AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2006/7 Page 1 Page 22

Volume 32, Issue 1 AIAA Houston Section www.aiaa-houston.org Winter 2006/7

Advanced Propulsion Concepts

Rendering by Adrian Mann AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2006/7 Page 1 Page 22

(“DoD Experiments ...”, Continued from page 21) from the surface of the Earth to the surface of the Moon, accelerating at 1.0 E-g during the first half of the course segment and decelerating the ing ways to incorporate new technologies onto the unique vehicle. The last half, and back again; all in under 12-hours without refueling the STS-4 launch in June 1982 carried the first STP shuttle payloads to WarpStar-1’s fuel cells. While on the Moon, the WarpStar-1 could pro- space and since then, has carried over 200 STP payloads including 11 vide heavy lift crane services to Moon-based astronauts that could lift primary DoD payloads. STP conducted experiments aboard the Russian up to 175 lunar metric tonnes. This ~26,500 kg MLT propelled space- Mir space station and boasts the first ISS internal experiment and the craft would be a major advancement over any known spacecraft design first ISS external experiment. These experiments provide the technolo- to date, and should be an inducement to push the development of these gies for the future of military space. A grand example is STP’s launch devices towards the 1.0 N/W specific power class Mach-Lorentz Thrust- of an atomic clock in the 1960s and that experiment evolved into to- ers needed to make it happen. day’s DoD Global Positioning System. ▲ With this 1.0 N/W MLT technology in hand, we could send our planetary scientists to walk on distant worlds. We could send groups of ex- (Rockets, the Mach Effect, and Mach Lorentz Thrusters, continued from page 11) plorers to the Moon in less than 3 hours, to Mars in under 5 days, to the asteroid belt in 6 days, to Jupiter’s moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and We are therefore looking at the dawning of the true golden age in hu- Callisto in 7 days, or to Titan and Saturn’s rings in 9 days. In fact, this man space flight if the MLTs can be developed to these foreseen per- 1.0 E-g constant acceleration transport technology could easily prove to formance levels. be so inexpensive to operate that we find ourselves compelled to build permanent outposts on all these worlds in our solar system. And when We explored the possibilities of what a first generation 0.5-to-1.0 N/W we finally find ourselves at the solar system’s boundary with interstellar MLT propelled spacecraft, powered with fuel cells & batteries, could space, Woodward’s “Wormhole term” may provide the keys to viable provide in the way of payload and range of operation. It was found that interstellar travel as well. ▲ it could carry a crew of two people with a payload of 2-metric tonnes

Conference Presentations/Articles by Houston Section Members (Cont’d.)

(Upcoming Conference Presentations, Continued from page 20) Park, OH; and D. Weitz, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX Numerical Study of Massively Separated Flows Impact to Space Shuttle Trajectory from Temporal Changes in Low Fre- M. Olsen, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA; R. Lillard, quency Winds NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX; N. Chaderjian and T. Coak- R. Decker, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL; D. Pu- ley, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA; and J. Great- peri, United Space Alliance, Houston, TX; and R. Leach, Morgan Re- house, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX search, Huntsville, AL Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets Toward a General Solution Verification Method for Complex PDE Boundary Layer/Streamline Surface Catalytic Heating Predictions on Problem with Hands Off Coding Space Shuttle Orbiter, Vol. 43, No. 6 issue of JSR (Nov/Dec, 2006) M. Garbey and C. Picard, University of Houston, Houston, TX Jeremiah Marichalar, William Rochelle, Benjamin Kirk, and Charles Campbell Planar Measurements of Supersonic Boundary Layers with Curvature Driven Favorable Pressure Gradients Harper's Magazine, November 2006 I. Ekoto and R. Bowersox, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Starship Trooper, Mars, the Ultimate Suicide Mission James C. McLane III Experimental Analysis of Supersonic Boundary Layers with Large Scale Periodic Surface Roughness The Space Review I. Ekoto and R. Bowersox, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; Will Mars challenge the "prime directive"? T. Beutner, DARPA, Arlington, VA http://www.thespacereview.com/article/771/1 James C. McLane III Microgravity Phase Separation Near the Critical Point in Attractive Colloids International Conference on Bond Graph Modeling (Co Sponsored P. Lu, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; M. Foale, E. Fincke, L. by AIAA) Chiao, W. McArthur, and J. Williams, NASA Johnson Space Center, Hous- International Space Station Centrifuge Rotor Models: A Comparison of ton, TX; M. Hoffmann, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH; W. the Euler-Lagrange and the Bond Graph Modeling Approach Meyer, National Center for Space Exploration Research, Cleveland, OH; Louis H. Nguyen (NASA Johnson Space Center), Jayant Ramakrishnan C. Frey and A. Krauss, ZIN Technologies, Brook Park, OH; J. Owens, (ARES Corporation), Jose J. Granda (Department of Mechanical Engi- National Center for Space Exploration Research, Cleveland, OH; M. Ha- neering California State University Sacramento) venhill, Science Applications International Corporation, ; R. Rogers, NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH; S. Anzalone, Science Ap- plications International Corporation, ; G. Funk, ZIN Technologies, Brook

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2006/7 Page 22 Page 19

International Space Activities Committee (ISAC) Section News The current membership list for AIAA Houston Sec- tion ISAC (please look us up and join us: www.aiaa- houston.org/tc/isac):

1. Ludmila Dmitriev-Odier, United Space Alliance, Chair 2. George Abbey, Jr., United Space Alliance 3. Linda Andruske, NASA/KSC 4. Dr. Albert Jackson, Jacobs, FBIS (Fellow, British Interplanetarty Society), Visiting Scientist, Lunar Planetary Institute - http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/ jackson 5. David Jih, NASA/JSC 6. Michael Kezirian, Engineer - The Boeing Com- pany, Adjunct Professor - University of Southern California 7. James McLane III 8. Padraig Moloney, NASA/JSC 9. Dr. Zafar Taqvi, Barrios 10. Chris Taylor 11. Dr. Gary Turner, Odyssey Space Research 12. Douglas Yazell, Honeywell

Above: After enjoying our section’s lunch-and- learn by Dr. Albert A. Jackson a few months ago (attendance 130 in a NASA auditorium), James McLane III looked for and found some of his photos which he took more than 40 years ago when von Braun visited Texas A&M University at Col- lege Station. The year was probably 1966. This was taken at a reception following a speech about Apollo plans. The teen- age girl in the background is von Braun’s daughter Iris. Jim took this with available light using 35 mm Kodak tri- X pan and printed it himself on high-contrast enlarging paper.

Left to right: Retired Colonel Richard (Dick) Cole of the Doolittle Raiders with ISAC and Chinese sister section member James McLane III

AIAA Houston Horizons Winter 2007/2008 Page 19 Page 32

Odds and Ends SPECIAL EVENTS, PICTORIALS, ETC.

Above at right: Houston Chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association www.eaa12.org Led this year by Richard Sessions Photo from Houston EAA e-mail note...

EAA Chapter 12 Meetings for 2007 -2008: 4 May 2008 – Chapter Party – Hanger Location TBD – Likely Pearland Regional (Old Clover Field) 7 May 2008 – Builder Visit – TBD – Volunteers? 4 June 2008 – Surviving Oshkosh, Neil Northington, Location: Southwest Services, El- lington Field 2 July 2008 – Oshkosh Arrival Procedures, David Staten, Location: Southwest Services, Ellington Field

Past AIAA Houston Section Chair (1971-1972) James C. McLane, Jr., has a unique souvenir of his Apollo-era career. This lunar map of the Apollo 17 landing site was used for astronaut training. This map was signed by the last person to step onto the Moon, Harrison Schmitt, when Mr. Schmitt inaugu- rated the Space Center Lecture Series on March 13, 2008 (www.SpaceCenterLectureSeries.com), co-sponsored by AIAA Houston Sec- tion.

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(Continued from page 14) such that some photos have a had a VIP pass as a part of a passerby. Most of these stu- file size as high as 10 mega- group of cosmonaut family Feature dents have never left China bytes. He scanned these photos and friends. Mila later invited Article and have studied English in 2008 and delivered the Congressman Lampson to be within China from non-native DVD to me and others in our our section’s dinner speaker, English speakers but they still section in May of 2008. and she arranged for several have a firm grasp of the Eng- guests of honor at that dinner, Several more AIAA Houston lish language and their accent including four Russians, one a Section sister sections around is comprehensible. worldwide opera star who ap- the world came and went since peared in La Boheme at the AIAA Sister Sections 1987. Starting this past De- Houston Grand Opera, Mr. cember of 2007, we have a AIAA Houston Section has an Nikolay Didenko. After Mr. new sister section in Toulouse, International Space Activities Lampson’s dinner speech, Mr. France, l’Association Aero- Committee (ISAC, see Didenko sang two songs, a nautique et Astronautique de www.aiaa-houston.org/tc/isac) Russian folk song and an Ital- Above: Logos for AIAA Hous- France, Toulouse – Midi- whose creation dates back to ian song. Mila volunteers to ton Section and our French Pyrenees branch, AAAF TMP. sometime between 1962 and chair ISAC again next year for sister section We exchanged a few newslet- 1987. AIAA member and for- the 12 months starting July 1, Below: A few snapshots & ter articles and section chair mer section chair (1971-1972) 2008. documents from the 1992 visit: Douglas Yazell and his wife James C. McLane, Jr. was the an AIAA Houston Section dele- will visit them June 24-28, Houston Section will continue leader in starting a sister sec- gation visiting China hosted by 2008. A feasibility study is in working with SAS in the com- tion relationship with the our Chinese sister section, the progress related to having a ing year in addition to creating Shanghai Astronautical Soci- Shanghai Astronautical Society conference in Toulouse the ety (SAS) in 1987. This sister (Continued on page 16) of the Chinese Society of Astro- second half of 2010. In order section relationship was most nautics to be of service to our profes- active from 1987 to 1992, and sion by working with Russians in 2003 or 2004, AIAA Hous- in Houston and elsewhere, our ton Section member and pro- section supported travel by our grams chair Chris Taylor en- new ISAC chair Ludmila joyed dinner at a restaurant Dmitriev-Odier to see the with SAS members in Shang- Soyuz launch in Baikonur on hai. In 1988 and 1992, Hous- October 10, 2007, where she ton delgations visited China for about 3 weeks at a time, hosted by SAS, visiting tourist sites and space facilities around the country. In 1990, a Chinese delegation visited Houston in the spirit of citizen -to-citizen diplomacy. A 1992 Houston delegation member gave our section 270 of his very professional snapshots from that visit to China, on a DVD with high resolution

Right: launch site in Xichang (1992 visit by AIAA Hous- ton Section delegation)

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(Continued from page 15) penciled in as travel dates) in program or both. ISU prides Feature a new sister section in Beijing. this capacity, and we will itself on being Interdiscipli- Article We can begin by contacting work on having Chinese sister nary, International and Inter- ISU alumni who work for the section members visit Houston cultural or the 3I’s as ISU Chinese space program in Bei- next year. Our goal is to create fondly refers to it. The curricu- jing. We can also exchange citizen-to-citizen diplomacy, lum consists of lectures in newsletters between the Chi- cultural interchanges, profes- several core areas – space sci- nese and American sister sec- sional contacts, and more that ence, space engineering, sys- tions (ours is free to all, quar- will be of service to the aero- tems engineering, space policy terly, and online only). Infor- space profession. and law, life sciences, business mation exchanged will be and management, and space International Space Univer- within the bounds allowed by and society. In addition to core sity both governments. As the con- lectures students participate in tact person for our Chinese My trip to China was made a team project. This project sister sections, I will work to possible by ISU (see not only works to solve a visit Beijing, China this year www.isunet.edu). ISU de- problem but strives to teach (November 24-28, 2008 are scribes itself as a university the participants how to work in that “provides graduate-level an international and intercul- training to the future leaders of tural team. During the summer the emerging global space of 2006 I was a student at the community”. This university Summer Session Program that has a two-month Summer Ses- was held in Strasbourg, France sion Program that meets in a and during the summer of different location every year 2007 I was a staff member at and a year long Masters degree the Summer Session in Bei- program that is located at the jing, China. The missions of permanent campus in Stras- ISU and AIAA are very simi- bourg, France. Students may lar. Both organizations have a participate in either the sum- global outreach. I am working mer session or the Masters with AIAA Houston Section’s ISAC to partner with ISU alumni from around the world to enhance the education and international outreach of our members. China’s Past and Future China is arguably the oldest continuous civilization on the planet. The Chinese are cred- ited with inventing rockets, fireworks, paper, the compass and moveable type. Having such a rich technical history upon which to draw, it will be amazing to see what they con- tribute to world civilization and space programs in the near future.

