Apollo and America's Moon Landing Program: NASA Engineers and the Age of Apollo - Stories of the Engineers Who Made the Moon Landing Possible (NASA SP-4104)

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Physics, Astronomy, Other Sciences, History
Cover of the book Apollo and America's Moon Landing Program: NASA Engineers and the Age of Apollo - Stories of the Engineers Who Made the Moon Landing Possible (NASA SP-4104) by Progressive Management, Progressive Management
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Progressive Management ISBN: 9781465896582
Publisher: Progressive Management Publication: January 14, 2012
Imprint: Smashwords Edition Language: English
Author: Progressive Management
ISBN: 9781465896582
Publisher: Progressive Management
Publication: January 14, 2012
Imprint: Smashwords Edition
Language: English

This comprehensive official NASA history document - converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction - is a fascinating collection of interviews with engineers involved with the NASA space program and the Apollo moon landing project.

From the Preface: "A generation of men and women who had defined their lives to a large extent in terms of this nation's epochal departure from Earth's surface was taking its leave of the program they had built. Would they, or their work, be remembered? Would anyone care? As the historian for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I had the responsibility of attempting-attempting, because the task could never be fully done-to capture the essence of their lives and careers. Those who worked "on the front lines" of what I have called, after William James, a "moral equivalent of war," have had their quirks and genius memorialized in the agency's lore. If our memory of the Apollo era neglected those ordinary people, that memory would be incomplete, and we would have done an injustice to the true nature of life over time. Thus, the lives and careers laid out on the pages that follow have been drawn from hours of conversation with a variety of people: they are my best approximation of the "average" NASA engineer of the Apollo age; some did remarkable things, while others just filled in the pieces. It soon became apparent, however, that even the most "average" of them were part of a story that was larger than the Apollo story itself, much less NASA's story. What happened to them over the course of their careers was part of the undertow of what happened to this country during the post-World War II era and the 1960s."

This profile is thus necessarily restricted to those engineers who, for whatever reason, preferred to work for NASA. Fifty-one engineers from NASA Headquarters and its seven principal installations 12 were selected for interviews at random from each of four groups: the "nominee" group and the three cohorts that comprised the "total population" of engineers who came to work for NASA between 1958 and 1970. None declined what was most often received as an opportunity to tell one's own story and thus surface from the depths of anonymity to which bureaucracy consigns most of its workers. The interviews clearly suggested that the career experiences of the "nominee" group were substantially similar to those of the "total population" other than what I have noted above, which is indicated by a fairly straightforward demographic analysis.

The chapters that follow do not necessarily incorporate the observations or reflections of every person interviewed on every single subject. Predictably, some engineers told good stories and others had few stories that they could or wanted to tell. Some simply had more interesting lives than others. Those whose comments were selected for inclusion were chosen because the experiences they related were relatively typical-that is, other engineers could have told of similar experiences. Occasionally an engineer's observations were selected precisely because they were atypical; in those instances the reader is alerted to the exceptional nature of what follows. All of the engineers we asked to interview not only agreed to talk with us, but were as open about their experiences as their apparent individual levels of personal reticence seemed to allow. Although none requested anonymity, pseudonyms have been used throughout the text that follows (however, actual place names are used).

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This comprehensive official NASA history document - converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction - is a fascinating collection of interviews with engineers involved with the NASA space program and the Apollo moon landing project.

From the Preface: "A generation of men and women who had defined their lives to a large extent in terms of this nation's epochal departure from Earth's surface was taking its leave of the program they had built. Would they, or their work, be remembered? Would anyone care? As the historian for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, I had the responsibility of attempting-attempting, because the task could never be fully done-to capture the essence of their lives and careers. Those who worked "on the front lines" of what I have called, after William James, a "moral equivalent of war," have had their quirks and genius memorialized in the agency's lore. If our memory of the Apollo era neglected those ordinary people, that memory would be incomplete, and we would have done an injustice to the true nature of life over time. Thus, the lives and careers laid out on the pages that follow have been drawn from hours of conversation with a variety of people: they are my best approximation of the "average" NASA engineer of the Apollo age; some did remarkable things, while others just filled in the pieces. It soon became apparent, however, that even the most "average" of them were part of a story that was larger than the Apollo story itself, much less NASA's story. What happened to them over the course of their careers was part of the undertow of what happened to this country during the post-World War II era and the 1960s."

