Joe D Gamble

01-25-39Date of Birth | Wolfforth, Texas

PROGRAMS:

Apollo ProgramProject GeminiU.S. Space Shuttle Program

COMPANIES:

LOCATIONS:

NASA - Johnson Space Center

COMMENTS:

Joe D. Gamble joined NASA in 1963 after graduating with a Masters Degree in Engineering from Texas Tech University.  He worked on Gemini, Apollo, Space Shuttle, various Mars landing studies, International Space Station, the ACRV Program (Chief Engineer), and other projects.  He helped develop the aerodynamic requirements and served as a subsystems manager for the Space Shuttle Orbiter.  He developed several criteria for identifying combinations of aerodynamic uncertainties that could potentially pose a problem during the Space Shuttle reentry.  He worked closely with the first four Space Shuttle Crews in training for reentry with unexpected aerodynamic properties and was a member of JSC’s Mission Control Center’s Aero team for the first four Space Shuttle flights.  He was considered an expert throughout NASA for analysis of the dynamic stability of entry vehicles.

 

Joe D. Gamble was elected as an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).  The AIAA selected a paper written by him in 1982 as the most influential paper in the Space Shuttle category for the 1980s decade.  After the fall of the Soviet Union, while still at NASA, Mr. Gamble worked with the Russians as the Chief Engineer for the ACRV program for the use of a modified Soyuz vehicle for the Space Station rescue vehicle.  The modified Soyuz is still in use by NASA for transporting Astronauts to the Space Station.  After retirement from NASA, Joe D. Gamble worked as a consultant with MEI Technologies, where he continued to support the Johnson Space Center, including the Orion Program.  He also served on the Guidance and Control Team for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.  From his early days at NASA when he analyzed the dynamics of the Apollo capsule under parachutes; and then developed a 12 degrees of freedom computer simulation for analyzing parachutes and payloads, Joe D. Gamble has contributed to the advancement of parachute technology for landing after re-entry.

 

In 2013 Joe D. Gamble was named a Distinguished Engineer by the Texas Tech University’s Edward E. Whitacre, Jr. College of Engineering.