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Membership Membership LISA VOILES, MEMBERSHIP CHAIR Please welcome our newest Mandakh Enkh Gary Cooper Update Your Records AIAA Houston Members! Kristen Holmstrom Matt Dennis Adam Johnson Roberto Egusquiza As of May 1, 2008: Please verify your AIAA mem- Atilla Kilicarslan James Engle MEMBERS: ber record is up to date. Know- Natalie Pilzner Marlo Graves, our section’s Kent Adams ing where our members are David Schrock contact person for Chinese Mary Arszulowicz working is vital to the Houston Mithun Singla sister sections, member of our Anousheh Ashouri Section in obtaining corporate Chad Smith section’s International Space Lawrence Baitland support for local AIAA activi- Brock Spratlen Activities Committee (ISAC): Sharm Baker ties (such as our monthly din- Matthew Stephens see www.aiaa-houston.org/tc/ Perakath Benjamin ner meeting, workshops, etc.). Keenan Turner isac John Brewer Please take a few minutes and John Walters Joe Hammond Jaime Bustamante visit the AIAA website at Michael Yager Neal Hammond Marc Church http://www.aiaa.org/ to update Caris Hatfield James Clutter EDUCATOR ASSOCI- your member information or Richard Hieb Ansley Collins, Councilor for ATES: call customer service at 1-800- Juniper Jairala a 2-year term starting July 1, Edith Cruz NEW-AIAA (639-2422). William O'Keefe 2008 As of June 1, 2008: Michael Raftery You may always contact us at Alan Deluna MEMBERS: Larry Roberts membership@aiaa- Michael Ferullo George Abbey, Jr., member of Brian Salinas houston.org. Doyle Hensley our section’s International Robert Scheid Don Kulba, Assistant editor The membership total from Space Activities Committee Daryl Schuck for Horizons May1, 2008, was 1153, which (ISAC): see www.aiaa- Justin Thomas Christopher Leslie included 839 professional houston.org/tc/isac George Watts Glenn Stromme members, 227 student mem- Amy Brzezinski Melanie Williams-Vail Elliott Potter bers, and 87educator associ- Nathaniel Clark Ross Winn ates. As of June 1,2008, there STUDENT MEMBERS: Michaela Benda, former lec- STUDENT MEMBERS: are 1158 members 849 profes- Mark Anderson turer at our section’s Annual Melissa Caldwell sional members, 222 student Selcuk Belek Technical Symposium (solar Alberto Rivas-Cardona members, and 87 educator as- Marco Cienega sails) sociates.

Not a member? See the end page. To nominate someone for AIAA’s top awards, please see www.aiaa.org. These relate to service to AIAA or the professions of aeronautics and astronautics.

From the lunch-and-learn of May 29, 2008: Left to right: Michael Zhang of the Asian-American Engineering Society (120 members in Houston) New member Marlo Gravees, contact person for AIAA Houston Section Chinese sister sections (In back): Ken Young, Houston space program veteran since the days of the Mercury program (still working half-time) James C. McLane III, AIAA Houston Section Interna- tional Space Activities Committee (ISAC) member James C. McLane, Jr., former Chair (1971-1972) of AIAA Houston Section, leader of the team that created the sister section relationship between the Shanghai Astronautical Society and our section, a relationship that is still going strong today, 21 years later.

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Lunch-and- The Rise of China’s Space Program: Learn Summary The International Space University Beijing Session www.aiaa-houston.org/tc/isac & AIAA Houston Section Sister Sections DOUGLAS YAZELL, ACTING EDITOR

This lunch-and From our publicity flyer: China. They were able to hear -learn drew a lectures and panel discussions crowd of 49 “In October 2003, China from Chinese and other inter- people on May launched its first human space national space experts as well 29, 2008, at mission with astronaut Yang as visit major Chinese space NASA John- Liwei. This milestone made facilities such as the Chinese son Space China only the third nation in Mission Control Center. Dur- Center’s Gil- history capable of independ- ing this Lunch & Learn they ruth Center. ently putting a human into will share their experiences in Appetizers and space. In October 2005, China Beijing and the plans AIAA iced tea were launched two more astronauts Houston Section has to create compliments into space, Fei Junlong and a sister section in Beijing and of AIAA Nie Haisheng on a five day continue the section’s 22-year- Houston Sec- mission. China’s space ambi- old tradition (since 1986, tion. tions include sending people to thanks to James C. McLane, the Moon. This summer, Jr.) of maintaining our sister AIAA members Marlo Graves section relationship with the Top: part of the artwork used & Stephen (Brad) Abrams Shanghai Astronautical Soci- by ISU to advertise the 2007 participated in the Interna- ety (SAS), whose current con- summer session in Beijing tional Space University (ISU) tact person in Shanghai is the Summer Session Program’07 SAS Secretary General Wu Right: Marlo Graves (at (SSP07) held in Beijing, right) and fellow ISU stu- Wenxuan. dents and personnel in China for the 2007 summer session Bottom: Photo by Marlo Graves in 2007: Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology

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Marlo Graves has worked in of Houston in 2004. three of Boeing's contracts - Lunch-and- the space industry since Janu- Space Shuttle, Constellation “Stephen (Brad) Abrams grew ary 1998. She currently works (Ares), and Secure Border up in San Antonio, Texas. Learn Summary for The Boeing Company in Initiative (SBI).” From an early age he was tink- www.aiaa-houston.org/tc/isac the Space Shuttle Systems ering in the garage and show- Someone in our audience Integration Group. During the ing interest in science and en- asked if a space race is possi- summer of 2006, Ms. Graves gineering. Brad attended Tufts ble in the near future, similar was a student at ISU for the University in Medford, Massa- to the space race of the 1960’s, session that was held in Stras- chusetts for his Bachelor of which was won when Neil bourg, France. During the Science in Mechanical Engi- Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin summer of 2007, she was an neering. After graduation, walked on the Moon and re- ISU staff member for the ses- Brad was employed by Lock- turned home safely. Brad an- sion in Beijing, China. Ms. heed Martin, working on small swered that he is not the right Graves is currently learning hardware projects for both the person to ask, but in his hum- Chinese and is leading AIAA Space Shuttle and Interna- ble opinion, we are already in Houston Section’s work to tional Space Station pro- a space race with the Chinese create a sister section in Bei- grams. He then left Lockheed and the American space pro- jing. Her educational back- to join Boeing in 1998, where gram leaders don’t know it ground is in aerospace. She he performed as a test engineer yet. received a BSE in Mechanical for the Space Station's Active & Aerospace Engineering Thermal Control System. Af- from Princeton University in ter two years, he began project 1995 and an MS in Space Ar- engineering and management, chitecture from the University where he continues to support

Top right: James C. McLane, Jr., Brad Abrams, Marlo Graves, and Douglas Yazell Top left: An ISU souvenir from the 2007 summer session in Beijing Left: Opening ceremonies in Beijing for the ISU summer session of 2007 Bottom: A crowd of 49 people at the Gilruth Center Lonestar room at NASA/JSC in Houston, for this lunch-and-learn of May 29, 2008.

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Lecture X-Prize at JSC Summary MICHAEL FROSTAD After a long day of work ple people to stay in space, the get big results. An idea is and meetings a good cross most famous being Dennis crazy one day, and a section of the JSC population Tito, the first commercial breakthrough the next. made their way to Building space traveler, and Anousheh • Looking at recent history 30’s Auditorium here at Ansari, the first female space who were those that were NASA JSC. The reason? X traveler and the person who making things happen? Prize Foundation Chairman funded the $10 million X The internet and .com and Founder, Dr. Peter Dia- prize. The Zero-G corporation explosion? People in their mandis was in town and the Be sure to check out the review of is a commercial parabolic 20’s. The manned pro- this talk in Justin Kugler’s blog at Advanced Planning Office flight service where people gram of the 60’s? People the Houston Chronicle website also. asked him to give a talk about experience 15 parabolas of in their 20’s. Make sure Go to his inspiring ventures. microgravity on a Boeing 727- you are giving them the http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/ Dr. Diamandis is involved 200. They fly out of KSC, Las then look for COSMO.SPHERE on chances and responsibili- with many exciting space ven- Vegas, and now JSC ties where they can excel the right. You can find his discus- tures and he probably has even sion in the August archives. (Ellington Field)! Finally, the and use their creative en- more exciting plans for the Rocket Racing League, the ergy. All generations can future. Some of his best newest venture using NASA learn from each other. known ventures are the X developed technology, is just • Did you know Lindbergh Prize Foundation, Space Ad- getting started and will com- flew across the Atlantic ventures, Zero-G Corp., and bine the excitement of NAS- for a $25,000 prize? New now the RRL (Rocket Racing CAR and flying to give the prizes and different con- League). public a whole new experience tracting set ups may drive If you are unfamiliar with while driving technology de- future feats. (Dr. Dia- his ventures, The X-Prize velopment. mandis is now focused on Below: Dr. Peter Diamandis (holding foundation and its $10 million So what advice did Dr. sword) with Arthur M. Dula (left), building the X Prize Foun- Ansari X PRIZE for private Diamandis have for those Kristen Diamandis, and astronaut Buzz dation into a world-class spaceflight led to Space Ship seeking it? Aldrin upon receipt of the half million prize institute whose mis- dollar Heinlein Prize for Space Com- One’s flight, a first for pure • Never give up. Determina- mercialism on July 7, 2006. (photo by sion is to bring about radi- commercial interests. Space tion and persistence, even AIAA Houston section member Jim Adventures has allowed multi- cal breakthroughs for the McLane III) in the face of failure, can benefit of humanity. The X Prize is now developing in fields such as Genom- ics, Automotives, Educa- tion, Medicine, Energy, and Social arenas.) • For NASA, things like the COTS program are essen- tial to building commercial capability from which NASA can then expand.

In summary, Dr. Dia- mandis gave an insightful and inspiring speech. He showed activities that he has under- taken to push commercial space and technology development, as well as giving those who attended some things to think about, always key to a good presentation.

AIAA Houston Horizons Fall 2008 Page 4 Page 46

Odds and Ends SPECIAL EVENTS, PICTORIALS, ETC.

Above: Photo from 1992 Shanghai visit by delegates from AIAA Houston section, led by James C. McLane, Jr. and Li Furong. (Photo by delegate Tuyen Hua)

Below: Chad Brinkley (Chair, AIAA Houston Section), Ellen Gillespie (Chair Elect), Dr. Gary Turner (College and Co-op Chair), and Professor Andrew Meade visit Author Celeste Graves kindly sent us a color photograph during a July 2008 meeting at Rice University of one of the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). Only the black and white version was published in her book A View from the Doghouse of the 319th AAFWFTD. WASP trainee Marion Flosheim is the subject of this photograph. She was in the first class of WASP trainees, and they trained at what is now Hobby Airport. Marion did not graduate with the WASP for medical reasons. From the book, "She was a New Yorker and preferred to live alone, so she shared an apartment in the Warwick Hotel with the two Afghan hounds she brought with her. She was a lovely redhead and was quite a picture exercising her hounds each day... Later she took up interior decorating and was a member of the National Committee of the National Society of Interior Designers who redid the International Reception Room at the White House for President and Mrs. Eisenhower - and again refurbished it for President and Mrs. Kennedy... Marion spent her time between living in New York and France."

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JSC 1968 Five Photos from the McLane Archives JAMES C. MCLANE III

In the course of going through old slides, I came across some photos I took in the summer of 1968 at JSC (then the Manned Spacecraft Center). These pictures show the inside of Building 32 during a peak of activities related to Apollo testing. In the summer of ‗68 manned testing of the Apollo Capsule and the Lunar Module were carried out at about the same time inside two large vacuum chambers in the Space Environment Simulation Labora- tory. (Continued on page 13)

Above: a view of the test setup looking down from a porthole near the top of chamber A. The beams that crisscross the chamber served as attachment points for sensors.

