Brief
NASA veteran Milt Windler, Apollo 13 flight director, dies at 94
Milt Windler, a former NASA flight director honored for Apollo 13, passed away at 94; his career spanned Skylab, the shuttle, and the ISS.
By Felo News Desk · Published
NASA veteran Milton "Milt" Windler died at age 94, the outlet Ars Technica reported on Oct. 3, 2026. Windler was a flight director during the Apollo 13 crisis and later contributed to the space shuttle, the Canadarm, and the International Space Station.
What happened
Born Jan. 10, 1932, in Hampton, Virginia, Windler earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Virginia Tech in 1954. After ROTC service and a stint with NACA, he joined the Air Force, then returned to NACA’s Langley Research Center as it became NASA. He moved to Houston for the newly formed Manned Spacecraft Center, later Johnson Space Center.
What the reports add
Ars Technica notes that Windler helped devise real‑time flight‑planning cycles for the Apollo Telescope Mount in 2006, allowing science observations to be slotted into mission schedules. After Skylab, he worked on the shuttle’s remote manipulator system (the Canadarm) and, after retirement, consulted on ISS operations and module verification.
What was said
Windler reflected in 2006, “We had to come up with a system that would allow us to plan in real time… If something interesting happened on the sun… we needed to be able to schedule the ATM work.” He later said, “If I did it again, I’d probably try to do something more about trying to pay more attention.”
How it came about
Windler’s career intersected with recent NASA news, including the agency’s call for new flight directors (Felo coverage) and ongoing work on the ISS and Artemis missions.
Key facts
- Milt Windler died at age 94 (arstechnica.com)
- He was a flight director during Apollo 13 (arstechnica.com)
- He helped develop real‑time flight‑planning for the Apollo Telescope Mount in 2006 (arstechnica.com)
- After Skylab he worked on the shuttle’s Canadarm and later consulted on ISS operations (arstechnica.com)
Sources
- [1] arstechnica.com — originally reported as “Milt Windler, NASA flight director who helped save Apollo 13, dies at 94”
