Space Pioneers Meet for Monthly Luncheon in St. Louis Following Recognition at International Conference

By Carmelo Turdo

Members of MAC's Old Team, a group of retired McDonnell Douglas employees who designed and built America's Mercury and Gemini spacecraft, met for their monthly luncheon at The Corner Pub & Grill in Chesterfield today following their May 27th appearance at the International Space Development Conference.  At the conference, members of MAC's Old Team participated in the Saturday Panel Presentation with astronaut Thomas Stafford and they received the National Space Society 2017 Space Pioneer Award for Special Merit. 

The luncheon usually serves as a casual way for these aerospace pioneers to visit and share the latest personal news, and occasionally visitors attend to give some updates on local projects or events of interest.  Today's general topics of interest were the recent conference award, the construction at The Space Museum in Bonne Terre, MO and the upcoming solar eclipse.  Here are some views of today's luncheon.

Group organizer Norm Beckel reads to award to the group

Chuck Poplstein visited from The Boeing Company 

St. Louis Space Frontier members celebrated a successful conference

Dean Purdy gives an update on the Space Museum construction

Members of MAC's Old Team frequently participate in community outreach events at The Space Museum and other venues, and are reticent to seek recognition for their contributions to the early U.S. manned space program and the subsequent advancements in the aerospace field.  The Aero Experience is privileged to recognize these American space pioneers as a national treasure, and celebrate their recognition by the National Space Society.

St. Louis Space Pioneers Relive Early U.S. Manned Space Programs at International Space Development Conference

By Carmelo Turdo

The National Space Society (NSS) wrapped up its 36th annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC) last weekend in St. Louis, the birthplace of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft that propelled the U.S. into manned space exploration.  The ISDC was hosted by the local NSS chapter, St. Louis Space Frontier, and held in the historic St. Louis Union Station hotel and convention center.  A full agenda of presentations attracted attendees and exhibitors from around the world, and St. Louis aerospace education organizations were there to support the weekend's activities.

Of special interest was the Saturday Panel Presentation with members of Mac's Old Team, a group of St. Louis-based McDonnell Aircraft engineers who helped design, build and launch the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft at the dawn of the U.S. manned space program.  Saturday's Panel Presentation, moderated by Amy Shira Teitel, featured a two-hour session with Mac's Old Team and Gemini and Apollo Astronaut Thomas Stafford.  Here are some excerpts from the program that illustrate their experiences from the early years of U.S. manned space flight.    

The Panel Presentation with MAC's Old Team and Thomas Stafford

Moderator Amy Shira Teitel checks on the panelists

Bob Schepp 

Bob Schepp was attending Washington University and was working in the evenings doing pre-flight inspections on the jets at McDonnell Aircraft at the dawn of the space age.  He was very familiar with the F-101 Voodoo autopilot, which would be used for the Mercury spacecraft, and so he was moved to the Mercury program.  "We didn't think anything about whether this was history.  We were working 12-hour days, seven days a week...It was an engineering job.  Later in life we realized how historic these events were."   

The Gemini program was an essential step toward the successful Apollo lunar landings. "Had the Gemini program not been successful, we would not have gone to the moon.  It developed the capability to rendezvous two vehicles and also to rendezvous and dock...That's how important the Gemini program was."

Jerry Roberts

Inspired by Buck Rogers comics and the impact of the 1957 Sputnik 1 launch, Jerry Roberts joined McDonnell Aircraft to work on the Mercury spacecraft stabilization and control system in 1959.  "The big attraction was here's a chance to do something that had never been done before."   

Launching a man as a warhead on a missile with the technology at that time was a significant accomplishment.  "It's hard to imagine now just how primitive the technology was...We had a long way to go and really didn't know what we were going to end up with...We had fifteen minutes of flight experience when he (President Kennedy) said we were going to the moon."

"The thing that made it possible in the time frame was the dedication of the individuals...An engineer knows that sooner or later, every system and every machine will fail.  But every engineer that worked on that (Mercury spacecraft) said, 'The failure is not going to be my fault.' The actual design intent was to postpone that failure until they were back home."  The long work days and time away from families resulted in a 48% divorce rate for McDonnell engineers on the program.

Thomas Stafford

Thomas Stafford, a 1952 U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a U.S. Navy test pilot when the call for another class of NASA astronauts was made in 1962.  This group of nine astronauts made many of the Gemini and Apollo flights in the race to the moon.  "The event that changed the world was Sputnik, because after that, the Congress, the Administration started DARPA, started NASA and the National Space Council."  He credited Senate Majority Leader, later Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, with accelerating the manned space program development to accomplish the moon landing mission ahead of the then Soviet Union.       