Below: the Apollo Command Module

Above: a view into Chamber A through its open 40 foot diameter door. An Apollo Command and Service Mod- ule is mounted vertically. Astronauts Joe Kerwin, Vance Brand and Joe Engle spent about a week living inside the 2 TV-1 spacecraft while the chamber provided the high vacuum and severe thermal loads expected during the mission. The tests were supported by contractor personnel from Rockwell. Photo Credits: James C. McLane III

AIAA Houston Section Horizons Spring 2010 Page 12 Page 13

Five Photos from the McLane Archives JSC 1968 JAMES C. MCLANE III

Photo Credits: James C. McLane III

Left: a view looking out over the Building 32 high bay. The drapes at left enclose fixtures used to set up the Apollo 2 TV-1 test. In the center can be seen the reinforced, dish-shaped top of Chamber B and its lifting fixture. The top of the chamber had been removed so the Lunar Module test item (LTA-8) could be inserted into the chamber (located on the right of the photo under a protective cone-shaped tent). The thermal vacuum test of the Lunar Module involved Astronaut Jim Irwin and Grumman test pilot Gerry Gibbons. The LM tests were supported by contractor personnel from Grumman.

Below: James C. McLane, Jr., the Chief of the Space Environment Test Division, standing in the ACE (Automatic Checkout Equip- ment) control room for Chamber A. There were two ACE rooms in Building 32, one for Chamber A and one for Chamber B. Mr. McLane was our AIAA Houston Section 1971-1972 Chair .

(Continued from page 12)

In recognition of the critical role they played in the Apollo moon landing program, these two space environment simulation chambers were designated as National Historic Landmarks by the Department of the Inte- rior. The Lunar Module used in these tests (LTA-8) can currently be seen hanging from the ceiling in Space Center Hous- ton.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons Spring 2010 Page 13 Page 28

From Caves to Space JAMES C. MCLANE III

Apollo engineers imitate cave exploring equipment to make safety falling restraints.

Back in the 1960s, my Right:: 1968 photo of author hobby was cave exploring. Jim McLane holding Jumar Like many Texas “cavers,” I rope ascender. would travel to Mexico Below: Cave explorer where very thick limestone climbing a rope out of Mexi- contained deep pits. Ten or so can pit Sotono De Las Hua- years earlier, French explor- huas. The photo shows part ers had set cave depth records of the 482 foot drop into the in Europe by linking together first chamber. This is fol- long strings of cable ladders. lowed by a 502 foot free Sometimes, these dangerous drop down into a lower ladders would hang down room. (Photo credits: Greg hundreds of feet. However, a Passmore). new method of descending deep pits had appeared and climbs could easily span hun- American cavers were in the dreds of feet with the rope forefront of this technology. hanging completely free from The technique was based on the rock walls. The record descending and then climbing for a Mexican pit is a 1,350 back out of the pit on a single foot vertical drop! Descend- length of 7/16” diameter ny- ing and then climbing back lon rope. out of a cave like that is a In the 1950s, the Swiss great adventure. Perhaps a began to market a device that couple of hours are needed to would enable roped-together climb from bottom to top, all mountain climbers to rescue the while hanging from a themselves if they fell into a single slim rope in the dark. crevasse. These rope climb- For a couple of months ing clamps were called Jumar in the summer of 1968, the ascenders. They consisted of Space Environmental Simula- an aluminum handle enclos- tion lab (SESL) in JSC’s ing a toothed-cam that would building 32 was the focus of slide up a rope, but would not America’s efforts to place slide back downward. A humans on the Moon. The climber could attach one of lab’s two largest test cham- these clamps to each leg by a bers, A and B, were designed short tether and then basically to allow astronauts to live walk up the hanging rope. inside a functioning space- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ craft under simulated deep Ascender_%28climbing%29 space conditions of vacuum, Cavers usually descend heat and cold. Crews that pits by sitting in a harness were sealed inside the cham- and repelling down a single bers would practice an entire rope. The new Swiss Jumars mission to the Moon and became indispensible for back. The tests were risky; if climbing back up. Such there was an emergency, it (Continued on page 29)

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(Continued from page 28) ment were items of ground uid nitrogen. would take considerable time support equipment built by My father was familiar to repressurize the chambers Grumman. A foldable slide with the Jumar Ascender rope back to sea level atmospheric could be deployed on top of clamps that I used to climb conditions and evacuate the the stairway to extract an out of caves. He thought that astronauts. During manned incapacitated astronaut. The a safety device for the testing, a rescue team (man official report referenced at manned LTA-8 tests might be lock observers) always stood the end of this article states: based on this same principle. by, breathing pure oxygen in He took one of my Jumar an airlock held at a partial The stairway and plat- clamps to Grumman, and vacuum so they could enter form that were used to their engineers designed rail the main chamber and render provide access from the camps based on the same assistance even before it was manlock door to the concept. These hand- fully repressurized. LTA-8 forward hatch operated mechanisms would Chamber B was designed are shown in figures 1 Above: Jumar ascender slide up and down a slim (left) compared to Grumman to test the Grumman-made and 10. The I/E stand steel tube rail mounted beside Lunar Module (LM), the two- consisted of a stairway, designed falling restraint the stairway. Inside the hous- (right) man vehicle that would land handrails, restraint as- ing, a lever was attached to a on the Moon. SESL re- semblies, a foldable spring loaded, serrated cam. ceived a flight-like produc- slide assembly (for If the astronaut were to begin tion item — designated LTA- emergency egress), and (Image credits: NASA) to fall, the clamp would in- 8 — directly off the assembly the ingress platform. stantly grab the tube and hold line. The testing of LTA-8 him securely on the ladder. would be performed by astro- This hardware was sub- There were clamps on either naut Jim Irwin (later to be the jected to one of the stranger side of the crewman and he eighth person to walk on the qualification tests ever per- would slide them up (or Moon) and Grumman test formed at NASA. It needed Below: Crewman attached down) as he ascended (or to falling restraints. pilot Gerry Gibbons. to be shown that the equip- (Continued on page 30) My father, James C. ment would work under the McLane Jr., was Chief of the extremely cold temperatures Space Environment Test Di- experienced inside the Space vision. He had ultimate au- Simulation chamber. There thority over the lab and the were worries that during a success of the test program. chamber emergency a heavy He was especially concerned load of ice (from the fire sup- about one potential safety pression system) could form issue. The Apollo Space on the cold ladder and the Suit, (even versions that had escape slide might not unfold been modified to use breath- properly. ing umbilicals instead of on- An open-top wooden board oxygen) was very tank the size of a small room heavy. After all, it was de- was constructed on a concrete signed to be worn in the low apron outside Building 32. gravity of the Moon, so on The tank was filled with hun- earth it weighed six times dreds of gallons of liquid more. When testing the LM nitrogen. The stairs were im- inside Chamber B, the astro- mersed in the cryogenic liq- naut would have to ascend uid, removed when cold, and and descend stairs on the side the folding mechanism was of the Lander. If a crewman evaluated. A test safety offi- wearing the heavy and awk- cer insured that no one stood ward backpack should lose downwind as the nitrogen gas his balance, he might fall off boiled off the huge vat. This the stairs with disastrous re- unusual sight drew a lot of sults. attention. No one had ever The 13.5 foot high stair- looked down into hundreds of way and associated equip- gallons of -320 degree F liq-

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descended) the stairs. The Notes: new safety restraints were The testing of LTA-8 is successfully used during the described (including an over- important tests performed view of the crew falling re- that summer in SESL. These straints) in NASA Technical manned vacuum tests of the Note TN 0-5760 “Manned Lunar Module involved over Operations For The Apollo 600 people and enabled hu- Lunar Module In A Simu- mans to land on the Moon lated Space Environment” by just one year later. O.L. Pearson and P.R. Gauthier. This report can be read online at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/ archive/nasa/ casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/197000244 66_1970024466.pdf

Crewmen and rescue personnel practice with falling restraints. On far right, wearing pressure suit, Lee Pearson, a Space Environ- mental Test Division engineer evaluates the emergency evacua- tion slide. (Image credits: NASA)

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More Photos from the McLane Archives JSC 1968 James C. McLane III

According to FloridaToday.com and other sources, Transformers 3 will be filming at KSC for about eight days in September, including depic- tions of the shuttle launch pad, crawler, and Vehicle Assembly Build- ing..

History repeats itself.

After the end of the Moon-landing program, a cash-strapped NASA allowed movies to be filmed at JSC.

One in particular (Future World, staring Peter Fonda) made heavy use of the giant space chambers in Building 32. I went out to watch the filming and saw a stunt man make $10,000 by taking a dive off a platform and falling over 100 feet into an air bag.

I took the attached photos in 1976 during the filming.

- Jim McLane III

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Feature An Astronaut Takes a Slow Flight JAMES C. MCLANE III

In the early days of the Right: Talking to the manned space program many Goodyear representa- firms made special efforts to tive (in the cowboy show their support for NASA. hat) For example in the summer of 1964 Goodyear sent a blimp to Texas as a promotional gesture to welcome the Manned Space Craft Center (now named John- son Space Center) to Houston. A temporary Blimp base was established in Clear Lake City on a large mowed open field on the northeast side of El Camino Real. Only a year earlier that street had been a rough dirt road. The site was close to rough field where a temporary back then. We also met astro- where the Clear Lake City fire mooring mast had been erected. naut Dick Gordon and his fam- Image credits: station is situated and located The famous Goodyear blimp ily (who would be riding with James C. McLane III about where Hercules Avenue Columbia (tail number N2A) us). The Gordon’s lived on our runs today. was moored to the top of the street in Clear Lake City, just a small tower. I’d never seen one few houses from us, so we Goodyear sent invitations of these things up close so I were neighbors. to certain NASA folks to take a was fascinated. We met the ride. On the first morning of local Goodyear representative. The blimp could carry the event our family (my fa- He wore a Stetson cowboy hat, perhaps 6 passengers. My ther, mother and I) went to the as indeed many Texans sported (Continued on page 17)

Right: From left to right, astronaut Dick Gordon and family, James McLane Jr. and wife Dorothy with Goodyear representative (wearing the cowboy hat)

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Feature

Left: Waiting to board. Astronaut Dick Gordon's family at left, James McLane, Jr. and Dorothy McLane at right.

(Continued from page 16) It was all very interesting. The terrific 360 degree view. No mother and father plus astro- crew and passenger pod rested one, not even the pilot had a naut Gordon and a couple of on one large single wheel with seat belt. The two piston en- Image credits: his kids boarded for the first a pneumatic tire. We boarded gines were inside pods, one on James C. McLane III flight. Gordon’s wife and their by stepping up a short ladder each side of the cabin. They remaining three kids would below a door on the right. The were quite noisy. These were ride with me on the second trip. cabin was roomy and bus-like, (Continued on page 18) with big windows offering a

Left: Walking to the blimp

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Feature

Right: Blimp Columbia attached to temporary mast

(Continued from page 17) rotating one wheel pulled on manual controls (not boosted) pusher type installations with cables that extended back to the that worked very large sur- Image credits: propellers near the aft end of tail elevator to control vehicle faces. In flight the pilot was James C. McLane III the passenger compartment. pitch. The other wheel worked continuously rotating the two The single landing wheel was cables that moved the rudder to (Continued on page 19) also located to the rear of the affect yaw. These were totally passenger compartment under the engines.

Rather than Right: A steep takeoff moving a central control yoke as in a convent.ional airplane, the Blimp pilot steered the vehicle with large wheels positioned vertically, one next to each side of his seat. These wheels looked something like those on a hospital wheel- chair. Manually

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(Continued from page 18) wheels with his arms and hands Feature –a lot of exercise! The main gas bag was full of helium, but since there had to be way for the gas to expand during the heat of the day (they didn’t Left: Climbing out with the vent the expensive gas over- Webster power station in board) inside the main envelop distance a variable size compartment held ordinary air. This compartment was inflated by air scoops resembling tubes situated behind the propellers. The prop blast kept the internal expansion compensator ex- panded. The vehicle seemed to have a slight negative buoy- ancy, so in order to climb the pilot would apply power, start moving ahead and then point the nose up. It was possible to point the nose up at a very sharp angle, say 30 degrees or Image credits: more and the machine would James C. McLane III climb away steeply, but slowly and majestically with its loud engines racing.

The sensation for passengers was quite different than being in a conventional airplane. The blimp’s noisy mo- (Continued on page 20)

Left: Blimp disappearing to the east

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(Continued from page 19) Feature tors were a distraction, but the ride was smooth. We passed over deer and cattle that remained graz- ing and seemed unper- Right: Approaching turbed by our presence. Highway 3 (Old Galves- We flew south along ton Road). Webster is to Texas HY#3 and near the right. Clear Lake before tran- siting the Manned Space- craft Center at low level. The term airship is very accurate because the Image credits: handling seemed ponder- James C. McLane III ous and slow like a ship. When the blimp would encounter an uprising thermal of warm air its nose The opposite would happen Passing over the new would be pushed upward. Then when we exited the thermal. So NASA center I took photos of when the tail of the ship got the nose constantly bobbed the massive construction that Below: Webster electric into the same thermal it would slowly up and down in a series was is full swing. We flew di- generating station. This also be pushed up and briefly of gentle oscillations. rectly over Building 32. From is now gone. we would be flying level again. (Continued on page 21)

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soon all blimp Feature flights had to be cancelled. Be- cause of the windy weather very few folks ever got to go up, Left: Pilot steers the so I consider my- Goodyer blimp Columbia self quite fortu- around Clear Lake nate.

