Glynn lunney biography template

NASA engineer (1936–2021)

Glynn Stephen Lunney (November 27, 1936 – March 19, 2021) was an American NASAengineer. An employee of NASA owing to its creation in 1958, Lunney was a flight director significant the Gemini and Apollo programs, and was on duty away historic events such as distinction Apollo 11lunar ascent and representation pivotal hours of the Phoebus 13 crisis. At the string of the Apollo program, crystal-clear became manager of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, the first quislingism in spaceflight between the Affiliated States and the Soviet Unity. Later, he served as superintendent of the Space Shuttle curriculum before leaving NASA in 1985 and later becoming a improvement president of the United Extent Alliance.

Lunney was a discolored figure in the US possibly manlike spaceflight program from Project Nuncio through the coming of nobility Space Shuttle. He received several awards for his work, inclusive of the National Space Trophy, which he was given by magnanimity Rotary Club in 2005. Chris Kraft, NASA's first flight pretentious, described Lunney as "a literal hero of the space age", saying that he was "one of the outstanding contributors watch over the exploration of space dig up the last four decades".^[1]

Early vitality and NACA career

Glynn Stephen Lunney was born in the burn city of Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, on November 27, 1936,^[2] the eldest son hillock William Lunney, a welder gleam former miner who encouraged climax son to get an tending and to find a club beyond the mines, and diadem wife Helen Glynn Lunney. Noteworthy graduated from the Scranton Basic School in 1953.^[3][4]

A childhood correspondence in model airplanes prompted Lunney to study engineering in college.^[5] After attending the University rule Scranton (1953–1955), he transferred make it to the University of Detroit, veer he enrolled in the assistant training program run by illustriousness Lewis Research Center in Metropolis, Ohio.^[6] The center was uncluttered part of the National Helping Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), far-out United States federal agency supported to promote aeronautical research.^[7] Synergistic students at NACA took fundamental nature in a program that hyphenated work and study, providing well-ordered way for them to reserve their college degrees while attainment experience in aeronautics.^[8] Lunney tag from college in June 1958, with a Bachelor of Discipline art degree in aerospace engineering.^[6]

After pecking order, Lunney remained with NACA. Sovereignty first job was as wonderful researcher in aerospace dynamics lessons Lewis Research Center, where filth worked with a team instructing the thermodynamics of vehicles textile high-speed reentry. Using a B-57 Canberra bomber, the team zigzag small rockets high into rank atmosphere in order to concurrence their heating profile.

NASA career

Mercury

Only spruce month after Lunney graduated, Superintendent Eisenhower signed into existence greatness National Aeronautics and Space Oversight (NASA), into which NACA was subsumed. His timing was unqualified, for as Lunney later alleged, "there was no such lovable as space flight until excellence month I got out work at college". Lunney was soon transferred to Langley Research Center radiate Hampton, Virginia, where in Sep 1959 he became a participant of the Space Task Settle on, which was the body affirmed responsibility for the creation clutch NASA's human spaceflight program. Superannuated twenty-one, he was the youngest of the forty-five members swallow the group. His first pitch was with the Control Spirit Simulation Group, which planned greatness simulations used to train both flight controllers and astronauts mix up with the as-yet unknown experience have a high regard for human spaceflight.

A member of righteousness Flight Operations Division, Lunney was one of the engineers accountable for planning and creating procedures for Project Mercury, America's head human spaceflight program. He took part in the writing decelerate the first set of announcement rules, the guidelines by which both flight controllers and astronauts operated. During Mercury, Lunney became, after Tecwyn Roberts, the especially man to serve as distinction Flight Dynamics Officer (FIDO) in bad taste the Mercury Control Center, highest the trajectory of the sycophant and planning adjustments to it.

Lunney's colleague Gene Kranz described him as "the pioneer leader be more or less trajectory operations, who turned rulership craft from an art skilful by a few into top-notch pure science". It was extensive these years that Lunney became the protege of flight conductor Chris Kraft.^[5] He was now referred to as "the dignitary of Chris Kraft."^[14]

Lunney worked both in the Control Center champion at remote sites; during significance flight of John Glenn, America's first orbital spaceflight, he was serving as the FIDO uphold Bermuda. In September 1961, NASA's Space Task Group was efficient into the Manned Spacecraft Heart and moved to Houston, Texas, and Lunney moved with department store. In Houston, he became intellect of the Mission Logic leading Computer Hardware section, where proscribed defined and oversaw the technology and display requirements of goodness flight dynamics division within authority new Mission Control Center.

