PROGRAMS:

COMPANIES:

• Boeing
• North American Aviation
• North American-Rockwell
• Pratt & Whitney
• Rocketdyne
• Rockwell International

POSITIONS:

North American Aviation and North American-Rocketdyne : J-2 Engine, Engineer
Rockwell International, Rocketdyne, Pratt-Whitney Rocketdyne: SSME/RS-25*, Founding Team Engineer, Lead Engineer, Manager SSME Combustion Devices.

COMMENTS:

Career Main Roles:

North American Aviation and North American-Rocketdyne : J-2 Engine, Engineer

Rocketdyne/Pratt-Whitney Rocketdyne: SSME/RS-25* Engine, Founding Team Engineer, Lead Engineer, Manager SSME Combustion Devices. *Anecdotal data suggests that Grady Durham was a key Rocketdyne engineer, designing the packaged organization of the SSME engine parts, as well as designing and redesigning several parts, such as gimbals.

Brief Bio:

Grady worked in aerospace from the late 1950s, until he retired in 1996. During his 40 year career in aerospace, he contributed to Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, the Space Shuttle and the Space Station. He began at North American Aviation as an entry-level engineer machinist and welder. With the oversight of Robert Crane, he worked his way up to lead engineering for several engines from North American Aviation and Rocketdyne, notably the J-2 and RS-25. Despite Grady’s direct contribution to key NASA engines, Grady never believed his contributions were individualistic, or deserved unique credit; he believed that he was simply a worker among workers coming together as team to accomplish the mammoth human goal of exploring space.

Grady Durham was among the group of engineering team members sent from Rocketdyne to Kennedy Space Center, to consult on the Challenger Disaster investigation, recovery and salvage.

He received NASA’s Silver Snoopy Award on 1/1/1979 (verification link: https://sfa.jsc.nasa.gov/AwardBadge.cfm?ID=22538).

He received NASA’s Space Flight Honoree Award on 11/1/91 (verification link: https://sfa.jsc.nasa.gov/AwardBadge.cfm?ID=11097)