I didn’t really think about our neighbors, the Gordons again Image credits: until a couple of James C. McLane III years later. One morning I went out to collect the (Continued from page 20) newspaper from the front yard Below: NASA building 32 Back in Clear Lake City our and saw a long line of cars and space chamber A takes the air I could see the huge landing was smooth and un- news vans parked along our shape under a red metal space environmental Chamber eventful. However, the Texas street and people standing frame A in building 32 being built. wind started kicking up and (Continued on page 22)

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Feature

Right: Low level flying

Image credit: James C. McLane III

(Continued from page 21) around everywhere. Dick Gordon was up in space on Gemini XI. He later flew to the moon as Command Module Pilot on Apollo 12.

Article ends on next page.

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Feature

Left: Approaching to land with the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in the distance

Image credits: James C. McLane III

Below: Ground crew leads the blimp to its mooring mast

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Conference Impressions of the 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) JAMES C. MCLANE III P. E., AIAA ASSOCIATE FELLOW, HOUSTON, 3/17/11

From March 7 through 11 returned samples from the as- LPSC were managed in an effi- it was my pleasure to attend the teroid Itokawa. A glance around cient, professional manner, with annual conference of the Lunar the floor indicated that cosmol- strict attention to time limits -15 and Planetary Science Institute ogy, space science and astro- minutes for each talk, including held in the Woodlands north of geology are attracting women. any questions. The Woodlands Houston. From modest begin- It’s likely that more than 40 Convention facility is a modern nings four decades ago this percent of the attendees were venue with several large pres- event has grown into a world- female. entation halls and numerous class exposition on all extrater- smaller meeting rooms. All the restrial things circling our sun. Since I occasionally attend talks I attended had good sound The conference had a major other major annual technical systems, and visual aids incorporate sponsor, Northrop conferences in Houston (e.g., cluded huge screens. Lighting Grumman, and there were exhi- the Offshore Technology Con- in the presentation halls was bition booths with representa- ference [OTC]), it’s interesting balanced so one could take tives from big aerospace com- to compare OTC to the LPSC. notes and still see the bright panies, private commercial enti- The OTC is far larger and also screens. ties, universities, think tanks features technical paper ses- and government labs. About sions, but the real attraction is I found myself wondering 1,600 people attended and the hundreds of floor displays, about the motivations of the many presented oral papers and hardware demos and booths by speakers. Most of the talks, and displayed fascinating posters on suppliers to that lucrative indus- even the posters resulted from imaginative and often surpris- try. The OTC attracts a mostly collaborative efforts of several ing investigations and projects. male audience of engineers and people, often from institutions The affair had a very interna- sales representatives. Attendees located in different ends of the tional flavor. I spoke with Euro- to the LPSC are mostly scien- country or even different coun- pean visitors who were enjoy- tists, and there are lots of fe- tries. Most presenters seemed ing the balmy Houston weather. males. The focus is not on dis- passionate about their work and Some attendees were college plays of hardware, but rather on highly motivated to be recog- graduate students, and many hearing some astonishing pa- nized as the first to discover or were in their first technical jobs pers and the chance to swap point out some obscure new bit after school. A large contingent notes with some of the world’s of information. Foreigners de- came from Japan. The Japanese greatest scientific minds. lighted in highlighting concepts were celebrities since their Ha- pioneered in their own coun- yabusa space probe successfully Oral presentations at the tries decades ago. Some presentations supported hypotheses Right: Planetary scientist (e.g., about the formation of the Steven Squyres at LPSC. Moon) that contradicted hy- Image credit: LPSC potheses put forward in other presentations. I enjoyed such lively conflict.

In general, things related to our Sun or other stars were not covered, nor was there much that was applicable to manned space flight. A few presentations and posters described desert studies on Earth (Continued on page 59)

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(Continued from page 58) I spoke with an enthusias- near-earth objects. Like many Conference that might help support future tic man from Hungary who conference presentations, it was human missions to the moon or heads a team competing for the streamed out over the internet. Mars. Virtually all the planets Google Lunar X-prize, a private Since a collision with such an and minor objects in our solar effort to land a rover on the object could well terminate life system were the subject of mul- moon. I also heard many novel on earth, it’s a serious subject tiple papers. A link to the syn- theories. One attendee had an where space technology can opsis of all papers is located at: astonishing presentation on her play a critical roll. Current sur- idea that observations of an veys of threatening objects are http://www.lpi.usra.edu/ increasing rate of expansion of hampered by an inability to publications/absearch/? the universe are not due to look between the earth and the meet- some mysterious dark energy, sun. Identification of all major ing=335&keywords_all=&sub but rather to the possibility that threats will probably require mit.search=Search the speed of light in a vacuum that a new detection spacecraft is decreasing over time. be placed in space trailing Ve- Tuesday and Thursday nus. There are major questions afternoons featured a massive I talked to a lady from about what actions might be Poster Session in a cavernous Goddard Space Flight Center taken and who would be in hall. Attendees stood along attending because she obtained charge of the response effort if hundreds of feet of movable project grant money, without Earth were threatened. partitions to talk to passers-by which her NASA project proba- about their pet projects. The bly could not spare funds for A conference highlight range of ideas was tremendous. her travel. I spoke with a Chi- was the release of a study by a Some folks have developed nese graduate student from a prestigious committee of the complex hardware, like cham- school in Florida and his Japa- National Research Council with bers to simulate the environ- nese friend. I talked to old recommendations for prioritiz- ment on Venus or to test the NASA hands who left the Clear ing unmanned programs to so- strength of ice under conditions Lake area after working on lar system objects over the next that might exist on a Jovian Apollo, but still retain an inter- 10 years. This so-called Plane- moon. Other projects involved est in space. I met someone tary Decadal Survey forms the software or computer modeling. from Glenn Research Center basis for long range planning by developing a rocket to bring a the government and NASA, and Photos of conference ac- small sample of Mars rocks it was eagerly anticipated. A tivities can be viewed at the back to earth. He said the rocket link to the report (recorded vid- following web site (search for was so small that it was like eos) is located at: “LPSC 2011 Royalty Free Im- something a hobbyist might ages”): make. http:// www.livestream.com/2011lpsc/ http://www.lpi.usra.edu/ There was a significant video?clipId=pla_18e48f98- meetings/lpsc2011/?view=press panel discussion by experts on 4a78-4acc-ad2a-

Left: Womens’ breakfast at LPSC. Image credit: LPSC

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Conference 29c7a8ae326c&utm_source=lsl exploration game. One of the tions for the purpose of rebadg- ibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb more bizarre meetings was an ing. The lawsuit took over three informal presentation on the years to wind its way up to the Perhaps the largest contin- history of a lawsuit filled by US Supreme Court. At issue gent of attendees at this conven- JPL employees to try to prevent was the right of the federal gov- tion came from the Jet Propul- Caltech and NASA from under- ernment to require private em- sion Laboratory (JPL), a major taking open-ended, uncon- ployers to investigate an indi- player in the unmanned space strained background investiga- vidual’s personal history without a compelling reason to do Right: A speaker at LPSC so. The scientists lost when the in the Woodlands. Image Supreme Court ruled that the credit: LPSC Constitution doesn’t guarantee a right of privacy. More information about the case can be found at: http://hspd12jpl.org/

As one walked the halls of the convention center, there was the constant buzz of conversa- tion between experts discussing problems. This is the real benefit of such a conference, to see your colleagues and compare notes. It was refreshing to experience the enthusiasm of the Right: The Hayabusa conference attendees. It re- team, first to return sam- minded me of the infectious ples from an asteroid to excitement present in the Earth. Image credit: manned space program back LPSC during the Apollo era. There is a renaissance occurring at this time in planetary science akin to the exciting time 500 years ago when the first explorers brought back news to Europe about the New World. Our recent space probes have returned massive amounts of fresh data, and even information collected decades ago is being revisited with new computer tools. There is so much data that huge op- Right: A poster session at portunities exist for a researcher LPSC. Image credit: to find something entirely new. LPSC After seeing the amenities and experiencing the efficient organization, I think the conference registration fee ($205 for professionals, $100 for students) is a real bargain. The programs went on non-stop, and the dilemma was choosing which of the fascinating presentations one might want to attend next.

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Feature Just For the Record JAMES C. MCLANE III

When I read historical inter- an electronics kit. The rudder ware allowed the pilot to views with folks who took and elevator on my model move the control surfaces part in the Apollo program, were moved by a mechanical incrementally rather than I’m immediately struck by escapement powered by a choosing only neutral, full up how many of them mention wound-up rubber band. The or full down. building and flying model radio equipment and batteries airplanes when they were were so heavy the plane could In the 1960’s an RC model kids. A few (like my father) barely fly, so the possibility airplane club was formed by started flying models in the of crashing made each flight employees at NASA’s new 1930’s when aviation was in very exciting. That was back Manned Spacecraft Center. Below: (Left to Right) Un- its exciting infancy. For some in the 1950’s. By the 1960’s The club flew their planes on known participant, Maynard of these modelers, this pas- transistorized gear and printed an antenna test range used for Hill (kneeling) Owen Morris, sion carried over into their circuits came into use, and in the Apollo program. A long John Kiker, Unknown flyer adult years. the 1970’s the integrated cir- paved runway extended out holding conventional aircraft cuit and tiny electric actuator into a pasture west of the used to test timing system. I built my first radio control motors (servos) made radio Space Center’s anechoic Image credit: James C. (RC) plane when I was about control equipment reliable chamber building. By the McLane III 13 years old. My Dad made and relatively cheap. The mid 1970’s the runway was the vacuum tube radio receiv- model planes were a lot easier no longer active with any er and transmitter for me from to fly since the newer hard- (Continued on page 11)

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(Continued from page 10) The club conducted flying and test special super-fast RC Feature NASA projects so JSC al- contests and was always cast- planes, and several members lowed the RC club virtually ing about for activities that did just that. The official FAI unlimited access to the area. could bring members togeth- sanctioned event attracted Arrangements were made for er. They became enthusiastic modelers from other states folks who were not NASA or over the idea of sponsoring an (more about that later). In contractor employees to park attempt to set a world’s speed spite of advance warning near the flying site, even record. Since 1905 all formal some folks showed up at the though their cars didn’t have aviation record trials are con- event with brand new planes NASA visitor permits. Most ducted under strict rules and they had never tried to fly! of the models flew slowly, regulations established by the Below: Model resting on its perhaps 30 miles per hour, but Federation Aeronautique In- It doesn’t take an aerospace wire space-frame takeoff dol- there were special racing ternationale (FAI). This engineer to realize that the ly. Aircraft features thin, planes that might approach world governing body for air dense, humid Houston air was sharp wings and tail, cowling 100. One club member had a sports, based in Lausanne not the best place to attempt a on engine and long, tuned very fast plane powered by a Switzerland sanctions flying world’s speed record, but exhaust pipe. Wire loop near small pulse jet engine (like records, even those of model nevertheless that didn’t dis- front dolly wheel could be the old German V-1 buzz aircraft. courage the club from spon- used for catapult assisted bombs), but most flying out at soring the effort. My take off. Note the nearly in- the antenna test range was The RC club arranged for the memory is fuzzy on this mat- visible, minimal size control low and slow. More about the official speed record trials to ter, but I seem to recall that surfaces. Builders/flyers early club can be found at this be held over a weekend in the the speed record at that time names are written on the web site. http:// fall of 1976. The date was set stood at something slightly wing. Image credit: James C. www.jscrcc.com/history.html far enough in advance for higher than 200 miles/hour. McLane III club members to design, build (Continued on page 12)