This profile is thus necessarily restricted to those engineers who, for whatever reason, preferred to work for NASA. Fifty-one engineers from NASA Headquarters and its seven principal installations 12 were selected for interviews at random from each of four groups: the "nominee" group and the three cohorts that comprised the "total population" of engineers who came to work for NASA between 1958 and 1970. None declined what was most often received as an opportunity to tell one's own story and thus surface from the depths of anonymity to which bureaucracy consigns most of its workers. The interviews clearly suggested that the career experiences of the "nominee" group were substantially similar to those of the "total population" other than what I have noted above, which is indicated by a fairly straightforward demographic analysis.

The chapters that follow do not necessarily incorporate the observations or reflections of every person interviewed on every single subject. Predictably, some engineers told good stories and others had few stories that they could or wanted to tell. Some simply had more interesting lives than others. Those whose comments were selected for inclusion were chosen because the experiences they related were relatively typical-that is, other engineers could have told of similar experiences. Occasionally an engineer's observations were selected precisely because they were atypical; in those instances the reader is alerted to the exceptional nature of what follows. All of the engineers we asked to interview not only agreed to talk with us, but were as open about their experiences as their apparent individual levels of personal reticence seemed to allow. Although none requested anonymity, pseudonyms have been used throughout the text that follows (however, actual place names are used).

More books from Progressive Management

Cover of the book Clinical Management of Military Working Dogs and Canine Resuscitation: Joint Theater Trauma System Clinical Practice Guidelines Excerpts (Emergency War Surgery Series) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Russian Navy: A Historic Transition - Official U.S. Navy Intelligence Report on New Developments Shaping Russia's Navy and Operations in the 21st Century, Review of Ships, Weapons, Leadership by Progressive Management
Cover of the book FEMA U.S. Fire Administration Traffic Incident Management Systems (FA-330) - Case Studies, Equipment to Improve Highway Safety, Preincident Planning, Best Practices by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century VA Independent Study Course: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Implications for Primary Care, Combat, Military Sexual Assault, Diagnosis, Treatment, Medicine, Compensation by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Manuals: Opposing Force OPFOR Worldwide Equipment Guide (WEG) Part 3 - Ground Systems - Reconnaissance, including Russian, Chinese, U.S., Sensors, Radar, UAV, Night Vision by Progressive Management
Cover of the book On the Far Bank: The Effects of Gap Crossing on Operational Reach - Studies of Three Large-scale, Opposed River Crossings in World War II and Arab-Israeli War: Operations Market Garden, Plunder, Badr by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Essential Guide to the Defense Security Service (DSS) - Personnel Security, Counterintelligence, Preventing Computer Espionage, Security Clearance, Improving Industrial Security by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Aerospace Power in the Twenty-First Century: A Basic Primer - Air and Space Power, Doctrine and Strategy, Airpower, Satellites, Billy Mitchell, Claire Chennault, Reconnaissance by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Gemini Program Mission Report: Gemini 12 - November 1966, Astronauts Lovell and Aldrin, Complete Details of the Spacecraft, Mission Operations, Experiments, EVA, Spacewalk, Agena Target Docking by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Working in the Dry: Cofferdams, In-River Construction, and the United States Army Corps of Engineers - Canals, Caissons, Erie Canal, Mississippi, Columbia, Ohio Rivers, Melvin Price Locks and Dam by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Learning Technology Adoption: Navy Barriers and Resistance - Naval Student and Faculty Survey Findings and Recommendations to Foster an Innovative Culture and Support Implementation Efforts by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Army Modernization Plans, Army Equipping Strategy, Tactical Wheeled Vehicle (TWV) Strategy, Affordable and Integrated Army Equipment Modernization by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Baseball Caps and Beards: The Perception of U.S. Special Forces by Conventional Forces and Its Impact on Interdependence - History from Eagle Claw and Urgent Fury to Desert Storm and War on Terrorism by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century FEMA Study Course: Applying ICS to Healthcare Organizations (IS-200.HCa) - Physicians, Department Managers, Unit Leaders, Charge Nurses, And Hospital Administrators by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Endgame in the Pacific: Complexity, Strategy, and the B-29 - World War II Technological Solution to Attacking Japan, Bomber's Unintended Consequences in Chaos, Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki by Progressive Management
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy