Ken Mattingly Turns 80

On Thursday Ken Mattingly, the youngest man among those who ever ventured beyond low Earth orbit, turned 80. A couple others were younger than Admiral Mattingly at the time of their respective launches, but Mattingly’s mission, the next-to-last Apollo mission to the moon, was later than theirs, and he was born last. As Apollo 16’s Command Module Pilot 44 years ago, he is one of seven men to have ever been isolated by a couple thousand miles from any other person, three days orbiting the moon alone.

To repeat, the couple dozen men who have ever seen Earth from a thousand miles away are all 80 years old or older or dead, and they all did so on their way to the moon. Another decade or so left till such feats become legend.