Apollo 13 flight director Milt Windler dies aged 94
The NASA flight director helped coordinate the response to the damaged spacecraft and later worked across Skylab and the space shuttle programme.
Milt Windler, a NASA flight director who helped coordinate Mission Control’s response to the Apollo 13 emergency, has died aged 94, Ars Technica reported, citing an online notice. The notice said he died on Thursday surrounded by family; the supplied report does not give a calendar date.
Named a flight director in 1968, Windler led shifts during Apollo missions, all three crewed Skylab missions and later space shuttle work. During Apollo 13, he and fellow flight director Gerry Griffin worked with controllers to develop options for firing the lunar module’s engine and returning the damaged spacecraft to Earth.
Windler also led shifts for Apollo 8, Apollo 10 and the Apollo 12, 14 and 15 moon landings. At Skylab, he helped develop real-time flight planning to accommodate changing scientific priorities.
After Skylab, he worked on the space shuttle and the development of its Canadarm robotic arm. Following his retirement from NASA, he joined private industry and consulted on operations and verification work for the International Space Station.
Windler and other Apollo 13 Mission Control personnel received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970. He also received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal. A memorial service is planned in the coming weeks at his family’s former church in Friendswood, Texas; no date was provided.