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Feature (Continued from page 11) permission to use an auxiliary runway. The speed trial would FAI rules limited the little two runway at Ellington Air Force begin when the plane raced stroke reciprocating model Base for the entire weekend across an imaginary portal in engines to a certain maximum and the weather was great, space between these two size, but I don’t think there with clear skies, mild temper- poles. The speed run would were significant restrictions atures and light winds. end when the model crossed on the shape of the models. another imaginary portal The planes would be timed as Out at Ellington volunteers marked by poles erected 200 they flew along a special marked off a precisely meas- feet or so down the runway. measured course very close to ured segment of runway, The problem was just how to the ground. Any arrangement probably something like a 200 detect when the model set up for model airplanes foot trap, but I can’t recall the crossed those spots. could also be used for heli- exact length. An unusual copters so the club decided to method was used to determine A clever human-based timing try to set a world’s speed rec- the model’s ground speed. In system was used. Several ord for those models at the 1976 there were no such volunteers sat in a line of same event. In 1976 RC heli- things as hand held police lawn chairs placed perpendic- copters were in a very primi- radar guns or laser speed de- ular to the runway in such a tive state of development so tectors or other inexpensive manner that the people were Below: Models skid in for the existing record was very high tech ways to sense the facing the poles. Each person landing on reinforced bot- low (say 20 miles/hour). speed of a flying object. The in a chair could see both poles toms, risking a broken propel- technique chosen was to erect at the same time, one directly ler. Image credit: James C. By November 1976 all was in two tall poles (maybe 15-20 in line behind the other. The McLane III readiness. The RC Club had feet high) on each side of the (Continued on page 13)

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(Continued from page 12) poles. A custom built elec- trying to scoot out of sight. Feature volunteers held push buttons tronic system (remember this Few modelers had any experi- that were electrically connect- was before the advent of the ence with models where all ed to a central timing record- Personal Computer) averaged design features focused on er. The volunteers (typically 5 the readings from the push speed. Compared to the typi- or so on each end of the meas- buttons (to remove the ele- cal RC airplane the special ured speed trap) stared at the ment of variable human re- planes built for this record poles and when they saw the sponse reaction) and present- attempt could barely get air- model flash by, they pushed ed a transit time that would borne and flew poorly. Their their timing button. Down translate into a model speed. propellers had a very steep the runway at the far end of pitch that was only effective the speed trap a similar group Making RC planes go real fast at high speed. At take off and of volunteers watched and has never been a typical goal slow speeds the props were pushed buttons when the because it’s no fun flying mostly paddle blades provid- model crossed between their something that’s constantly ing little thrust. The models did not have conventional wheels, Left: 14 must have been a but instead rested lucky number. Image credit: on take-off dollies James C. McLane III that dropped away when the plane rose up from the runway. Once off the ground, the planes would slowly claw their way into the sky with a low rate of climb. Most models featured a long ―tuned‖ exhaust pipe extending back along the top of the fuselage. The engines were tuned for a very high RPM (which they could never reach on the ground or during their climb to altitude).

The strategy for setting the speed record was as fol- lows:

After a long roll down the runway the pilot would decide that flying speed had been reached and direct the plane to pull (Continued on page 14)

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Feature (Continued from page 13) and getting close without very exciting for those of us up off the dolly into the air. even looking up. on the ground to hear and see Then the model would circle one of these things screaming around and around as it slow- If one did look up, there was straight down out of the ly climbed up to perhaps 1000 the worrisome sight of a mis- sky. We were praying or so feet altitude. It would sile coming rapidly down out the wings and tail would stay be a tiny object in the sky. of the sky that seemed to be attached during the high-G The operator would then com- pointed directly at us! The pull out at the bottom of the mand the model to pitch over operator would pull the model long dive. Over the weekend and point its nose at the out of its dive a few feet there were some failures and ground. In a near vertical above the ground just in time crashes. These sleek planes dive, the model would rapidly to fly between the poles, roar were not designed with stabil- Below: Master modeler gain speed. The high pitch down the measured section of ity in mind and I saw one Maynard Hill from Mary- propeller would come into its runway, and then pull up aircraft lose radio contact, land. Aircraft shows damage own, and the sound of the when it passed the poles at the wander away out of control to its single (only) aileron. motor would drastically far end of the speed run. Usu- and be destroyed in a crash. Rubber balloon contains fuel. change as engine RPM’s sud- ally enough fuel was carried Hook and cord attached to denly increased. The tuned for a few attempts. When the I watched a man flying a very front of dolly is part of cata- exhaust pipe would begin to fuel ran out, the model would large home-built helicopter. pult system that pulls the resonate and on the ground glide down to a risky belly The chopper was hovering plane up to take off speed. we would hear a distant shriek landing in the grass. about 3 feet off the ground Image credit: James C. increasing in pitch with Dop- with the operator standing too McLane III pler affect as the plane came I was helping with this ef- close when a gust of wind nearer and nearer. We could fort. As I mentioned, it was caused it to suddenly drift tell the plane was in a dive (Continued on page 15)

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(Continued from page 14) programs. Owen was Manag- practicality by flying a radio Feature over into him. The heavy er of the Lunar Module and controlled model of the piggy spinning blades chopped up Apollo Spacecraft Program back combination. John was his legs so badly he had to office. After leaving NASA a serious aviation enthusiast leave the site for medical at- he formed locally-based Eagle who owned an airplane before tention. Engineering and in spite of he ever owned a car! He died being seriously injured in a in 2005. That weekend a model heli- home built airplane crash in copter did manage to set a 1998 he is still active in the http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/ world’s speed record, but space program and still flies history/oral_histories/ none of the fast planes came RC models. KikerJW/JWK_BIO.pdf even close. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/ Maynard Hill is the kneeling I took a few photos at the history/oral_histories/ person holding the futuristic event which are reproduced MorrisOG/OGM_6-30- delta wing model below Ow- here. 99.pdf. en and John. He brought his speed planes down from Mar- In the middle of the group John Kiker was the engineer yland for the meet. Maynard photo of the men holding their who promoted the idea that had a passion for setting mod- models are famous NASA the Space Shuttle orbiter el airplane records that he got Below: Engines have acousti- engineers Owen Morris and could ride on top of a Boeing by competing with the Rus- cally tuned exhaust pipes. John Kiker. Both were espe- 747. He received a Presiden- sians during the Cold War. Image credit: James C. cially critical to the success of tial citation for perfecting He set several international McLane III the Apollo and Space Shuttle this concept and proving its records for altitude and flight (Continued on page 16)

AIAA Houston Horizons July/August 2011Page 15 Page 16

Feature (Continued from page 15) few years, but all the others A man on the ground flipped duration. As he entered his had crashed or been lost at a switch on his radio control 70’s his eyesight began to sea. He started the little en- transmitter to take control of fail, but he kept on building gine, ran a few steps and the little airplane and lead it models. Late in life he set a threw the 11 pound aircraft down to a smooth landing. goal that was almost impossi- into the air. Beyond a couple Maynard’s model had flown bly high. hundred feet he could no across the Atlantic Ocean all longer see it, so a friend took by itself! In spite of blindness History records that on Au- over radio control. The little Hill had seen his dream be- gust 9, 2003 the now legally- plane headed east over the come a reality. This achieve- blind Maynard Hill poured Atlantic Ocean off Cape Fear ment was the model airplane one gallon of Coleman lantern Newfoundland, guided by a world’s equivalent of the fuel into the gas tank of an tiny autopilot. 39 hours and Apollo 11 moon landing. RC plane he had designed and nearly 1900 miles later, right Maynard Hill on died June built. This aircraft was one of on schedule and at the correct 22, 2011 at the age of 83. a series of similar models he location a dot appeared in the had made over the previous sky off the coast of Ireland. (Continued on page 17)

Below: Starting a helicopter with an electric motor. Wind is apparent in bent grass. Image credit: James C. McLane III

AIAA Houston Horizons July/August 2011Page 16 Page 17

(Continued from page 16) Feature More about Maynard Hill can be read here:

http://www.modelaircraft.org/ mag/mhill/hillindex.htm Left: Jim McLane (the author) in about 1948 with a gas mod- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ el Gee Bee. Image credit: news/obituaries/technology- James C. McLane III obituaries/8573491/Maynard-

Hill.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/

SB100014240527023047783

04576377930613461572.html

The End

Left: Jim McLane (the author) in 2009 with a larger model Gee Bee. Image credit: James C. McLane III

AIAA Houston Horizons July/August 2011Page 17 Page 4

From the Editor New Technology, New Directions DOUGLAS YAZELL, EDITOR

NASA human space flight is (ESA’s) Automated Transfer NASA recently released a aiming high with a mission Vehicle, in a modified form, Global Exploration Strategy sending astronauts to an as- for the Service Module (GES). This international teroid. The team starting planned for use with the Ori- team of space agencies had NEEMO 15 (NASA Extreme on Crew Exploration Vehicle two questions in mind, “Why Environment Mission Opera- (CEV), now called the Orion are we returning to the tions) training soon includes Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Moon?”, and “What are we planetary scientist Dr. Steven (MPCV). As for funding, planning to do when we get Squyers, a well-known mem- Robert F. Thompson remind- there?” This ongoing study ber of the team from the Mars ed us that the NASA budget now focuses on two paths for Exploration Rovers (MER) was never more than 1% of the next 25 years, “Asteroid program (using the famous the national budget except Next” and “Moon Next.” robot rovers Spirit & Oppor- during the early years tunity). That fits well with the (Apollo, etc.). As long as The Department of Defense’s flexible path recommended NASA funding is based on (DoD’s) Defense Advanced by the Augustine Committee, realistic plans, things should Research Projects Agency provided that it is fully fund- go as well as possible given (DARPA) led a 100-Year ed and uses international that we hold national elec- Starship Symposium in Or- E-mail: partners in the critical path. tions on a regular basis. The lando (September 30 - Octo- editor-in-chief “at” News reports now talk about current NASA budget is ber 2, 2011), related to a aiaa-houston.org NASA’s interest in using the probably about 0.5% of the study starting in the fall of European Space Agency’s national budget. 2010 and ending on 11/11/11. DARPA will award $500,000 to a winning team to plan Right: Upcoming NASA things for sending humans to events for the Global Explo- another solar system within ration Strategy. Image credit: the next century without any NASA, http://www.nasa.gov/ more government funding. exploration/about/isecg/ Until next issue, happy land- ings!

Right: From the Wings Over Houston airshow this year (October 15, 2011), a souvenir from James C. McLane, Jr., a former AIAA Houston Section Chair. Mr. McLane was a WW II P-51D fighter pilot in 1945. In that same Legends & Heroes tent, I visited Celeste Graves (author, A View from the Doghouse, about the WASP) and Captain A.J. High, author of Meant to Fly, and a volunteer at the 1940 Air Terminal Museum. Image credit: Nick King (airplane silhouette).

AIAA Houston Section Horizons September / October 2011 Page 4 Page 25

Mike Moses Moves to Virgin Galactic Staying Informed PRESS RELEASE FROM VIRGIN GALACTIC

October 11, 2011 decision authority for the final Left: Mike Moses. Image 12 missions of the Space credit: Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Appoints For- Shuttle Program, directly mer NASA Executive as Vice overseeing the safe and suc- President of Operations Vir- cessful flights of 75 astro- gin Galactic is pleased to an- nauts. nounce the appointment of former NASA executive Mi- Moses will develop and lead chael P. Moses as the Vice the team responsible for Vir- President of Operations. Just gin Galactic spaceship opera- days prior to the dedication of tions and logistics, flight crew the company’s operational operations, customer training, headquarters at Spaceport and spaceport ground opera- Electrical Systems Groups. America in New Mexico, tions, with overall operational Virgin has named the highly safety and risk management Moses said, “I am extremely Below: A letter to the editor. respected human space flight as the primary focus. excited to be joining Virgin leader to oversee the planning Galactic at this time, helping and execution of all opera- “Bringing Mike in to lead the to forge the foundations that tions at the site of the compa- team represents a significant will enable routine commer- Dome of an Idea ny’s commercial suborbital investment in our commit- cial suborbital spaceflights. spaceflight program. ment to operational safety and Virgin Galactic will expand James C. McLane III suggests success as we prepare to the legacy of human space- putting a space shuttle orbiter Following a distinguished launch commercial opera- flight beyond traditional gov- in the Astrodome, along with career in NASA’s recently- tions,” said Virgin Galactic ernment programs into the the Saturn V rocket from retired Space Shuttle Pro- President and CEO, George world’s first privately funded gram, Moses brings to Virgin Whitesides. “His experience commercial spaceline.” Rocket Park at NASA/JSC. Galactic a proven record of and track record in all facets His letter appeared in the safe, successful and secure of spaceflight operations are Moses holds a bachelors de- Houston Chronicle of October human spaceflight missions, truly unique. His forward- gree in Physics from Purdue 8, 2011. Here is a link to that spaceport operations, and thinking perspective to bring University, a masters degree letter: http://www.chron.com/ human spaceflight program the hard-won lessons of hu- in space sciences from Florida opinion/letters/article/NASA- leadership. He served at the man spaceflight into our oper- Institute of Technology and a and-other-space-concerns- NASA Kennedy Space Center ations will benefit us tremen- masters degree in aerospace in Florida as the Launch Inte- dously.” engineering from Purdue Uni- 2208398.php gration Manager from 2008 versity. He is a two-time re- until the landing of the final Prior to his most recent cipient of the NASA Out- Editor: James later said it is Shuttle mission in July 2011. NASA role, Moses served as standing Leadership Medal as probably feasible to display He was responsible for super- a Flight Director at the NASA well as other NASA commen- the entire space shuttle stack vising all Space Shuttle pro- Johnson Space Center where dations and awards. cessing activities from land- he led teams of Flight Con- (solid rocket boosters, external tank, and a real orbiter) ing through launch, and for trollers in the planning, train- reviewing major milestones ing and execution of all as- depicting a realistic ascent at including final readiness for pects of Space Shuttle mis- an angle in the Astrodome. flight. sions. Before being selected as a Flight Director in 2005, He also served as chair of the Moses had over 10 years ex- Mission Management Team perience as a Flight Controller and provided ultimate launch in the Shuttle Propulsion and

Virgin Galactic press release. See page 29 for news about Tara Hyland, MCC, ASA, Virgin Galactic Accredited Space Agent (ASA), Director, Leisure the new NASA Space Launch Marketing - US at CWT Vacations, Houston, Texas USA System (SLS).