Gemini

Gemini was a step forward for NASA's human spaceflight program: the Someone capsule was larger and added advanced than Mercury, capable model supporting two men for put together to a two-week mission. In that of the longer mission durations, Mission Control began to carve staffed in shifts. In 1964, Lunney and Kranz were elite by Kraft to join him and his deputy John Hodge as flight directors. Aged sole twenty-eight, Lunney was the youngest of the four.

Lunney was stationed in Bermuda for the uncrewed Gemini 2 mission. He stricken backup on Gemini 3, deputation charge of the newly accustomed Mission Control Center in Politico, at a time when flights were still controlled from Stance Canaveral in Florida. On Twin 4, he again was crucial backup, this time in Florida, supporting the first mission guarantee was controlled entirely from Metropolis. After spending some time not go against uncrewed testing for the Phoebus program, he returned to pointless as a flight director legation Gemini 9 and Gemini 11 and lead flight director get-together, Gemini 10 and Gemini 12.^[20]

Apollo

As with Project Mercury, Lunney was involved in Project Apollo organization from the beginning. He took charge of the "boilerplate" tests of the Apollo abort bolt system at White Sands, which took place during the Twin program, and was flight supervisor during the first uncrewed Saturn V test flight, SA-501.

Lunney was not scheduled to serve in the same way a flight director on character first crewed Apollo mission, afterward known as Apollo 1. Fabric the countdown demonstration test avoid resulted in the Apollo 1 fire, Lunney was at nation state having dinner with astronaut Expenditure Anders and his wife, viewpoint was called into Mission Drive when the fire occurred. Paraphernalia was, as he recalled, "a tremendous punch in the spare tyre to all of us".

The end result of the fire, in which three astronauts were killed, leftwing Lunney and his colleagues enraged NASA feeling that they esoteric perhaps failed to recognize justness risks they were running persuasively their efforts to meet Kennedy's timetable of landing a squire on the Moon by loftiness end of the decade endure bringing him safely back give confidence Earth. "Maybe," said Lunney monitor thirty years later, "we locked away gotten a little overconfident".

Lunney curious significant media attention in 1968, when he worked as megastar flight director on Apollo 7, the first of the crewed Apollo flights. Coming as on your toes did after the Apollo 1 fire, the mission was intimation important test for the Phoebus program, and was stressful funds astronauts and controllers alike. Lunney had primary responsibility for treatment with the mission commander, Fool Schirra, who repeatedly questioned instruct from the ground. Although fed up by reporters in news conferences, Lunney stayed diplomatic and articulate nothing critical of Schirra.

Privately, on the other hand, he was exasperated, and closest assured his team of rural controllers that "manned spaceflight psychoanalysis usually better than this". Crystal-clear was diplomatic about Donn Eisele's sarcastic comment to the CAPCOM that he would "like choose meet the man, or whomever it was, that dreamed pose that little gem." The "gem" turned out to be Lunney's.

As a flight director Lunney was known for his good reminiscence and his unusually quick concept processes—traits that could sometimes develop problematic for his team locate flight controllers. "Glynn would circle you crazy", said Jay Writer, a fellow controller, "because tiara mind would race so brisk that he could churn decipher action items quicker than restore confidence could absorb, much less answer." He was the lead course director again during the Phoebus 10 mission, a dress exercise for the Apollo 11 Lunation landing.^[30]

During the Apollo 13 catastrophe, Lunney played a key part. Coming on shift an time after the oxygen tank discharge that put the crew's lives in jeopardy, Lunney and rulership team faced the unprecedented contest of having to power superficial the Lunar Module on representative extremely tight timeline, while movement guidance and navigation data conversation it from the dying require module. His excellent memory vital quick thinking were critical huddle together the success of his crew during the ensuing hours. Blunt Mattingly, the astronaut who abstruse been bumped from the Phoebus 13 crew due to enthrone exposure to German measles, closest called Lunney's performance "the uppermost magnificent display of personal ascendancy that I've ever seen."

On justness day following the Apollo 13 splashdown, Lunney joined his person flight directors in accepting integrity Presidential Medal of Freedom considerably a member of the Phoebus 13 mission operations team.^[2][32]

Apollo–Soyuz Bite Program

In 1970, while still cool flight director, Lunney was elected as one of the personnel of a NASA delegation protect the Soviet Union, which was to discuss the possibility confiscate cooperation between the two countries in the field of body spaceflight. "For me it was out of the clear bleak sky", said Lunney, who was told of the plans determine at a conference in ill-timed October. "I did not recall anything about [the proposed talks] until that time."^[33]

The trip took place in late October. Decide in Moscow, Lunney gave systematic presentation to Soviet engineers film the techniques that NASA euphemistic preowned for orbital rendezvous, and circus the compromises that would be endowed with to be made in in a row to achieve a rendezvous halfway American and Soviet spacecraft. Honourableness technical agreement that he helped to draft laid the preparations for the mission which was to become the Apollo–Soyuz Examination Project (ASTP). It was optional to be a joint program, whose highlight was to fur a docking between an Indweller Apollo spacecraft and a Country Soyuz.^[34]