"The main thing was President Kennedy's speech on May 25, 1961, that we would go to the moon and safely return.  Alright, we WILL go.  But the question was HOW?"  Several methods were discussed, with multiple boosters, earth orbit rendezvous, and other complex maneuvers.  The method that was actually used, lunar orbit rendezvous, was to be learned through the Gemini program.

Three developments made the lunar landing missions possible: development of the F-1 rocket engine, the management and use of liquid hydrogen fuel, and the lunar orbit rendezvous.

Stafford worked on backup procedures for failures that may occur involving the radar, the inertial platform or the computer during rendezvous maneuvers in the Gemini program.  After Stafford and Wally Schirra requested assistance during dinner with James S. McDonnell, he arranged to provide the computer resources needed to compute the backup data charts.  "Mr. McDonnell was such a wonderful person - he was a hero to me.  He said, 'Any time you boys have any problems, come and see me.'  So we all got to know him very well."  Schirra and Stafford would fly the Gemini 6A mission that rendezvoused with Gemini 7 to prove that capability.  

Norm Beckel 

Norm Beckel recalled an interest in the Buck Rogers and other space-based comic characters of his youth, but did not think it was ever going to happen!  In 1957 and beyond, the first U.S. Vanguard satellite program failure and the Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 success began the Cold War space race.  The U.S. manned space program received a new urgency, and history was made.   

"What made the Mercury and Gemini programs so successful was the engineering leadership that we had...They brought us along (young engineers), let us do our thing as far as design, and corrected us when we needed correcting.  The thing that really made the program work was that we were always allowed to fail.  If you did something and it didn't work, you didn't cover it up.  You put it out on the table and say, 'Here I am, this didn't work.' This is the type of leadership we had, starting with Mr. McDonnell coming down to the lower-level engineering at that time.  We learned a lot.  Our main thrust was we were not going to fail.  We did not want to let these men down (the astronauts) in our spacecraft."

"As an engineer, it was a time that could never be repeated again.  We were able to do things very quickly, make changes very quickly, and do what was right."

Dean Purdy 

Dean Purdy joined McDonnell Aircraft in 1955 to work on the F-4 program, and maintained a casual interest in the developments for satellite launches planned for the International Geophysical Year 1957-1958.  Manned spaceflight was the next logical step. 

The evolution of the launch vehicles was a critical, and unknown, variable in the success of the manned space program.  From the Mercury Redstone sub-orbital flights and the Atlas orbital missions to the Gemini Titan II and later Apollo Saturn V, missile development progressed at a rapid rate beyond the capability of the Soviet Union's launch systems.  Purdy worked on, and later managed, the major space programs at McDonnell Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas including Mercury, Gemini, Manned Orbiting Laboratory, Space Shuttle and International Space Station.  

Earl Robb

Earl Robb joined McDonnell Aircraft in 1952 to design airplanes before the manned space program developed.  Company founder James S. McDonnell was already planning to get into manned space flight, and in 1957, Robb became part of the team to develop the Mercury spacecraft.  

Robb credits Dr. Wernher Von Braun for the success of the U.S. Apollo lunar space program.  He met Von Braun while working on the Skylab program at the twilight of the Apollo missions.  He recalled that Von Braun was personable and would discuss issues with young engineers like himself, and that his staff was "great to work with."

A brief time to visit after the session

Mac's Old Team with Thomas Stafford and Amy Shira Teitel

The Aero Experience was honored to be a co-sponsor and attend the Saturday sessions of the International Space Development Conference in St. Louis last weekend.  We thank the conference organizers, St. Louis Space Frontier and MAC's Old Team for their hospitality.

International Space Development Conference Convenes at Birthplace of U.S. Manned Spacecraft

By Carmelo Turdo

The National Space Society (NSS) wrapped up its 36th annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC) Monday in St. Louis, the birthplace of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft that propelled the U.S. into manned space exploration.  The ISDC was hosted by the local NSS chapter, St. Louis Space Frontier, and held in the historic St. Louis Union Station hotel and convention center.  A full agenda of presentations attracted attendees and exhibitors from around the world, and St. Louis aerospace education organizations were there to support the weekend's activities.

