RIP, NASA Moon Landing Engineer John C. Houbolt 33
The Houston Chronicle reports the death of John C. Houbolt, whose ideas helped guide the U.S. moon-landing programs. Houbolt died on Tuesday at the age of 95, in a nursing home in Maine. Says the Chronicle's obituary: "His efforts in the early 1960s are largely credited with convincing NASA to focus on the launch of a module carrying a crew from lunar orbit, rather than a rocket from earth or a space craft while orbiting the planet. Houbolt argued that a lunar orbit rendezvous, or lor, would not only be less mechanically and financially onerous than building a huge rocket to take man to the moon or launching a craft while orbiting the earth, but lor was the only option to meet President John F. Kennedy's challenge before the end of the decade."
Re:Makes me feel so old... (Score:5, Insightful)
Whatever the political motivations, Apollo was freaking amazing. Launch the biggest rocket ever built. In space, couple up to the Lunar Module. Fly to the moon. Orbit moon. Decouple Lunar Module and fly it down to the surface with some spectacular piloting. Drive a car around down there. Blast descent stage from moon. Reconnect with Command Module and fly back to earth.
All with slide rules.
And no, I'm not American.
So sad (Score:5, Insightful)