Ken Mattingly, Houston astronaut parade, August 1969. Footage of NASA astronaut Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II (born 1936) being driven by car at the Houston astronaut parade of 16 August 1969 in Houston, Texas, USA. Mattingly was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1966. At the time of this footage, he was scheduled to fly on the Apollo 13 mission (1970), but was replaced due to a potential infectious illness. He would later fly on the Apollo 16 (1972), STS-4 (1982), and STS-51-C (1985) missions. This parade was held to honour the Apollo 11 astronauts, but also featured other NASA astronauts. The Apollo 11 crew had achieved the first landing by humans on the Moon on 20 July 1969. Houston is the home of NASA's mission control, the Manned Spacecraft Centre (MSC), and this was among the first parades held in their honour. It featured numerous marching groups, with around 300, 000 people lining the streets. A ticker tape parade was held along the downtown Houston section of the route. |