Mayuko Ishii, Astrax Studio,

with The Rocket Prince book

The Aero Experience joined with other local co-sponsors, the Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum, Missouri Aviation Historical Society, The Space Museum Bonne Terre Missouri, and Mac's Old Team, among others, to support the conference and contribute to its success.  Exhibits were available daily during the conference days Friday-Sunday, and lunch sessions included keynote speakers NASA Space Shuttle Astronaut Dr. Linda Godwin, Gemini and Apollo Astronaut and retired USAF General Thomas Stafford and World View Enterprises CEO Jane Poynter.  Of special interest was the Saturday Panel Presentation and Luncheon with members of Mac's Old Team, a group of St. Louis-based McDonnell Aircraft engineers who helped design, build and launch the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft at the dawn of the U.S. manned space program.  More from Saturday's Mac's Old Team program will be featured in an upcoming story. 

Some of the exhibitors on Saturday included:

Greater St. Louis Air & Space Museum President Mark Nankivil visits with Michael 

Mackowski from Phoenix, AZ 

Space Museum, Bonne Terre, Missouri President Earl Mullins with some

of the museum's displays

Martin Harris with Missouri Aviation Historical Society aviation and space

program display

Beautiful paintings from Janice Schoultz Mudd

Missouri University of Science and Technology Mars Rover Design

Tesla Model 90D S-Series All-Electric car

Saturday's Panel Presentation featured a two-hour session with Mac's Old Team and Astronaut Thomas Stafford.  During the luncheon that followed, Mac's Old Team and General Stafford received the NSS Space Pioneer Award.

ISDC Chair Christine Nobbe welcomes us to the morning session

Moderator Amy Shira Teitel checks on the panelists

The Panel Presentation gets underway

Bob Schepp

Earl Robb

Dean Purdy

Norm Beckel

Jerry Roberts

Astronaut Thomas Stafford

A brief time to visit after the session

Mac's Old Team with Thomas Stafford and Amy Shira Teitel

The luncheon featured the Keynote Speaker, Astronaut and Retired USAF General Thomas Stafford, and the presentation of the Space Pioneer Awards.  Accepting the awards from Mr. Philip Newell are Thomas Stafford and Norm Beckel representing Mac's Old Team.

The Aero Experience was honored to participate and record the day's activities with Mac's Old Team and General Stafford.  In the next story on the ISDC in St. Louis, we will include selected excerpts from the Panel Presentation that will take us back to the pioneering days of manned space flight!  We thank all who produced this conference and for the access needed to present this story.

Space Pioneers Honored at Dedication of New Spacecraft Exhibit in the St. Louis Science Center

By Carmelo Turdo

Pioneers of the early U.S. manned Mercury and Gemini space programs were honored June 30 at an event held to dedicate the "Liftoff" Gallery at the James S. McDonnell Planetarium of the St. Louis Science Center.  The "Liftoff" Gallery, featuring the Mercury and Gemini full-scale articles made by locally-based McDonnell Aircraft (now Boeing) in the 1960s, was a fitting backdrop for the gathering of former McDonnell Aircraft employees who designed and built America's first two types of manned spacecraft.  The occasion to honor these space program pioneers is the latest in a series of programs held over the last few years, featuring a panel discussion with former McDonnell Aircraft engineers, to commemorate the anniversaries of the spacecraft and military aircraft production at the St. Louis facility.  Several such events were sponsored by the Missouri Aviation Historical Society, and another by the St. Louis Space Frontier chapter of the National Space Society at the Gateway to Space Conference last November.   

The guests for the evening gathered at the Holekamp Family Skyport, near the "Liftoff" Gallery, for the reception and tour of the gallery.  The gallery includes Astronaut Walter Schirra's Mercury back-up spacecraft, Gemini 3A Thermal Qualification Test Vehicle, Astronaut Gordon Cooper's space suit used during visits to McDonnell Aircraft to train for the last and longest Mercury spacecraft flight and other related artifacts.   Present at the reception were John F. McDonnell, former Chairman of the Board of McDonnell Douglas and currently serving on several Boards of St. Louis corporations, and Bert Vescolani, President and CEO of the St. Louis Science Center, to greet visitors prior to the main event. 

