UAH Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives

Browse Items (97 total)

  • spc_youn_000004_01.mp3
  • spc_ward_000020_01.mp3

    Frank Williams talks to Bob Ward about Wernher von Braun. Of particular note are stories regarding von Braun's office relationships and his ability to communicate. Both sides of tape, through side 2 is inaudible.
  • spc_ward_000006_01.mp3

    Fred Ordway talks about notable stories with Wernher von Braun, including attending meetings, hunting, and von Braun's sense of humor. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_youn_000012_01.mp3
  • spc_ward_000022_01.mp3

    Phone call between Georg von Tiesenhausen and Bob Ward on working with Wernher von Braun on the V2 rocket. Bad static in first half of tape. Entirety of side 1.
  • spc_youn_000006_01.mp3
  • spc_ward_000019_01.mp3

    Phone call from Bob Ward to Harry Atkins. Conversation about Wernher von Braun stories and how the space program began in Huntsville. Also discussed is historical revisionism around von Braun and his team. Side 1 of tape up tp 42:30.
  • spc_stnv_000010_01.mp3

    Interview on the developments on Thor applied to the Saturn Program, structures, Welding, Machining of Part, and Insulation of the rocket. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_stnv_000006_01.mp3

    Dieter Grau interviewed on failure analysis and management of Saturn program. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_stnv_000011_01.mp3

    Interview on the fuels involved in the Saturn as well as the transport and management of these fuels. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_stnv_000016_01.mp3

    Interview on Materials Management, Configuration Management, and Changes in Design. Full side of tape.
  • spc_stnv_000014_01.mp3

    Interview with German engineer on engine design, propellants, thermodynamics, and design barriers and overcoming them. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_stnv_000013_01.mp3

    Interview on the Development of Saturn and the general design and management philospohy of NASA. One side of tape only.
  • spc_stnv_000012_01.mp3

    Interview on the development of Saturn engine design and control, as well as life at the Mississippi engine test site. Both sides of the tape.
  • spc_stnv_000015_01.mp3

    Interview with Rocketdyne engineers on rocket engine design and stability. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_stnv_000008_01.mp3

    Interviews with Sawyer (0 - 16:58 S1) and Kudebeh (16:58 S1 - end S2) on weight penalties, schedule/performance bonuses, and project management.
  • spc_stnv_000007_01.mp3

    Interview with Davenport (0-23:44 S1) and Shields (23:44 S1 - end S2). Topics covered include the reliability of the F1 engine, Skylab, and electronic manufacturing.
  • spc_stnv_000009_01.mp3

    Side 1 is an interview with Weidner and Neubert on the testing of Saturn and the different design philosophies of various NASA groups.
  • spc_ward_000025_01.mp3

    Short phone call where Bob Ward inquires about Ivo Sparkman's husband, Senator John Sparkman, and his relationship with President Roosevelt. Side 1 to 3:00 mark.
  • spc_ward_000015_01.mp3

    Conversation between Bob Ward and Jay Foster on interaction with Wernher von Braun. Foster relates a number of stories touching on von Braun's love of flying and professional associations, among others. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_youn_000010_01.mp3
  • spc_ward_000003_01.mp3

    Interview with Jim Shepherd on memories from Wernher von Braun, including him hunting and working with space camp. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_ward_000005_01.mp3

    Phone Conversation with a Senator on interactions with astronaut John Glenn and Wernher von Braun. Full side of tape.
  • spc_youn_000025_01.mp3
  • spc_youn_000005_01.mp3
  • spc_ward_000023_01.mp3

    Bob Ward gets lunch with Lee B. James. They discuss stories relating to Wernher von Braun over lunch. Mentioned are von Braun's meeting style, speeches, salesmanship, and how he handled publicity. Both sides of tape.
  • spc_ward_000016_01.mp3

    Talk between Leland Belew and Bob Ward about Wernher von Braun. Belew relates a couple of stories relation to von Braun's planning ability, his role in Skylab, and his awareness of his illness. Both sides of tape.
  • Friday__April_20__2018_at_11_50_30_AM_default_2d91cd9b.mp4

