PROGRAMS:

COMPANIES:

• NASA

LOCATIONS:

Merritt Island, Kennedy Space Center

POSITIONS:

Electrician, Quality Control Specialist

COMMENTS:

William J. Rooks was born in Gastonia County, North Carolina. He came to Brevard County in 1966 from New Orleans and  settled in Titusville, FL.

[The following is excepted and paraphrased from the article in SPACEPORT NEWS, October 22, 1993, p. 6 – “Former electrical specialist dies”]

He started in civil service in 1944 as an aircraft electrician at Cherry Point, NC. In 1966 he began working for NASA on Merritt Island as the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was in its early evolution.

He was part of the group that initially staffed the new Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville,  AL, 1950-51, and was one of the key personnel later transferred from the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) to NASA when NASA was formed. Her was assigned to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

While with the ABMA at Redstone Arsenal, he worked with Dr. Werner von Braun on the Explorer 1 Satellite Project.

On 12/22/1958 he was recognized for his service as a member of the Huntsville, AL – Madison County, Civil Defense.

In 1961, he was transferred to Michoud in New Orleans, LA with the Saturn launch vehicle program. He accompanied the Saturn vehicle stages that were barged to KSC.

In 1967, he was transferred to KSC and worked on the Saturn/Apollo program and expendable vehicle programs…

He retired from NASA in 1975.

One of his sons-in-law, Robert Young, a NASA employee at KSC who retired in 1996 after 32 years, is also honored with a plaque on the Apollo monument at Space View Park in Titusville, Florida as part of the American Space Museum and Spacewalk of Fame.

[End of Article]

Professionally William J. Rooks is remembered for his adaptability, eagerness and capability of learning and growing into new roles and responsibilities. His family graciously remembers him for his delicious home-grown citrus and vegetables, his fried fish fillets, his sturdy but gentle character, his outgoing and adventurous spirit, and his love for life.