AIAA Houston Section Horizons September / October 2011 Page 25

Page 20

Aviation The Fog of War Obscures a Great Aerial Dogfight (Speculation) JAMES C. MCLANE III

Recently KUHF radio in Hou- much of 1944 serving as an combat tactics with the pilots ston featured Dr. John instructor for those single seat of the 357th. The two German Lienhard’s “Engines of our aircraft. He transitioned to the aces were almost legendary, Ingenuity” episode #1995 much more advanced P-51 each having each shot down about the P-40 aircraft. Mustang after joining the more than 200 enemy aircraft. 357th Fighter Group in Eng- http://www.uh.edu/engines/ land. An American pilot asked one epi1995.htm of the visitors to describe his In July 1945 his Group moved toughest aerial combat. The The radio program reminded into a former German air base German, with luck and great me of a story I’d heard from at Neubiberg near Munich. skill had survived countless my father, longtime AIAA There was speculation about dogfights, perhaps more than member and former AIAA whether they might eventually any living aviator. The listen- Section Chair James C. have to tangle with the Rus- ing audience included pilots McLane Jr. sians in disputes over the post who had wanted to shoot this -war division of Europe. To man and his Luftwaffe broth- During WW2 my dad (now help prepare for this possibil- ers down, so they were very 89 years old) was a fighter ity, the US Army sent a cou- interested in his response. pilot. He trained in the Curtiss ple of recently surrendered Maybe he would describe an P-40 Warhawk, and spent German aviators to discuss encounter with one of the notable American aces in that Right: James C. McLane Jr. very room, a group that in- (center–right) and P-40 with cluded Kit Carson, one of the other pilots of “A” Flight, US’s top scoring fighter pi- Squadron “T”, Punta Gorda lots. The German’s answer Army Air Field, Florida, Feb would surprise his audience. 7, 1945. Image credit: James C. McLane III. The Luftwaffe ace said his most memorable combat oc- curred early in the war. He was flying a Messerschmitt Bf-109 on a patrol over North Africa. Flying high up in the empty blue sky over the desert, the war seemed a remote abstraction. The air was crys- tal clear and visibility was excellent. It was cool up here, unlike the stifling hot conditions that prevailed on the ground. This was a fine day to be in the Luftwaffe instead of Rommel’s Afrika Korps, choking on dust, crawling around somewhere down below on the blistering Sahara desert.

Habitually scanning the sky, he saw a tiny speck in the far (Continued on page 21)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons September / October 2012 Page 20

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(Continued from page 20) chanical failure on his trusty on the ground, or the personal Aviation distance and instantly veered Messerschmitt, the outcome satisfaction of escorting the over in that direction for a of this chance meeting with slow, vulnerable troop trans- better look. The speck was a the enemy was inevitable. He ports that carried dozens of lone Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an expert, flying the fellow German soldiers. He painted brown in British cam- world’s fastest front-line wasn’t nervous as he method- ouflage colors. The war had fighter plane. He would score ically cinched his shoulder once again become a personal another easy victory by down- harness tighter, advanced the matter. The German knew he ing the plodding, semi- throttle, glanced one last time was there to make just such a obsolete P-40. Experience had at the instrument panel and discovery. Nevertheless, for taught him that any pilot in a banked the lethal little Mes- an instant before deciding on P-40 with the bad luck to serschmitt into a curving path a course of action he resented meet his fully armed Bf-109 designed to intercept the track how much the impending would soon be another casual- of the P-40 and put him in a encounter would interfere ty of war. Such an encounter firing position behind his op- with his enjoyment of the held little of the danger and ponent. beautiful day. Barring a me- excitement of strafing targets (Continued on page 22)

Left: Instructor pilot McLane in P-40. Image credit: James C. McLane III.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons September / October 2012 Page 21

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Aviation (Continued from page 21) my. Pulling high G’s both level above a North African planes flattened out near the city. The Messerschmitt was But the Warhawk pilot was ground without shedding nec- not far behind. The subse- alert and he would not be tak- essary parts, like wings or quent dog fight happened en unaware. tails, or rendering their pilots inside the town. The planes unconscious. The cockpits chased each other down A P-40 could accelerate very began to take in the hot air streets and between buildings rapidly in a dive, so to escape that one associates with the and houses, their wing tips the situation the British pilot desert. In a short while flying and propellers barely clearing headed toward the ground as outfits, designed for the cold obstacles. Panic-stricken peo- steeply as possible. But, the of 20,000 feet became uncom- ple, animals and livestock air was clear and there were fortable and the pilots began scattered. The planes were so no clouds below to dive into to sweat. Behind tight fitting low that their propeller tips and hide. Perhaps down near goggles, sweat could sting the may have touched the dirt as the desert the mottled tan eye and obscure vision. Now they roared down the roads. camouflage on the Warhawk the German sought a rapid Clouds of dust hung in the air would make him hard to see. end to this contest. It had al- in their wake. At least that was one remote ready proven more inconven- possibility. ient than he expected. This The very low altitude meant had become a classic match of there could be no chance to The fast Bf-109 headed down two planes and their pilots, bail out with a parachute if too, following in the distance knights of the sky engaged in your plane was fatally shot. behind the P-40. The resulting a close-in fight that almost The extreme high-G maneu- pursuit continued as both air- certainly would end in a vers, the banking and the con- craft spiraled closer and clos- death. stant, hard over, knife edge er to earth. The German was turns did not offer any chance tenacious, but couldn’t close After pulling out of its steep for the Bf-109 to use its abil- the distance separating him dive, by chance the P-40 ity to go fast. Close proximity and his now fast flying ene- found itself flying at rooftop to the ground made it impos- sible to dive. A climb would Right: James McLane Jr. and slow you down and make you a P-40 Warhawk. Image cred- an easy target, so the normal it: James C. McLane III. three dimensional environment of flight was reduced to moving in only two dimen- sions, a condition that greatly handicapped the faster Mes- serschmitt.

It must have been frightening for the two pilots. Horrifying would be a better term. This was the stuff of a nightmare. The experience was so scary that three years later the Ger- man could still remember every detail. Following close behind the P-40 pebbles and dirt struck his windshield as he occasionally lost sight of his enemy in the dust. On the ragged edge of a high speed stall the tight turning P-40 would try to cut inside the German’s circle. For an instant each pilot might find himself in an advantageous (Continued on page 23)

AIAA Houston Section Horizons September / October 2012 Page 22

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(Continued from page 22) each frightened by the flying Sergeant Copping, flying Aviation position and perhaps get off a ability and tenacity of the alone without escort, encoun- few shots, but neither could other. They had both met their ter a German ace and fight a stay in a favorable orientation match and knowing so, with desperate aerial dance of long enough for a kill. mutual relief they departed death? We’ll probably never the city in separate directions. know, but it’s indeed a fasci- After an agonizing time en- nating possibility. If this is gaged in this risky low level In the spring of 2012, news true, then Copping’s dogfight flying, it was plain that the reports began to filter out of might rank among the great match was going nowhere. Egypt announcing the discov- examples of aerial combat. Neither aviator could gain ery of a crashed P-40 aircraft. Could he, against all odds, sufficient advantage over the An oil exploration crew had while piloting an obsolete other to prevail. Flying crazy found a well preserved wreck aircraft, have successfully like this, low in an unfamiliar in the desert. There were bul- battled a noted German ace to city, would ultimately end in let holes in the airplane and a draw, only to later die alone disaster. For the pilots, the indications that the pilot had of thirst and exposure in the tension, like the heat in the survived the emergency land- desert? If so, he never got to cockpit, was almost unbeara- ing. Identification tags made tell his remarkable story or be ble. Throwing the aircraft into it possible to trace the wreck. recognized for his skill and one extreme maneuver after Official military records bravery. another at the very limit of showed that on June 28, 1942 controllability was physically this aircraft and its pilot, 24- Those who might discount the exhausting. year-old British Flight Ser- P-40 as a fighter aircraft geant Dennis Copping, had should take note. In the hands As suddenly as this desperate completely vanished. of the right pilot it could be life or death struggle began, formidable. the combatants broke it off, On that fateful day, did Flight Left: P-40 training in Florida – 1944. Image credit: James C. McLane III.

Links about lost 1942 P-40 found in 2012 (Since we plan to print Horizons on paper on occasion, we present the entire links): Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2142300/Crashed-plane-Second-World-War-pilot-Dennis-Copping-discovered- Sahara-desert.html National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/05/pictures/120524-world-war-ii-plane-egypt-desert-science-p-40-lost/ Video 1 of 2 (1\2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFe8CsOdoG8 Video 2 of 2 (2\2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmTNXcGB3Fo British Forces News: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6m7vkqGS5g

AIAA Houston Section Horizons September / October 2012 Page 23 Page 3 Upcoming Annual Awards Banquet Featuring From the Chair a Talk on the NASA Warp Drive! DANIEL NOBLES, CHAIR On the evening of June 13th, also led the design of the Lu- rious service to the Engineer- the Houston Section will hold nar Receiving Laboratory, ing Robotics Division. He has our Annual Awards Banquet and was a Division Chief for been awarded a Silver Snoopy in memory of Mr. James C the Space Environmental and a NASA Spaceflight McLane, Jr. (1923-2012). Mr. Simulation Lab. On a more Awareness Award, both of McLane held the position of personal note, Mr. McLane which are prestigious awards. AIAA Houston Section Chair was a dear friend to many of Currently, he holds a post as from 1971-1972, during us here in the Houston Sec- the Advanced Propulsion [email protected] which the Johnson Space tion, and still regularly attend- Theme Lead for the NASA (Daniel A. Nobles) Center flew Apollo Mission ed dinner meetings whenever Engineering Directorate and Links: 15 and 16. He was the second possible, and we looked for- is the JSC representative to https://people.nasa.gov person in South Carolina to ward to speaking with him. the Nuclear Systems Working build a gasoline-powered His passing has been felt by Group. I cannot wait to hear model airplane, and attended many of us, and we will be his perspective of how we can I hope to see you there. Clemson University. He holding this year’s Awards achieve faster than light trav- joined the Army Air Corps, Banquet in his memory. el. For more information, For more information about and flew as a combat pilot check out this link at this dinner meeting, visit our over Germany as a member of Dr. Sonny White holds a Space.com: “Warp Drive May website’s event page via this the 357th fighter group. From Ph.D. in physics from Rice Be More Feasible Than link or email Jennifer Wells there, he worked for the Na- University, and a vast amount Thought, Scientists Say.” at: tional Advisory Committee of experience in engineering [email protected] for Aeronautics in Langley, here at the NASA Johnson We will also present various Thank you for your continued VA, and then designed wind Space Center, where many of awards and introduce our ex- support of the AIAA Houston tunnels in Tullahoma, TN. He us best remember his merito- ecutive council for next year. Section.