    Allen Ware is originally from Atlanta Georgia. He attended Auburn University where he studied Industrial Design . He moved to Huntsville, AL in 1983 to work for a company called "Essex." He worked there from 1983-1991. There, he produced a variety of things. First, he helped produce the Hubble Space Telescope mock-up and crew trainers. Then, he produced some other shuttle mock-ups. After leaving "Essex," he started to work at Boeing in Huntsville where he worked on the International Space Station. There, Ware was an internal and external packager configurator. He did that job for 15 years. He then transitioned to support the Delta IV launch vehicle out of Decatur. There, he did secondary structure design for Delta IV components. Ware is currently an Engineering manager of a Mechanical design team. He has about 15 engineers under him that do spacecraft, aircraft, and launch-vehicle design.
  • Friday__October_27__2017_at_12_12_20_PM_default_1fcc37b7.mp4

    Bran Griffin was born in Medford, Oregon. His father was in the military, so they moved around a lot. Bran went to the University of Texas his first year of college, and he studied Architecture. Then, he graduated college with a degree in Architecture from Washington State University. He then went to graduate scholl in Southern California, and he received a fine arts degree. After this, Bran wanted to get a degree in something a little more stable, so he went back to school to get his master's degree in Architecture. After this, Bran was on a shuttleship for a couple of years in Rome, and then he came back to start his career in teaching Architecture. Even though he was teaching Architecture, he had an intense passion for space. Because of this passion, he started to become involved with the Johnson Space Center with a faculty fellowship. Bran was in their Spacecraft Design Division. Since he wanted to be closer to be a part of the Space Industry, he decided to move to Washington State. After a while of working in Washington State, he received a job offer from Boeing in Hunstville, AL and began his career there being involved with the space station.
  • Friday__November_17__2017_at_10_45_21_AM_default_182d3f85.mp4

    Charles Brian Nelson was born in 1938 in Memphis, Tennessee. He received his first degree in Industrial Design at Tennessee Tech. After he graduated from college in 1960, he went to work with the Depot Company where his job was making Titanium Dioxide. Charles stayed at this job for about 5 years, and by encouragement from his friends, he moved to Huntsville to work at NASA. He started out working at a test lab where they were responsible for getting the test bird into the test stand to test it. This job also included testing of vibrations, engine fire, and testing every individual part. After this job, Charles moved into the human factors engineering group. He worked for NASA for about 12 years.
  • Friday__September_21__2018_at_1_59_49_PM_default_89bca7ab.mp4

    Charles Dissinger was born and raised in Virginia. As a small child, Charles's father would drive him over to the Langley Research Center in Virginia, and he was always engaged with the space program. Charles remembers watching every space launch on tv with his dad as a kid. Being inspired by space, he decided to go to The University of Virginia to get his bachelor's degree in Biology. Then, after graduating, he taught high school for 4 years. After this, he went back to graduate school at West Virginia University to get his master's degree in Biology/Biochemistry. His second career after teaching, was doing Biochemical research for 19 years. Charles's wife later on received a job offer at The Marshall Space Flight Center in Hunstville, AL to join the Information Technology Organization there. She took this job, and they moved to Huntsville. Charles was then soon after hired in 1994 at NASA. His first project there included finding the requirements for the NASA Standard 3000 design. This project was called "The Launch Deployment Assembly" which was a system to deliver the robotic arm to the space station. Another program Charles was involved in was the Propulsion Module.
  • Friday__February_16__2018_at_10_22_41_AM_default_86d15cc7.mp4

