| NASA Manned Space Program - Houston, Texas |
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| The ULTIMATE GOAL of the Apollo Program, getting man on the moon, and we did it!!! This is the autographed crew photo of Apollo 11 that were the first men to set foot on our moon. This signed photo hangs in my home. |
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Going to work for NASA in its Manned Space Program was not a planned move for me.
This was a total accident as far as I was concerned at the time. I was on my way to Bryan, Texas the home of Texas A&M to attend the College of Physical Oceanography to get my doctorate degree. The Department of the Navy were my sponsors, paying my salary and school expenses. Quite a gift for me from the Navy. They had hoped that I would return to the Dolphin Program after my schooling to help them further in the study of this wonderful animal.
Only now, many years after my joining the NASA ranks in 1962 do I admit that God had His hand in my every step, and that making the diversion trip into Houston rather than going on to school at Texas A&M was planned, not by me, but by God who was leading me even then! A former high school classmate of mine at Wheaton Academy, Dr. Kenneth Gangel, went on to become a famous Christian educator at Dallas Theological Seminary. Ken wrote many books on God and the Scriptures, books which I now use as guides in my Bible studies. In one of these books he says of this subject matter, "There are no accidents with God. He does everything intentionally as part of His divine plan." God knew even way back in my life where I was going!
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NASA SELECTS SEVEN MILITARY TEST PILOTS FOR ITS ASTRONAUT CORPS
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| The first seven astronauts chosen for space flight were all experienced test pilots for the military. These men were to be the first to be launched into space. |
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The space program was just getting under way. The NASA people had moved from Langly, Virginia where NASA had been doing aeronautics research for many years, but with the advent of a manned program, the political leadership of the U.S. decided to move the effort to Houston, Texas where the plan called for the construction of what was to be known first as the Manned Spacecraft Center, later to be renamed the Johnson Space Center.
The office spaces for the staff were rented throughout the Houston area. There were no government buildings available and the Center was still in the planning stages. Flight Operations consisted of some 125 staff members all working for the Director of Flight Operation, Christopher C. Kraft, Jr.
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NASA had no launch rockets ready at the beginning of the program, so they chose to use existing rockets that the Department of Defense had been using in its ballistic and intercontinental missile programs. As a result of this decision, representatives of the Department of Defense had been assigned to the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center to provide liaison and coordination between the Manned Spacecraft Center flight program and the suppliers of such rockets. The Jet Propulsion Labs had already been using some of these rockets for their unmanned programs.
One of my favorite Navy bosses at Point Mugu had been one of those chosen to be a Department of Defense rep for the rocket support, to make sure that the NASA requirements were met. On my way to Texas A&M, I decided to detour through Houston where this Navy Captain and his wife had moved to say hello and visit with these two fine people whom I admired, Captain and Mrs. Bill Wakeland.
Click on the following to get a larger view of the rockets.
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| An Army Redston ballistic missile blasting off from Cape Canaveral |
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| An Army Jupiter C ballistic missile blasting off from Cape Cavaneral with the Explorer satellite on its nose |
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After the testing of the initial launch systems at Cape Canaveral with the Redstone ballistic rocket with the Mercury capsule, the manned flight program planned on using the Atlas rocket for the Mercury Program and the Titan rocket for the Gemini Program. The first of these, Mercury, was to be a very small capsule holding one man. The second, Gemini, was to launch a capsule that would carry two men into space.
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| This was the first NASA Manned Space Flight Control Center, the Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. My assignment in this facility was a real thrill to me. I sat at the console in the second row down from the top just to the right of the Flight Director who sat at the center console. My job was to keep track of all ground systems, ships and aircraft and to make sure they were up and ready to support all over the world. The boards in the front of the room were controlled from my console. |
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| The Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile which was chosen to launch the Mercury spacecraft into earth orbit. This small spacecraft accomodated one man. |
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| After Mercury, we went to a larger spacecraft, the Gemini vehicle, that could handle two men. On this mission, GT6/GT7 we launched two vehicles and then had them rendezvous in space, something we were not sure we could do. But it was successful! |
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| Another of the DOD boosters, the Titan, was used for the Gemini two man missions |
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Captain Bill Wakeland introduced me to the Chief of Flight Operations, Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. after he filled Chris with all of my background. Mr. Kraft talked me into going to work for him at NASA. He had no one at the time that could give him the technical support he was looking for before and during flights. He convinced me that my background was exactly what he needed, and offered me a job on his staff as the Network Controller.
My job was to bring all the pieces of ground support to a mission status. I was to coordinate with all the agencies that had land, air and sea based tracking and command equipment, make sure each of them met our mission requirements, and were ready to go at mission time. I also was to manage the new Mission Control Center when it was going to built in Houston. Quite a challenge he threw at me.
This was the beginning of working for Chris as the Network Controller in charge of an organization called Network Operations. By the time my years with the Manned Spacecraft Center were over, we had built the new Mission Control Center and gone to the moon. I had over 600 employees working for me as well!
During my years with NASA, I got many awards, promotions and other goodies, but this one meant almost more to me than any other, a photo that Chris handed me personally as I was departing Houston. The signed photo that he gave me for my offices of the future says how he felt about the help I had been to him:
"You do good work. Your contributions to the
success of manned space flight have been many."
All the best to Dick Holt. Chris Kraft
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Director of Flight Operations, Christopher C. Kraft, Jr.