Above: Photo from a 1972 Section meeting in the Holiday Inn on NASA Road 1. Chairman James C. McLane, Jr. (standing) is introducing the speaker, Major General Douglas T. Nelson, Program Director for the B-1 supersonic bomber. The guest on the right (seated) is Gemini/Apollo astronaut and Air Force test pilot James A. McDivitt. Image credit: James C. McLane III.

Above right: Sheriff Foster B. McLane, Abbeville, South Carolina, circa 1900.

Left: Images from the January / February 2012 issue of Horizons from an article starting on page 26 reporting on our Section’s lunch-and-learn by Dr. Harold “Sonny” White. Image credits: Harold White.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 3

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Left: James C. McLane, Jr. Section News (1923-2012), our 1971-1972 AIAA Houston Section Chair. In 1987, he co-founded our sister section relationship with the Shanghai Astronautical Society (SAS). This page shows McLane at left at NASA / Johnson Space Center in 1972. More images of McLane are in this issue on the next page and the back cover page. Image credits: James C. McLane III.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

www.aiaahouston.org

P.O. Box 57524 Webster, TX 77598

Downloaded February 17, 2013

AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 41

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Section News This page: James C. McLane, Jr. (1923-2012), our 1971-1972 AIAA Houston Section Chair. In 1987, he co-founded our sister section relationship with the Shanghai Astro- nautical Society (SAS). This page shows McLane in basic training in Macon, Georgia. More images of McLane are in this issue on the preceding page and the back cover page. Image credits: James C. McLane III.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 42

AIAA Houston Section P.O. Box 57524 Webster, TX 77598

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

James C. McLane, Jr. (1923-2012), was our 1971-1972 AIAA Houston Section Chair and co-founder (in 1987) of our sister section relationship with the Shanghai Astronautical Society (SAS). The current contact person in Houston for that work in Marlo Graves. She traveled to China on behalf of our Section a few years ago. She is a graduate of the 2006 Space Studies Program (SSP) of the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France, a nine-week course. She worked for ISU during the 2007 SSP in Beijing.

From James C. McLane III, March 2013 (More McLane photos are on two other pages in this issue in our Section News pages.): “While emptying out a closet in my father’s house I found hundreds of great old photos. Most I had never seen so I will be busy scanning for the next year or so. The biplane shots were basic training in Macon Ga. The parade (below) was one my Dad organized when he was Cadet Commander in Aviation Cadet training. He is standing second from left. The color shot is from a 1972 NASA photo (my father: standing on left).

AIAA Mission & Vision Statement The shaping, dynamic force in aerospace - THE forum for innovation, excellence and global leadership. AIAA advances the state of aerospace science, engineering, and technological leadership. Core missions include communications and advocacy, products and programs, membership value, and market and workforce development. The World’s Forum for Aerospace Leadership

Become a member of AIAA! You can join or renew online at the AIAA national web site: www.aiaa.org.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons March / April 2013 Page 72 Page 29

Our Section’s Annual Awards Dinner Meeting Section News MICHAEL FROSTAD, CHAIR-ELECT AND ELLEN GILLESPIE, COUNCILOR

Our Section’s annual awards dinner meeting, dedicated to the late James C. McLane, Jr. this year, attracted a crowd of more than 150 attendees at the NASA / JSC Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom on June 13, 2013. James C. McLane III delivered a presentation about his father’s NASA career, service to AIAA, and related activities. AIAA Houston Section Chair Daniel Nobles and Honors and Awards Chair Jennifer Wells presented service awards for five people in attendance. These Above: Jennifer Wells (left) and Daniel Nobles (right) present 25-year membership awards are presented for service anniver- service awards to (left to right) William D. Eatwell, Thomas R. Hatfield, and Wendell saries of 25, 40, 50, or 60 years. Nobles W. Mendell. Image credit: Michael Frostad. and Wells presented several kinds of awards as the evening began. One award was for Dr. Myron Diftler, NASA / JSC Principal Investigator for the Robonaut team. That Robonaut 2 (R2) team won the national AIAA Space Automation and Robotics award for 2013. Our Section also awarded almost $8,000 to the Houston Museum of Natural Science Challenger Learning Center, (Continued on page 30)

Above: Jennifer Wells (left) and Daniel Nobles (right) present 50-year membership service awards to (left to right) Eleuterio (“Teyo”) de la Garza and Chester A. Vaughan. Image credit: Michael Frostad.

Above: The Section’s annual awards dinner meeting was dedicated to the late James C. McLane, Jr. His son James C. McLane III delivered a presentation about his father’s NASA career. Image credit: Michael Frostad.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons May / June 2013 Page 29

AIAA Houston Section P.O. Box 57524 Webster, TX 77598

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Above: The late James C. McLane, Jr., is shown at left in this photograph of February 16, 1965. This is the Space Simulation Work- ing Group. This was the second gathering of this organization whose annual technical convention continues to this day. The group now includes representatives from eight countries. Image credit: James C. McLane, III. James C. McLane, Jr. was our 1971-1972 AIAA Houston Section Chair. AIAA Mission & Vision Statement The shaping, dynamic force in aerospace - THE forum for innovation, excellence and global leadership. AIAA advances the state of aerospace science, engineering, and technological leadership. Core missions include communications and advocacy, products and programs, membership value, and market and workforce development. The World’s Forum for Aerospace Leadership

Become a member of AIAA! You can join or renew online at the AIAA national web site: www.aiaa.org.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons May / June 2013 Page 56 Page 21

Address to AIAA Houston Section about James C. McLane, Jr. the late James C. McLane, Jr., Part 1 of 6 1923 - 2012 JAMES C. MCLANE III

June 13, 2013 world. I find it remarkable that he co- national AIAA initiatives. For example he founded this particular organization with helped persuade the Houston Section to First I want to say that the many of you the help of Dr. Bernhard Goethert, the hold an annual technical mini-symposium here tonight who knew my dad realize famous German aerodynamicists who designed to give local engineers and sci- that he was a modest person who would designed the near supersonic Messer- entists some experience presenting tech- be surprised, but pleased to see that his schmitt ME-262 jet. This is curious since nical papers. He persuaded the national memory honored at this meeting. He had a during WW2 my dad was an Air corps AIAA to formulate a professional ethics long and busy life and I’m going to men- pilot flying around Europe in a P-51 Mus- policy and he headed a program which tion some unusual facts rather than those tang trying to shoot down ME-262’s. promoted career development in the fickle things many of you might already know. aerospace industry. He obtained support My Dad was responsible for the local AI- for the AIAA from local NASA contrac- He became active in the American Insti- AA Section sponsoring a number of very tors, civil servants, technical societies and tute of Aeronautics and Astronautics memorable dinner meetings. My all time nearby universities. In particular he en- (AIAA) in 1962 shortly after coming to favorite was a joint presentation featuring couraged a close relationship between the Houston to work for NASA. I believe his Georgia Tech professor Alan Pope who Houston AIAA chapter and the student interest in technical societies may have spoke about his WW2 experiences design- chapter at Texas A&M. For many years stemmed from a paper on the design of ing the shell for the first atom bombs. At this even included trips to A&M for tours large butterfly valves that he presented at the very same meeting a man named Ker- of their aerospace facilities and a football the 1961 ASME Aviation Conference in mit Behan talked about his job as the game. Los Angeles. Over the next 50 or so years bombardier on the plane that dropped the as a member and later an associate fellow Atom bomb on Nagasaki. Kermit was Many significant names in the space pro- he served the AIAA in many capacities. probably the most historical person to gram have served the AIAA in one capac- He 1972 he was our local Section Chair- ever speak to the AIAA. This man, whose ity or another, in part due to the solicita- man. He also served as a Regional Direc- finger pushed a button that ended WW2, tion and encouragement of my father. tor. He was proud that he co-founded the was a technician at NASA. He lived a AIAA Space Simulation Working Group quiet life in Clear Lake City. [Continued next issue.] which still is quite active and has annual meetings at various places around the My Dad promoted a number of local and

“When he was just 14 years old, without any technical guidance or help, he built and flew one of the first gasoline-powered model airplanes, first in South Carolina and later a second plane in Georgia. This was so remarkable that it was covered in the newspapers.” McLane and his Corben Ace in 1937 in Newberry, South Carolina. Image credits: James C. McLane III family photographs.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons July / August 2013 Page 21 Page 23

Address to AIAA Houston Section about James C. McLane, Jr. the late James C. McLane, Jr., Part 2 of 6 1923 - 2012 JAMES C. MCLANE III

June 13, 2013 developed a trust between two countries University of Tennessee Space Institute. It who were at the time engaged in ruthless took quite a while for the US State De- His years in the society were marked by and inefficient competition. My father partment to approve the venture, but the many curious developments. But I am was very involved in Apollo Soyuz – but trip was made and was very successful. most proud of his efforts to establish a more about that later. By that time my father had become well liaison, back in the early 1990’s between acquainted with senior engineers in the the AIAA Houston Section and the A brush with cancer convinced my Dad to Chinese space program and he thought it Shanghai Astronautical Society, possibly retire early at the age of 60. He and my was a good time to explore a formal rela- China’s closest technical match to the mother took up world travel. They went tionship between the AIAA and a parallel AIAA. I’ll try to explain how this rela- on a number of commercial tours to plac- Chinese technical entity. tionship came about. es like Europe and the Middle East. My father happened to be a member of the A sister section arrangement between the The current restrictions on technical inter- American Vacuum Society. This organi- local AIAA section and the Shanghai As- faces with foreigners are especially clear zation supported educational foreign trips tronautical Society was the eventual result to those of us who got to experience the under the “People to People” initiative, a of that idea. The agreement resulted in relatively open exchange of information program begun in the 1950’s by President exchanges of society newsletters and host- and technology during the early days of Eisenhower. These exchanges involved ing of visitors by the society members in NASA. Current limitations have made visiting host countries and meeting with the respective countries. All together my fraternal contacts with foreign entities people there who were in your own pro- parents made five trips to China, trips more difficult than ever. The AIAA and fessions. In that capacity my parents were which included visits to rocket and satel- many other technical associations have able to travel extensively in Russia, Japan lite fabrication facilities and launch sites. I had to learn to function under strict rules and China where they met engineers and recall my dad said that one plant they vis- regarding technology transfer to foreign toured industrial and scientific facilities. ited made big boosters in one area and countries. This has hindered efforts to washing machines in another! There are foster international cooperation in human My folks really liked China, which at that probably some folks in this audience who space flight. An exception has been time was definitely a “third world” coun- traveled to China with my parents on trips NASA’s special technical exchange rela- try, but a place with great aspirations and hosted by the Chinese engineers. tionship with the Russians which has ena- enthusiasm, especially in regards to bled us to build the successful Internation- Space. Some Chinese engineers my father The Chinese Sister Section relationship, al Space Station. The Station is a great met invited him to return to lecture on as indeed many associations with foreign example of how technology exchanges space environment simulation. China at entities, became much more challenging can benefit the international community that time was so backward that my fa- after 911 and the increasing restrictions on and serve the interest of the US at the ther’s travel expenses were paid by a information exchanges with foreigners same time. This US/Russian arrangement United Nations grant to developing na- imposed by ITAR rules that restrict shar- was pioneered by the Apollo Soyuz test tions. His lectures were patterned after a ing of technical, information. project of the mid 1970’s, a program that series that he had already presented at the

Above: Jim & Dorothy McLane and space scientists from the Shanghai Astronautical Society, on November 3, 1994, at the McLane home, 1702 Fairwind Road, Houston. The interpreter is Kylin Lee. Image credits: James C. McLane III.