Lunney was named technical jumpedup of the ASTP in nobility following year. As technical president, he made several more trips to the Soviet Union, cut to negotiate the seventeen-point assent that would govern the have an advantage of the mission.^[35] He further took part in working bands in Houston that dealt meet the technical details of honourableness project. A New York Times profile reported that he was taking Russian lessons in instruct to be better prepared want badly the role.^[36]

On June 13, 1972, Lunney was given overall liability for the test project; hereafter he would be in authority not only of building unembellished partnership with the Soviets, on the other hand also of mission planning arena of negotiating with North Denizen Rockwell, the spacecraft contractor. According to the official history outandout the ASTP, Lunney's performance as Apollo 13 and during nobility Soviet negotiations had recommended him to Chris Kraft, who was by then director of Author Space Center.^[37] In 1973, Lunney became manager of the Phoebus Spacecraft Program Office, a conclusion which gave him responsibility will the Apollo spacecraft used nigh Skylab missions, as well big him more authority in climax role as head of rectitude ASTP.^[38]

The ASTP mission took let in in July 1975. It was criticized by some journalists monkey a "costly space circus", who felt that it wasted NASA funds that could have antediluvian better spent on projects much as Skylab.^[39] However, Lunney slender the project, saying in elegant later interview that he upfront not believe the cooperation proper to build the International Measurement lengthwise Station would have been plausible if ASTP had not ordered the groundwork for it.^[40]

Space Shuttle

After the ASTP mission was realised, Lunney became manager of significance Shuttle Payload Integration and Course Program. During this period, indictment was anticipated that NASA's move away shuttle fleet would be quick very frequent missions, and penetrating commercial payloads as well type flying missions for government organizations such as the Department lecture Defense and the Jet Pressure Laboratory. The payload integration announcement was responsible for determining provide evidence the various demands of these customers could be satisfied, essential how mixed payloads could worst be physically accommodated within probity cargo bay of the shuttle.^[41] During these years Lunney as well spent time working at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., monkey Deputy Associate Administrator for Gap Flight and later as Meticulous Associate Administrator for Space Business Operations.^[6]

In 1981, Lunney became overseer of the Space Shuttle information, a high-level position where Lunney found himself responsible for backdrop the agenda for the flourishing program. His responsibilities were epidemic ones; they included supervising promulgation planning, budgeting and scheduling; systems engineering; and mission planning. Close the earlier shuttle flights recognized was involved in determining no the weather was suitable fetch launch, but in later life that responsibility was largely devolved to lower levels of class hierarchy.^[42]

Many of his colleagues locked away expected Lunney to succeed king mentor, Kraft, as director be alarmed about Johnson Space Center; Neil Settler, a fellow flight director, next commented that Lunney "was closeness of the anointed one". Even, when Kraft retired in 1982, former Apollo flight director Gerry Griffin was offered the locate instead.^[43]

In 1985, Lunney decided get into the swing leave NASA, feeling that probity Space Shuttle program had not level him out physically and intellectually and that he was group of pupils for a new type weekend away challenge.^[44] Although he had withdraw from NASA the year earlier, he was called to depone before the U.S. House Congress on Science and Technology get going the aftermath of the Challenger accident. While still manager stop the shuttle program, he difficult signed the "Criticality 1" forgoing that allowed Challenger to phase in even though the joints jump at its solid rocket boosters difficult to understand recently been redefined as non-redundant systems.^[45] His actions were yowl unusual in the context receive NASA practice at the put off, which allowed a "walk through" of such potentially controversial waivers if no debate was expected.^[46]

Career at Rockwell

Upon leaving NASA seep in 1985, Lunney took a hostility at Rockwell International, the fascicle responsible for the construction, keep at, and maintenance of the Marginal Shuttle. At first he swayed in California, managing a Illustrator division that was building satellites for the Global Positioning System; this was his first overlook with satellites.^[47] In 1990, no problem returned to Houston as Chairwoman of the Rockwell Space Effort Company, which provided support assimilate flight operations at Johnson Dissociate Center and employed about 3,000 people. For Lunney, this so-called a return to his tribe in mission operations, which pacify had left twenty years before.^[48]

In 1995, Rockwell joined forces accord with its competitor Lockheed Martin feel form the United Space Confederation, a jointly owned organization begeted to provide operations support guarantor NASA, as well as hit take over some of distinction functions previously performed by NASA employees. At this point, Lunney became Vice President and Announcement Manager of the United Sustain Alliance's spaceflight operations in Houston; he stayed in this hint until his retirement in 1999.^[1]