John F. McDonnell (center) with Charles Wilson and Nate Crump

Earl Mullins, Jim Merriman and Debbie Merriman from the Space

Museum in Bonne Terre, MO

"Liftoff" Gallery

McDonnell Gemini spacecraft

McDonnell Mercury spacecraft

  

Following the reception, the guests were escorted to the Orthwein Starbay upstairs for the recognition ceremony and presentation of a special award from a group of McDonnell Aircraft (later McDonnell Douglas) retirees who directly contributed to the design and construction of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft.  The award recipients, referred by themselves as Mac's Old Team, proudly took the moniker to identify themselves with McDonnell Aircraft founder James S. McDonnell (Mr. Mac and later Old Mac) and his term for company employees as "Teammates."  The award was originally presented at the Gateway to Space Conference last November following a panel discussion on the early space programs at the Boeing James S. McDonnell Prologue Room.  The panel members decided that the award should be displayed in a public place as a reminder of the McDonnell Aircraft team's contribution to the U.S. manned space program, and the "Liftoff" Gallery was chosen as the current location.  

Bert Vescolani presents the opening remarks

Bert Vescolani

St. Louis Science Center President and CEO, Bert Vescolani, introduced the McDonnell Aircraft veterans during his opening remarks.  "What we're doing tonight is opening one of several galleries that we are opening in the near future - that's our "Liftoff" Gallery downstairs where you saw the capsules.  For you, it means a lot more: the minds that were making them and the hands that helped craft these things.  You know them more than we could ever know them - every bolt, every decision made, the magic behind making those things.  These are the stories we love to tell our guests."   Following a short video that was presented featuring some of the McDonnell Aircraft engineers who regularly served on the guest panel during previous events, Vescolani added, "We realized during the shooting of this video how humble all of them were, how behind the scenes they were working eighteen-hour days on a regular basis.  I am proud to be in your presence."  



John F. McDonnell addresses the guests

Following Vescolani's opening remarks, John F. McDonnell went around to the McDonnell Aircraft/McDonnell Douglas retirees and asked each one to say a few words about working at the St. Louis aerospace company.  Following the interaction with the guests, John F. McDonnell addressed the retirees and guests gathered in the planetarium.  

"I want to thank all of you who have gathered to celebrate an amazing group of people who I had the joy and privilege of being able to work with first-hand and who truly changed the face of history.  They call themselves Mac's Old Team, because in his later years, Mr. Mac, when he did his PA addresses, called himself Old Mac calling all the team.  Now that they are in their later years, they have turned that around and called themselves Mac's Old Team."  He later noted, "They were people who worked for more than a paycheck.  They dedicated themselves to accomplishing what seemed impossible, and the results showed.  McDonnell Aircraft, including the people you have just heard from around this room, stepped up to the challenge...Mac's Old Team played an important role in America regaining the technological lead by successfully launching and landing astronauts six times on the moon.  Almost fifty years later, still there is no other nation that has accomplished that even once...The (Liftoff) Gallery downstairs, our gathering here, are about more than today's event.  The gallery and commemorative plaque will help nearly one million visitors each year understand a bit about the history of our great city, our great people and the amazing things we can do by working as a team."

Jerry Roberts from Mac's Old Team

Mac's Old Team member Jerry Roberts presented the award received by Mac's Old Team in November to the St. Louis Science Center for public display in the "Liftoff" Gallery.  He put the award in perspective.  "Mac's Old Team is really a state of mind.  Once you have worked for any McDonnell company, you are a lifetime member of Mac's Old Team.  It is something never to be forgotten.  The common thread is, 'This is Old Mac calling all the team.'  There was silence in every building around the lambert Field complex, and we knew that either a significant announcement was about to be made or that we had a distinguished visitor."  Regarding the achievements of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft programs, Roberts added, "The biggest asset that all of us had was that we did not recognize our own limitations.  We didn't know what could not be done, so we just did it.  And this was true time, after time, after time...We were really pleased that we were at the right place at the right time to kick something like this off."  Roberts recognized other members of the group who keep the monthly luncheons on schedule and "members" informed. 

The award was then presented by Jerry Roberts, Bert Vescolani and John F. McDonnell for those who had not yet seen it.  The award, sponsored by the St. Louis Space Frontier, AIAA St. Louis Section and the Space Museum in Bonne Terre, MO, features a lighted Mercury Spacecraft containing a portion of foil carried aboard Apollo 11 to the moon and back:

Bert Vescolani, Jerry Roberts and John F. McDonnell with award

   

Following the award presentation to the St. Louis Science Center, a group picture of all McDonnell Aircraft /McDonnell Douglas employees present and the Mac's Old Team select panel was taken: