The astronaut Ken Mattingly, who has died aged 87, was probably more famous for his role in the saga of Apollo 13 – the ill-fated 1970 lunar mission, from which he was removed three days before launch – than he was for Apollo 16, on which he made a successful trip to the moon two years later.
Mattingly lost his place as command module pilot on Apollo 13 because he had been exposed to rubella. As a consequence he had to settle for a role within the Houston ground control team, where he helped to power up the stricken Apollo 13 spacecraft after it had broken down.