    As a kid, Charles M. Louis loved to take things apart and put them back together. He also was inspired as a kid while reading a Life magazine article with Wernher Von Braun standing next to the Saturn V engine at the age of 15. Since he was an avid Science Fiction reader at the time, this all inspired him to become involved with the Space Program, and to eventually become a licensed hand radio operator. In college, he pursued an Electrical Engineering degree, and he flunked out of college becasue the classes were too big. Because of this, he decided to change schools and go to the Detroit Institue of Technology. There, he was more successful because of the smaller class sizes. After graduating college, he was hired at Boeing in Seattle, Washington. At Boeing, he was involved in Test Engineering supporting UHF and Microwave antennas on the Minuteman Program. Boeing then got a contract for the Saturn V Program 8 months after Charles started working there. He decided he would rather work on the Space Program then the military side, so he decided to move down to Huntsville, AL to work on the program.
  • Friday__September_28__2018_at_10_34_25_AM_default_122089af.mp4

    Charles Van Valkenburg grew up in Huntsville, AL, and he went to Auburn University. There, he majored in Industrial Design and he had a part-time job as a draftsman at one of the civil engineering firms. After graduating college, he received a job at Essex in Huntsville. At this job, Charles would get in the water of the Neutral Buoyancy Tank and make sure that all the tools and everything was in place for an astronaut. Sometimes, he would even be the test subject. After all the testing from the day, they would all have a debriefing session at this company where the astronaut, human factors experts, and engineers would all make inputs. After the debriefing, they would take the ideas and get the machinists to make some modifications to the hardware. Charles would also work in pressure suits, and he explains how restricted the suit made him feel. He also mentions the foot restraints, and how difficult they were to work with. In his career, Charles was also able to help design the underwater version of the manned maneuvering unit.
  • Friday__November_10__2017_at_11_59_55_AM_default_288347a7.mp4

    Dr. John Rogers is from Kansas, and in Kansas, John loved to drive out into the prarie and find places where there had been homesteads. There, he would lay on the ground and look up at the stars at night. This all inspired him to get involved with the space station, and human factors engineering. John received his Bachelor's degree at Kansas State University, and then he received his Master's degree at The University of Arkansas. At this point, he took up a teaching job in Arkansas, and during that period of time, he recieved a National Science Foundation summer research fellowship at Florida State University. There, John did research on the effects of radiation on the human body. After leaving his teaching job, he went to the University of Mexico to pursue his Phd. While he was there, he was able to be a part of a summer program that pushed him towards his career. Since John did such a great job at the summer program, they kept him on as a consultant where he could work unlimited hours, and work any time he wanted to. The work that he did there included: examining human air and organizations, and considering what was the common factor/the emphasis in the atomic energy. After his job there, he started working at NASA in June of 1967. His job tasks there included: looking at the simulations and to look at the experimental design. He also had to try to make sure that they had solid statistics behind their results that were being detained.
  • Friday__September_28__2018_at_8_59_16_AM_default_b6b1e023.mp4

    Edwin Pruitt is from a small town in Alabama. He went to Auburn University, and when he was a sophomore there, he applied to a co-op position. In this co-op, he was assigned to a flight-dynamics group. Edwin was not satisfied with this position, so he asked to be switched to another one. In this new co-op, he was able to drive around on the simulated moon surface. Some things he was also involved in was diving into the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator, flying on the KC-135, and he had the freedom to represent his group with other part of the center where he worked. After Edwin graduated from college, he got a job at GE Aerospace in Valley Forge. They had a contract with the Airforce to train the Airforce astronauts. He eventually got laid off from this position, and he next got a job at Teledyne Brown Engineering. After working there for a couple of years, he found a job at Matrix in Huntsville. After working here, he found a job at Essex working on proposals.
  • Friday__October_5__2018_at_9_33_54_AM_default_3ed44883.mp4