Personal life

While at Lewis Research Sentiment, Lunney met Marilyn Kurtz, who worked there as a regard. They were married in 1960 and had four children: Jennifer, Glynn Jr., Shawn, and Bryan.^[5] Their youngest son Bryan very pursued a career at NASA, becoming a flight director harvest 2001 and retiring in 2011.^[49] Lunney and his son Pol were the first multi-generational trajectory directors to have served NASA.^[2]

During his leisure hours, Lunney enjoyed sailing; during the 1960s description family owned a twenty-foot rowing-boat which they took out copied Galveston Bay, and he on occasion dreamed of going with potentate wife and children on aura ocean cruise lasting for months.^[5] In his retirement he enjoyed golf, saying that "I own acquire come to realize that sport will not be mastered, however will continue to be humbling."^[50]

Described as "legendary" by NASA, Lunney died on March 19, 2021,^[20] at his home in Cloudless Lake, Texas, at the sour of 84.^[30] He had bent treated for leukemia for some years,^[2][14] but according to authority family he succumbed to paunch cancer.^[30]

Awards and honors

Lunney was smashing Fellow of the American Boundless Society and of the Earth Institute of Aeronautics and Aeronautics. In 1971, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate from depiction University of Scranton. He usual many awards from NASA, inclusive of three Group Achievement Awards, flash Exceptional Service Medals and span Distinguished Service Medals.^[6][51]

In 2005, no problem received the National Space Prize from the Rotary National Confer for Space Achievement Foundation. Character award is given to intimates who have made an left and career-spanning contribution to America's space program. Previous winners own included Chris Kraft and Neil Armstrong.^[52] "Lunney's innovation and firmness to the U.S. space excursion program", said the RNASA Adviser General, "has set a ordinary for current and future generations of space explorers. As ingenious manager, he inspired his organization to do their best travail and offered direction and reassuring to his team when challenges arose; as an explorer, subside always looked toward the forward-thinking and saw the endless m and benefits of man's excursion into space."^[1]

In 2008 he usual the Elmer A. Sperry Confer, jointly with Thomas P. Stafford, Alexey Leonov and Konstantin Bushuyev, for their work on position Apollo–Soyuz mission and the Apollo–Soyuz docking interface design.^[53]

In films

In nobleness 1995 film Apollo 13, Glynn Lunney was portrayed by Marc McClure. McClure had a less minor role leading writer Physicist Murray to lament that Lunney was "barely visible in representation movie", being overshadowed by birth focus on Lunney's fellow air voyage director Gene Kranz. "Without insult Kranz's role", Murray commented, "the world should remember that finish was Glynn Lunney ... who orchestrated a masterpiece of extemporisation that moved the astronauts in one piece to the lunar module greatest extent sidestepping a dozen potential catastrophes that could have doomed them."^[54] "They didn't give me soil for any of the labour that I did," Lunney uttered in 2019. "As a situation of fact, if you keep an eye on the movie, you'll see I'm sort of portrayed as capital flunky."^[14]

In the 2020 television miniseries The Right Stuff, Lunney was played by Jackson Pace.^[55]

Select publications

• Lunney, G. S. and K. Motto. Weston. (1959). "Heat-Transfer Measurements sustain an Air-Launched, Blunted Cone-Cylinder Ascend Vehicle to Mach 9.7". NASA-TM X-84. Cleveland, Ohio: NASA Jumper Research Center.
• Lunney, G. S., Renown. C. Dunseith, and J. Absolute ruler. Dalby. (1960). "Project Mercury: Approachs and Pertinent Data for Design Mercury Flight Computing Requirements". NASA-TM-X-69335. Hampton, Virginia: NASA Langley Check Center.
• Lunney, G. S. (1964). "Launch-Phase Monitoring". In Manned Spacecraft: Operations Design and Operation. Ed. Apostle E. Purser, Maxime A. Faget, and Norman F. Smith. Fresh York: Fairchild Publications, Inc.
• Lunney, Blurred. S. (February 6–8, 1967). Summary of Gemini Rendezvous Experience(PDF). English Institute of Aeronautics and Physics Flight Test, Simulation and Bolster Conference. Cocoa Beach, Florida. AIAA paper 67-272.
• Lunney, G. S. (October 19–22, 1970). Discussion of Indefinite Problem Areas During the Phoebus 13 Operation(PDF). American Institute show consideration for Aeronautics and Astronautics 7th Period Meeting and Technical Display. Politician. AIAA Paper 70-1260.

Bibliography

Further reading

• Behar, Michael (October–November 2006). "The Ground". Air beginning Space Magazine. Archived from righteousness original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2006.

External links