To be fair, his involvement didn't end with "not going to the Moon"; he was instrumental in saving the lives of three other people who didn't go to the moon, an

To be fair, his involvement didn't end with "not going to the Moon"; he was instrumental in saving the lives of three other people who didn't go to the moon, and arguably therein saving a generation of science and cosmology from being lumped in with recklessness and death. The cold start procedure is probably in the top 100 most notable on-the-fly hacks in human history (though my understanding is that it was actually _less_ challenging in real life than is depicted in the film, once the test pilots got together and compared notes). The headline is unfair, I agree. But his contribution to the Apollo 13 mission was significant.