    George Hamilton has lived in Huntsville, Alabama all of his life, and his father was a Charter Marshall Member in Huntsville. When he was working, George's father was chosen as a "guinea pig" to go up in the Pregnant Guppy, which was a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft. Because of George's father's career and interest with NASA, it made George interested in the career as well. George has a lot of family stories like this, which all have inspired him to take on his career that he has now. After high school, George went to The University of South Alabama in Mobile to study Marine Biology. Over the summer he had a change of heart, so he decided to transfer to Auburn University for Mechanical Engineering. After he finished up with his degree, he started working in small, manufacturing spare parts for missiles. After this career, he started to work at Avco Electronics in Huntsville where he worked at the plant on the design side. After this, Avco started looking for people to go overseas on the construction side of the house, so George went overseas with them. Then he came back, got married, and received his Phd in Biomedical Engineering at The University of Alabama in Birmingham.
  • Friday__May_4__2018_at_12_10_52_PM_default_fb72b05a.mp4

    Joe Phillipauldy is originally from Central, New Jersey. He did his undergraduate training at the University of Richmond in Virginia, and then he received his Master's degree at Villanove University. He then when on to get his graduate degree, and completed the program in 1984. His degree was in Experimental Psychology. In 1986, he accepted a job position with the Creatis Systems Tech Staff at Boeing Military Airplanes in Kansas. His first Human Engineering job was with Tech Staff. A project he spent a lot of time on was the Airforce I VC25 747 Presidential Replacement Program. With this, he did a workload analysis of the navigator crew station. After this work, Joe got involved with the Human Factors and Industrial Applications group. There, he ran task terms around the factory floor doing analyses and reporting on ergonomics issues on assembling vehicles. Later, he was able to work on the Space Station Vehicle Integration Contract in Huntsville, AL.
  • Friday__December_1__2017_at_11_58_20_AM_default_77191c8c.mp4

    John H. Reese was born in the Jefferson hospital in Birmingham, AL in 1945. He went to Fairfield High school in Tennessee, and graduated in 1963. He then went to Auburn University and went into Pre-Engineering. John received his engineering degree in 1969. The reason it took him 6 years to graduate is because he had to work his way through school on the cooperative education program. His brother-in-law worked at NASA at the time, and he got John interested in the Space Program. John then decided to co-op with the Marshall Space Flight Center and he applied with the Engineering Cooperative Education office. He then decided to send his resume to NASA, and received a job offer soon after. In this job, he helped do all the structural testing on the various modules and components of the Saturn I and Saturn fives. He was also involved in the Hubble Space Telescope Mock-Up. John's job was to come up with the foot-restraint systems, tether points, etc.
  • Friday__April_13__2018_at_12_01_49_PM_default_f0989c24.mp4

    John Ofenloch was born in Chicago, Ilinois and was raised there. He received his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Christian Brother's University in Memphis, Tennessee. When he graduated college, he accepted a job with North American Aviation in Downey, California. In Downey was the North American Aviation Space and Information Division which had the contract for the Apollo Command Service Module. Ofenloch's responsibility while he was out there was the Apollo Command Module Earth re-entry. His job was to make sure that the Command Module was capable of bringing the astronauts back safely to Earth. After he was through with the tests of the command module, he went to Brown Engineering in Huntsville, AL to work with zero gravity and the effects on the humans and the vehicle.
  • Friday__March_9__2018_at_11_03_22_AM_default_5387bb7d.mp4

    Kim B. Robertson is a retired Design Engineer, and has lived in Huntsville, AL his whole life. He grew up in the Monte Santo Mountain area where most of the German scientists on Von Braun's missile team lived, so being involved with the Space Station was always a part of his life growing up. He knew from an early age that Huntsville was where he always wanted to live, and this is the area that he wanted to work in. Robertson eventually went to Auburn University where he was able to work on a Marshall project. He was able to work on the Industrial Design team there, and he, along with his group, was asked to do some design work to get ideas for Skylab and the Space Station. After graduating from Auburn, he joined the National Guard with a year of active duty. While being in the National Guard, he became a ground-radio maintenance technician. His first job in Huntsville was working at URS Matrix, and there he worked on the hand-controller for the shuttle arm. He also did some volumetric studies for putting experiments in the back part of the shuttle work-area.
Output Formats

atom, csv, dc-rdf, dcmes-xml, json, omeka-xml, rss2