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Address to AIAA Houston Section about James C. McLane, Jr. the late James C. McLane, Jr., Part 3 of 6 1923 - 2012 JAMES C. MCLANE III

NASA’s Relationship with Russia tion firm. My group was competing to win know anything technical. I believe he was is an Exception a contract with the Soviet Union to build a a KGB secret agent who kept an eye on pipeline in Siberia to deliver natural gas to the Russians assigned to Houston. The As far back as the early 1970s the Apollo- Europe. No western firm was doing busi- General spoke excellent English because Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) had required ness with the Soviets, so this would be a during WW2 he was stationed on Long the exchange of technical experts and pioneering job. We had hired an elegant Island in the state of New York working information between two countries who young Texas lady with a Master’s degree with Bell Aircraft to ship P-39 fighter were serious enemies. Perhaps 100 Rus- in Russian language to handle translation. airplanes to Russia. At the cookout, the sians were stationed in Houston for sever- General and the KGB man often said that al months. My father was involved, since The ASTP was nearing an end so my fa- it was not possible that the lady was really he was the Chief of the Space Environ- ther invited the head Russian representa- a secretary. I think they suspected she was ment Test Division. The ASTP docking tive, Air Force General Kolodkov, to some sort of intelligence agent. Many adapter was tested in his NASA/JSC come to our house for a backyard barbe- years later I did some research and found Building 32 space chambers. At the time I que cookout. I brought Brown and Root’s that the General eventually served as head was living with my parents and working Russian-speaking secretary. The General of all Soviet ICBM forces. I’m glad we downtown for Brown and Root, the showed up with a man he identified as an gave him a good impression of the USA. world’s largest engineering and construc- engineer, but the man did not seem to

Above: Family snapshots provided by James C. McLane III. Moving clockwise from the top left, we recognize Mr. and Mrs. James C. McLane, Jr., Dorothy and James McLane. These images might fit well with this article and its description of a McLane backyard barbecue during the era of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Program (ASTP). McLane’s WW2 fighter airplane was named Dainty Dotty in honor of his wife Mrs. Dorothy McLane.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons November / December 2013 Page 33 Address to AIAA Houston Section about James C. McLane, Jr. the late James C. McLane, Jr., Part 4 of 6 1923-2012 James C. McLane III, from the Presentation of June 13, 2013 I want to say a little about my dad’s approach to make it! He even made the record turnta- was a sheriff and for a while my dad lived to life. He had a wide range of interests and ble. When I was a kid my dad didn’t drive in the city jail in Abbeville, South Carolina, when he became interested in something he to work in an ordinary car, he had an unre- a creepy place that featured a tall window- could not be just casually involved. When liable little MG convertible that previously less room where they conducted hangings. he was just 14 years old without any tech- had been a race car. He liked photography nical guidance or help he built and flew one so he outfitted a complete color darkroom His father was born in 1900 and had an of the first gas powered model airplanes, inside his house. In the 1970’s, way before eighth grade education (typical for the first in South Carolina and later a second the advent of the IBM PC, he owned a Ka- time), but his mother attended college and plane in Georgia. This was so remarkable pro personal computer with a little 6-inch could even read and write Latin. His father that it was covered in the newspapers. screen. With his own hands he construct- was a superintendent for highway con- ed additions to two houses. He was fanat- struction companies. In the early 1930’s He liked aviation so much that he became ical about family history and made special the family lived in Chile in South Ameri- a WW2 Fighter pilot. He was interested in trips to acquire genealogical information. ca, where his father built the first asphalt music and in the early 1950’s he built a tube road in that country. My dad grew up in a type hi-fi stereo. Back then hi-fi was so new My father grew up in the South during the family environment that emphasized hard you couldn’t buy the equipment, you had great depression. One of his grandfathers work and supported personal initiative.

Above: James C. McLane, Jr. is two years old in Daytona Beach, Florida in his mother’s arms. That is a 1925 photograph wtih his mother Martha L. McLane. Five photographs show James and his sister Alice on the ship to Chile. The date on the newspaper clip- ping is February 17, 1938.

AIAA Houston Section Horizons 15 January / February 2014 James C. McLane, Jr. Address to AIAA Houston Section about 1923-2012 the late James C. McLane, Jr., Part 5 of 6 James C. McLane III, from the Presentation of June 13, 2013 After serving as a fighter pilot in WW2 over my father’s paper work. He said Task Group that put man in space with he went back to Clemson College on the GI “Hey! I see you have an instructor pilot project Mercury all came from Langley. bill to get a degree in Civil Engineering. rating and you flew P-51 Mustangs. How In 1951 my father left Langley One grandfather had lost a lot in the about instead of the engineering job you and relocated the family to Tullahoma, depression and always admired a neighbor hire in as a Test Pilot? We have a couple Tennessee, where the Air Force ran a who had a steady job and retirement slots open right now!” large wind tunnel facility named Arnold because he worked for the Post Office. He My Dad was excited, but realized that Engineering Development Center. At advised my dad to look for a government my mother would not have any of that. the end of WW2 the allies had boxed up job. This was very good advice! The man who had originally introduced a German supersonic wind tunnel and So in 1948 my father applied for work my parents to each other had become a test shipped it to middle Tennessee where at Langley Field near Hampton Virginia pilot for McDonald aircraft and was killed there was a surplus of electric power to where the NACA operated a cluster of in a crash. There is no way my mother run it. Along with the tunnel they relocated great wind tunnels. In those days NACA would let my dad take a test pilot job. dozens of captured German scientists and employed dozens of engineers to manually Interestingly, a while later NACA hired engineers. The German wind tunnel was digest the data from their test runs. The Neil Armstrong for one of these test pilot obsolete by the time it was running so work was tedious and my father hated positions. the Air force built a far more ambitious it. He did get to design some equipment, The work at NACA was militarily facility which is still in use. Blowing air including one item I can see in photographs important so my dad was excused from the through supersonic wind tunnels takes a of that era, a glass-walled operator’s room call up of experienced fighter pilots during massive amount of electrical power (One inside the huge low speed wind tunnel, big the Korean War. Later the fact that he once tunnel at Arnold center was driven by a enough to hold a full size airplane. worked at Langley helped him secure a single 300,000 horsepower electric motor.) When he reported for his first day at job in Houston at the Manned Spacecraft and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) work at Langley, the interviewer looked Center. As you know Bob Gilruth’s Space dams provided the juice. At Tullahoma my

AIAA Houston Section Horizons 24 March / April 2014 Dad shared an office with a German rocket Mark 2 chamber that positioned him to scientist named Guenther Delmeier, a man later be in charge of the Space Environment James C. McLane, Jr. who, just a few years earlier, had been Simulation Lab here at JSC. 1923-2012 bombed while working for Werner Von My father was recruited to come to Braun. So just ten years after he had been Houston by Aleck Bond, and initially he Spacecraft Center – the Space Environment flying around Germany looking for things worked under Alec in various capacities. Simulation lab. Building 32 would house to shoot, he was now sharing an office with His most important early assignment was a cluster of high tech space simulation one of his former targets! to coordinate the design of the Lunar chambers. Some were sophisticated At Arnold Center my father’s last job Receiving laboratory. This was a tough job enough to conduct long-duration manned was to design a very sophisticated space since another major government agency, tests of complete spacecraft. The largest simulation chamber, the Mark 2 Facility. the United States Geological Survey of the chambers is Chamber A, shaped This vacuum chamber was designed to be (USGS) wanted to place the lab in Denver somewhat like a vertical foot ball it is 90 able to test nuclear powered spacecraft. and run it themselves. I recall my mother feet high, 50 feet in diameter and has a The Air Force spent many millions of hosting receptions in our home for Nobel single 40 foot diameter round door shaped dollars developing the technology, but in Prize winning scientists and geologists like a porthole. Manned testing inside the the end the chamber was just too expensive who wanted to handle the Moon rocks. chambers was very risky because if there to build. The project was top secret, but The many distinguished scientists who was an emergency, it would take a very long one day an artist’s conception appeared in would be analyzing the Moon rocks argued time to let the air back into the chamber Aviation Week magazine! Many years later forever about what facilities they wanted. and rescue the astronauts. In reality, the one of the Russian engineers temporarily To expedite things my Dad just decided on high fidelity manned tests performed inside assigned to Houston for the Apollo Soyuz the specifications and had the laboratory these chambers duplicated the conditions Test project showed my dad a Russian text built as quickly as possible because the of outer space and even some of the risk of book about space simulation. The Russian feuding scientists could never reach a being there. book included a drawing and description of consensus. My dad wrote an important his old Mark 2 facility, as if it had been built paper that was published in 1967 in Science and was currently in use. Apparently the magazine about this unique Moon rock lab Russians thought it was fully operational. At that same time another significant It was his work on the design of the test facility was being built at the Manned

AIAA Houston Section Horizons 25 March / April 2014 James C. McLane, Jr. Address to AIAA Houston Section about 1923-2012 the late James C. McLane, Jr., Part 6 of 6 James C. McLane III, from the Presentation of June 13, 2013 The Chamber A Door Disaster those now-familiar water tanks shaped like simulation Chamber A. Back then, a fair The first time the air was pumped out giant golf balls on tees. Bechtel engineers number of NASA employees had security of Chamber A, its huge 40-foot diameter had used a CB&I computer program to clearances because military rockets had door bent and buckled off its mountings. analyze stresses on the giant dish door been used for Mercury and Gemini, and The structure had failed due to bad design. and its frame, and it was those parts that the upcoming Space Shuttle was being Fortunately, the damage was minimized had failed. NASA had overseen all the designed to carry military payloads. by halting the test before there was a more engineering and approved of the design However, no one at NASA Johnson dramatic collapse of the entire facility. approach. So exactly who was responsible? Space Center (JSC), up to and including Chamber A was unique and it was needed Finally a visiting federal judge came the Center Director, had a high enough for testing of the Apollo Command and out to my dad‘s office in Building 32 security clearance to even talk to these Service Module. The door was hurriedly and convened a sort of portable court. folks about what they wanted to test in repaired and beefed up with extra braces. Representatives and lawyers from all parties daddy’s chamber. Finally, the facility was ready for manned were present. Evidence and arguments The first order of the day was for my tests. By this time my dad was the Chief in were presented, the portable court rendered father to have a background check so he charge of the Space Simulation Division, a judgment, and the government recovered could get the required special security one of the largest parts of the Manned some of the cost of repairs. clearance to talk to these people. I know Spacecraft Center. this involved interviewing our neighbors The repairs to the chamber had cost a Secret Stuff since they mentioned it to us. lot of money and the failure resulted in One day my dad was called to the Center My father never discussed this project lawsuits. The chamber had been built by Director‘s office for a special meeting. with me except to mention some of the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company (CB&I) Somebody (I assume it was a government peculiar aspects of the test setup. The and the design engineering firm was agency, but I never learned.) wanted to chamber was scheduled to be used for a Bechtel. CB&I had just begun to market test something secret in JSC’s giant space week. While it took dozens of people to

AIAA Houston Section Horizons 18 May / June 2014 operate the chamber, most of these folks agency that accumulated intelligence, and did not need to have security clearances. she came to ask my father questions about James C. McLane, Jr. The chamber windows were blanked shut China. He was always happy to oblige his 1923-2012 and the operators of the valves and controls “secret sister,” as he called her. But, he could not see inside. could only provide information on what he been lost on current engineers who plan to One day the world’s largest airplane, a saw as a space program tourist, and he had use Chamber A to test the new James Webb Lockheed C5A Galaxy flew into Ellington absolutely no inclination to be involved in Space Telescope. Field. The heavily draped test object was geopolitics. I was studying aerospace engineering at carried by flatbed truck up Highway 3 (Old In the late 1970’s, when I worked for college during the 1960’s, but I was often Galveston Road) and into the back gate Brown and Root, my group was building home on weekends and in the summer. My at JSC. My dad said that security guards an oil tanker dock in Basra Iraq. Every father took me to see a lot of the work that forced the car of one frustrated commuter person who returned from Iraq would have went on at JSC. It was a special time and into the ditch on Highway 3 when the to report downtown to a room in the Rice there was tremendous enthusiasm in the commuter attempted to pass the convoy. Hotel, where they would be interviewed air. The Manned Spacecraft Center was After a week of tests, the object was about what they saw in that rather at the core of a great human endeavor that returned to Ellington Field, loaded back on mysterious country. I guess my dad’s visit everyone understood would be historic. I the C5A, and flown away. The top secret by his “secret sister” was that sort of thing. am very proud that my father played a part exercise was soon forgotten. Experts say that the United States of in that effort. My dad kept excellent files Years later my father became interested America beat the Soviets to the Moon on his work that I may eventually use as in the Chinese space program. He because we spent five times what they a basis for stories and articles. There are communicated with and was close to many spent on ground testing. There is no doubt literally a thousand and one stories I could Chinese engineers and he visited China five that problems discovered during space tell about his experiences. I appreciate this times. Occasionally, a lady would park her chamber testing at JSC would have been group giving me the time to recite a few. car a block away from our house and walk catastrophic if they had happened during Thank you, down the street to visit my father. I met her an actual mission. Jim McLane once. Apparently she was from a national The importance of such testing has not

AIAA Houston Section Horizons 19 May / June 2014 Horizons

Volume 39 The Newsletter of AIAA Houston Section May / June 2014 Issue 5 The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics www.aiaahouston.org

MORPHEUS THE UPS AND DOWNS OF AN AUTONOMOUS LANDER