Apollo's Crew: A Study in Contrasts

LIKE all the other astronauts who have made the long trip to the moon, Apollo 16's crew members have one ability in common: they are highly competent jet pilots. Yet in temperament, personal interests and space-flight experience, they are as different as lunar night and day.

CAPTAIN JOHN W. YOUNG, U.S.N., 41, Apollo 16's commander, has served on more space crews than any other astronaut. In 1965, along with the late Gus Grissom, Young made three orbits of the earth aboard the first manned Gemini flight. One year later, he commanded the Gemini 10 mission, and in 1969 flew within nine miles of the moon's surface aboard Apollo 10's command module. Young was also a back-up crewman for Gemini 6, Apollo 7 and the ill-starred Apollo 13; in all, he has been undergoing intensive flight training continuously for seven years. That arduous routine contributed to the breakup of his marriage: the father of two, he was quietly divorced from his first wife, Barbara, last summer and has since married Susy Feldman, a pretty 29-year-old secretary. Through it all, Young has maintained a highly dedicated, no-nonsense attitude toward space flight. When a NASA geologist humorously suggested that he scrawl "Beat Army" in the lunar dust, Young replied: "I'll stomp out any words you want except 'Help.' "

LIEUT. COLONEL CHARLES M. DUKE JR.,

U.S.A.F., 36, who will accompany Young to the surface of the moon, makes an ideal foil for his more taciturn skipper. Born and reared in the Carolinas, the easygoing space rookie still speaks in a casual drawl. He has also managed to achieve a space first of sorts. He asked for--and got --grits (dehydrated) on his breakfast menu for this month's moon trip. But Duke's playfulness is deceptive. He was class valedictorian in prep school (Admiral Farragut Academy, St. Petersburg, Fla.), graduated with honors from the U.S. Naval Academy and later earned a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics from M.I.T. Married and the father of two boys, he is also the only Apollo 16 crewman who openly made a point of listing reading as a hobby in his official biography.

LIEUT. COMMANDER THOMAS KENNETH MATTINGLY II, U.S.N., 36, the COmmand-module pilot, has been the most conscientious member of the Apollo 16 crew during preflight training. With good reason, he leaves nothing to chance. Shortly before he was scheduled to make his first space flight aboard Apollo 13 two years ago, the longtime bachelor (he finally married in 1970) was accidentally exposed to the German measles. Because Mattingly had never had the disease or been immunized against it, NASA replaced him as command-module pilot rather than risk the first case of measles in space. Mattingly, who stayed behind and helped devise the emergency procedures that saved his Apollo 13 crewmates from disaster, remained in glowing good health. He does not have to be reminded about who exposed him to the disease: it was Charlie Duke, his Apollo 16 crewmate, who had contracted the disease from the children of Houston friends.

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