PROGRAMS:

COMPANIES:

• NASA

POSITIONS:

- Shuttle DoD Launch Site Support Manager
- Payload Operations Branch Manager
- Senior System Assessment Engineer in the Shuttle Independent Assessment Office

COMMENTS:

My career with NASA of 33 years started in Jan ’68 with taking a position as an Apollo Spacecraft Structures/Mechanical System Engineer.  I was assigned to a senior lead engineer as his backup and together we worked on Apollo missions 6, 7, 9, 12, 13,15, and 17 as well as the three Skylab manned missions.  During this time, I became the lead expert in spacecraft hatch mechanisms and the Apollo docking systems.  I was also the NASA Jammed Hatch Engineer for the three Skylab missions.  I flew with the Air Force Launch and Rescue Team to assists in opening the spacecraft side hatch if there should be an abort and the spacecraft landed on the beach or KSC property. For Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) I was the lead senior engineer.  At the completion of the Apollo ASTP program, I was assigned as the lead Shuttle Structures/Mechanical Systems and Payload Handling Engineer.  This assignment required me to have a through understanding of the orbiter airframe along with its unique access and handling of flight hardware requirements.  I was responsible for developing Shuttle airframe procedures and repairs; handling and installation procedures for the Remote Mutilator System (RMS) and the Shuttle payload bay radiators.  In addition, I was responsible for developing and running the procedures for installing/removing payloads horizontally and vertically.

1983 I was selected to be a Shuttle/Payloads Project Engineer with the responsibly for leading a team of NASA and contractor engineers in defining the Department of Defense (DoD) payload/shuttle integration requirements and the development of all testing and troubleshooting procedures for shuttle/DoD payloads.

1988 I was selected as one of the three Shuttle DoD Launch Site Support Managers.  This position was the NASA single point of contact for the Department of Defense when they selected to fly their missions on the shuttle.  We had the responsibly for leading a team of NASA and contractor personnel in defining the DoD payload KSC facility/security requirements as well as DoD payload integration and testing requirements.

In 1988 I was selected as the Payload Operations Branch Manager with responsibly of managing a group of shuttle/payload operation engineers.  These engineers were responsible for scheduling and monitoring all payload operations at Pads 39A and 39B as well as all the Shuttle OPFs.

1994 until my retirement from NASA in Jan. 2001 I was a Senior System Assessment Engineer in the Shuttle Independent Assessment Office.  This office worked for and directly advised the NASA Director of Safety and Quality Assurance on all engineering issues for the Shuttle, Space Station and Expendable Launch Vehicles (ELV) operations at KSC.

After my retirement from NASA and from 2002 to 2004 I worked for the Tybrin Corporation at KSC as a Senior System Assessment Consultant to the NASA Director of Safety and Quality Assurance.  All NASA consulting contracts were canceled after the Columbia accident thus ending my engineering career.

From 1971 to 1976 I joined the NAVAL Reserves and was assigned to the NAVAL AIR STATION, Jacksonville.  I was an A4/A7 plane captain for those years.

2022 I volunteered to become a Docent at the American Space Museum.