10/26/95
By Janet McCoy (mccoyjl@mail.auburn.edu)
AU GRAD/APOLLO 13 ASTRONAUT MATTINGLY TO SPEAK AT AU NOV. 1
AUBURN -- Being exposed to the measles 25 years ago may have been the luckiest thing that ever happened to T.K. "Ken" Mattingly -- and America's space program. It was the Auburn graduate who provided key information that led to the rescue of Apollo 13 and its crew.
Mattingly will reminisce about his Apollo 13 experiences and the blockbuster summer movie when he speaks to AU students Wednesday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. in Foy Union Ballroom. The lecture, sponsored by the University Program Council, is free and open to the public.
Mattingly, a 1958 AU aeronautical engineering graduate and Student Government Association president, was pulled from the ill-fated mission 48 hours before launch after being exposed to the German measles, although he never contracted the disease. He became the expert on the ground with the most knowledge of the crippled spaceship, the mission and its crew.
In an interview from his Virginia home this summer, Mattingly talked about the movie, directed by Ron Howard and starring two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks, and his memories of those harrowing days.
"The movie is not a documentary, it's an entertainment piece based on fact," says Mattingly, who had a nearly 20-year astronaut career. He attended a private screening in Houston with the movie's stars and others who worked to bring the Apollo 13 crew home.
Following Apollo 13, Mattingly flew in three missions -- Apollo 16 in 1972, where he spent more than one hour outside the orbiter; the fourth and final orbital test flight of Columbia in 1982 with AU alumnus Henry "Hank" Hartsfield; and the first Department of Defense mission in 1985 on the shuttle Discovery.
"I was fortunate in that I had a personal participation in Apollo 8, our first mission to the moon, Apollo 11, our first landing, and Apollo 13, which I've always called our finest moment," Mattingly said.
Mattingly said he hoped the movie would build enthusiasm for the space program, but it wonÕt bring back the Apollo days.
"I hope . . . people will get to see that there are some things the United States government has done that were really good, that people can be extraordinary," he said. "We did some audacious things that I'm not sure we could do today for a lot of different reasons. There was this opportunity where NASA did something absolutely unparalleled."
oct95:AU-mattingly
CONTACT: UPC Director Robert French, 334/844-5292 (frencrd@mail.auburn.edu)
(NOTE TO MEDIA: A new conference has been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in 208 Foy Union prior to Mattingly's speech. Contact Janet McCoy in the AU News Bureau at 334/844-9999 or e-mail: mccoyjl@mail.auburn.edu if you plan to attend.)