Milton Windler, who helped lead NASA’s flight operations during the Apollo 13 mission and later contributed to the development of the space shuttle and International Space Station, died at age 94. He passed away in Texas, though the exact date of death was not disclosed in the report.

Windler began his career in aeronautical engineering and joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, NASA’s predecessor, after graduating from Virginia Tech in 1954. He later transitioned to NASA, where he worked at Langley Research Center before relocating to Houston as the Manned Spacecraft Center — now Johnson Space Center — was being established.

During the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, Windler served as a flight director in Mission Control. He and the operations team were later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon for their efforts to bring the astronauts home safely after an in-flight emergency. He also received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal.

After the Apollo program, Windler worked on the space shuttle program, contributing to the development of the remote manipulator system, known as the Canadarm, a robotic arm built by Canada. He later retired from NASA and entered private industry, where he consulted on operations for what would become the International Space Station, including verification procedures for its modules.

In a 2006 interview, Windler described how flight planning evolved to accommodate real-time scientific objectives. He explained that each day, science teams would propose experiments, and a designated “Science Czar” would coordinate priorities for the following day. “We had to come up with a system that would allow us to plan in real time and accommodate the science people,” he said. “If something interesting happened on the sun, which it did several times, then we needed to be able to schedule the ATM [Apollo Telescope Mount] work.”

Reflecting on his career, Windler expressed regret about the pace of mission work. “If I did it again, I’d probably try to do something more about trying to pay more attention,” he said. “Apollo was — well, all of [the missions] were … bang-bang-bang. You couldn’t enjoy, really, in a way you couldn’t savor it.”

He is survived by his wife, Betty Windler, their three children, and eight grandchildren. A memorial service is planned in Friendswood, Texas, at the family’s former church in the coming weeks.