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| Christopher C, Kraft Jr. First Director of Flight Operations for Manned Space Fligt for NASA. I left the Manned Space Center with his blessings, on my way to Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Labs to continue my ground systems support work, that of revamping their control center to better supply data for future deep space flight Chris gave me this photo to hang in my future offices to remember my days at MSC, Houston. |
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Mercury Control Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida
Just a few months after going to work for Mr. Kraft, I was part of the team that controlled the flight of MA-9, the orbital mission of Gorgon Cooper. I had worked like crazy to learn the NASA network and all its intricacies. I already was familiar with the radars and other technical equipment used on the network of 17 stations, so that part was easy. What I had to learn was the operating procedures used during mission times. I did it! And I got to sit at the console in the old Mercury Control Center at Cape Canaveral right next to the Flight Director, Christopher C. Kraft. What a thrill that was for me!
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Early in the Gemini Program, we began the construction of a new mission control center in Houston which was where the Manned Spacecraft Center was being built on land donated to NASA, located about 15 miles south of Houston in Clear Lake (which wasn't clear, by the way! ) I became responsible for the building of this facility and for getting it staffed in the maintenance and operation area. My primary duty in Mission Control, Houston - responsible for the maintenance and operation of the Mission Control Center and for the operational readiness of the world-wide tracking network. I reported directly to the Flight Operations Director, Christopher C. Kraft. Many hours, days and weeks before the flight control team reported for work, we the network people were busy getting all the various parts of the ground support system ready for the mission. Radars, telemetry and command and control equipment all over the world were tested and made ready for the mission. And when the Flight Director sat down at his console, it was my job to report that the network was ready to support.
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| This was the new Manned Space Center, Houston, Texas, built next to Clear Lake just south of the City of Houston, in what was formerly cattle pastures. |
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| The new Mission Control Center, the windowless building that stood five stories high and housed the control rooms, computers and some offices for the staff. The adjacent building attached to the control center were the office spaces for the Flight Control team, and this was where I had my office on the ground floor. |
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| Dick at his Network Controller console in the Mission Control room talking to Air Force Colonel Henry Clements. The Flight Director for the mission Chris Kraft in the white shirt is in the immediate background. |
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My secondary duty in Mission Control Center - giving VIP tours of the technical operation of Mission Control and the world-wide tracking network to highly visible important visitors. During the ensuing years I was fortunate to have conducted tours for Presidents of many nations, even the President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson, and many movie stars, baseball players, and other notable people of the world. It was a thrill and privilege for me to have been able to explain all the intricacies of Mission Control and its tremendous technical capabilities to such an audience.
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| A lecture in the VIP viewing room to part of the senior class of the Air Force Academy. Here I am explaining how the control room operates after just having presented where the tracking stations are located around the world that supply data for the flights. |
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| A walking tour of the Control Center for the President of Mexico and the Governors of the Mexican States. This was all in Spanish. My big boss, Dr. Gilruth is in the center of the photo trying to understand what I am saying in Spanish. I was the only one in Flight Operations fluent in Spanish that could give these tours. |
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On January 27, 1967, tragedy strikes the Apollo program
A flash fire caused by an electrical spark in the pure oxygen atmosphere inside the spacecraft occurred in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program; and Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, died in this tragic accident.
A seven-member board, under the direction of the NASA Langley Research Center Director, Dr. Floyd L. Thompson, conducted a comprehensive investigation to pinpoint the cause of the fire. The final report of the disaster, completed in April 1967 was subsequently submitted to the NASA Administrator. The report presented the results of the investigation and made specific recommendations that led to major design and engineering modifications, and revisions to test planning, test discipline, manufacturing processes and procedures, and quality control. With these changes, the overall safety of the command and service module and the lunar module was increased substantially. The AS-204 mission was redesignated Apollo I in honor of the crew.
Every one of us in Flight Control took this accident very hard. Ed White had coached a little league team with me. Gus also was a good friend, and just a few days before this accident he had autographed a photo for me to send to my Uncle Frank in Florida who was a big fan of his. I was on the headset when the spark set off the blaze that killed these great guys!
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| The Apollo Saturn rocket used to send the astronauts to the moon. |
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The Apollo Saturn V rocket was developed by NASA at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, specifically to be powerful enough to life the Apollo spacecraft into an orbit that would then allow it to proceed to the moon for the lunar landing program. This photo is of the liftoff of Apollo 11, the launch that sent the crew to make the first lunar landing.
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A Side Issue with me, raising Black Angus cattle on my Houston ranch!
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| Even as busy as I was at NASA, I had to get my hands into something else. I started raising pure bred Angus cows and calves on a 60 acre ranch I rented just south of Houston. I started out with eight cows, all with calves, and all having been already bred. I also got myself a young (18 month old) bull, Mr.Speck |
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The manned flight program came to a screeching halt after the Apollo I accident. The plan was to completely rebuild the Apollo spacecraft after the problem was located and solved. This was going to take a lot of time. There were no flights scheduled for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, the ground systems guys had nothing to do. I was asked to take a team from Houston, transfer to the NASA Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena, hand help them to rebuild their deep space control center and network to help the manned program of the future in their exploration of the moon and then in later years, the outer planets.
This was a traumatic time for me; I had to find a home for my Angus herd which had now grown to a dozen cows and about 10 calves with Mr. Speck, my bull. But the gentleman I had bought them from some years earlier bought them all back, so I knew they were going to a good home. But what a thrill it had been to see my herd grow, to see calves born, to keep the girls and sell the males. Another of life's exeriences for me!!
I was given a wonderful position as the Assistant Division Chief of the Systems Division at JPL, the largest division with all the trancking stations, the Space Flight Operations Facility control center, the computational center, and the entire communications network. I became resposible for much of that activity outside of the rebuilding of the computational facilities. I was honored to have had this opportunity, and so were the other men I brought out with me from Houston.
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