movie!

RIP Ken. You are a true American hero!

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RIP Mr. Mattingly.  And War Eagle.  Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" is one of my favorite songs.  I guess it had a real special meaning for you since you are one of the very select few who've actually seen it.

Edited by WillMunny
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The USAF Squadron Officer School uses his leadership as an example for all Air Force offers to emulate!

At Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Al. I would tell my former students, his alma mater, (Auburn University) is right up the road.

R.I.P.

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I had the opportunity to hear him speak at the University of South Alabama shortly after the Apollo 13 movie was released.  He played a short video with scenes from the movie and then spoke about what really happened at the command center to get the crew safely home.  He said that where there were a handful of characters in the movie, there were actually over 200 engineers that really made it happen in real life.  He also said that the rigged filter apparatus in the movie had actually already been presented as a viable emergency option in team prep exercises way prior to the actual launch.  
 

RIP Mr. Mattingly! 🙏

Edited by gctiger
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