Highways Into Space: A first-hand account of the beginnings of the human space program

by Glynn S. Lunney

  I am hopeful that an exploration mission beyond low earth orbit will be approved in the future. If so, I believe that the program should be based on an international and commercial coalition. Yes, that presents difficulties and dependencies. It is also possible that the “partnership well” has been tainted/poisoned by real or perceived disappointments. I hope not. Such a coalition would bring political support, the prospect of reduced cost and an increase in the brainpower available. Smart people should be able to manage the risk of “failures of partnership” because they do add value to sustainability and cost reduction.

  Cost is a major hurdle. I believe that the U.S. budget and debt posture will remain hostile towards major new starts. Since these programs extend over years and new administrations, any hope for such a start and its continuation requires a real-world approach towards cost that is both credible and sustainable. The only programs promising lower costs today are the commercial vehicle programs (unmanned and manned). Assuming that works out to be true, how can that capability be brought to bear on the next program start and can the commercial lessons be infused into NASA contracting? Or will some other solution prevail?

  In our present state of technology, all programs are and will be severely constrained by propulsion performance. Program architecture should consider ways to avoid depending on the last measure of stretching those margins. This is especially true in the conceptual phase where the developer is still selling the program and there is real incentive to promise an attractive level of accomplishment per program dollar. That optimistic squeezing infects the performance, cost, schedule, contracting and other disciplines somewhat individually on the front end. Once in practice, the problem in one discipline tends to interact with some or all of the others and they become amplified, never diminished. This always leads to cost growth.

  There is another issue that our participation with the Soviets brings to the surface. They had a heavier reliance on automatic systems and questioned our approach of much more crew involvement. Without revisiting all of that, I believe there is value in capitalizing on the modern systems being installed on our vehicles. Fly-by-wire systems with distributed architecture offer the option of various levels of automation, from one function to a complete mission phase. On the ISS, MCC actually commands the systems that control the flying of the ship and the crews operate the experiments. Some functions such as replacing equipment and requiring manual manipulation are performed manually on board the ship.

  Perhaps the best way to make this point is by way of a Shuttle example. Imagine a scenario where it was required to fly the Orbiter back without crew involvement. The Orbiter had a guidance system which can separately control the retrofire, the entry phase and the landing phase, but there was not a programmed sequence which could be called up to do the entire sequence. Even if there were one, there were several functions that were only commanded by hard-wired, switches actuated by the crew – APU start to pressurize the hydraulic system for aerosurface control and another for landing gear deploy. These functions were not computer commands. We did not have a full-auto option for return. For future design, full-auto should be the goal, with crew as prime or backup for reliability, criticality or other reasons. Some functions may be difficult to automate but technology has come far – auto docking and auto land are only the latest. Special attention is needed for functions, like IMU alignments and even hatch management. To take advantage of the modern capability, we need to welcome the prospect of full-auto.

  ASTP 20th Reunion From left Chet, Marilyn Alexei, Valeri, Glynn and Tom

  To close this discussion of perspectives and the effect of ASTP on the manned space environment, the present International Space Station is an incredible achievement. It is orbiting our planet with an international crew of six on a 24/7 basis and was created by a joint endeavor of sixteen countries supporting five Space Agencies. As to where all this will take us in the future, we will see. Almost forty years ago, ASTP opened the door of possibilities wider than it had ever been. The future is for this generation to continue to imagine, design and bring to reality.

  Epilogue

  I went on to many more exciting challenges in the space program, both in NASA and later in the Aerospace industry. All of these roles tested and stretched me. And yet when I reflect on a career, I am always drawn to the first decade plus of Mercury, Gemini and Apollo and what we were privileged to do. The events of these years always emerge with a warm, golden glow around them. The lessons from these experiences are legion. Most of them can be captured with more universal or general categories.

  Leadership

  The value of leadership cannot be overrated. It is the talent of clarity that keeps a team moving confidently and on the correct path. It is about the direction rather than the mechanics. Lack of it ends up in muddling, loss of follower-ship and poorer decisions on the path to follow. It is not simply the province of the bosses. It is necessary at all levels in a team. Without doubt, the best example we had was Chris Kraft. He was uncanny in his ability to asses a complicated set of circumstances, reduce it to workable options and decide the best course. And I saw his example reflected in the actions of so many of his followers. They say leadership can be taught but the first step is the need to recognize and value it, then to strive to live up to it. Learn from the examples of those around you, when you see it in action. Leadership is trust of the leader and by the leader- and we had a grand abundance on both sides of the trust compact.

  In my NASA time, the best examples of leadership were: John Mayer- from early days in mission planning. Bill Tindall – for his enthusiastic synthesis of possibilities into realities. Tec Roberts – for his grace in teaching us to marshal facts and logic to persuade. Chris Craft – for everything he did for me over five decades of friendship. George Low – for his profound contributions to the success of Apollo. There are so many examples of leadership in the flight operations area that it is not helpful to select just a few. They selected themselves. They answered the call and they prevailed.

  Teamwork

  This is so obvious that it hardly needs discussion. Our operations were a beautiful orchestration where the performance of the team far exceeded the sum of its individual parts. It reached new levels, beyond the ability of any of us as single contributors. We had so many examples of unselfish help being given to bring new people up to speed, to remove some problem or impediment and to explain the reasons behind some of our approaches. This transfer of comprehension and trust accelerated the learning process and made the execution stage much more reliable and dependable.

  Preparation

  In any endeavor, dues must be paid and a certain level of basic understanding and skills must be attained before even starting. This is a ticket to the show and gets you in the door. Then you will likely discover that several more levels of preparation are necessary which must be personally identified and then achieved. Activities have a way of looking simple from the outside. They usually are more complex than they appear. And, at least in our “real-time” world, they show up at unexpected times.

  Attitude

  This may be the underlying prerequisite to all of the three above. It enables performance and provides confidence that, even without knowing “how” at the start, the problem will be resolved. It is not so much asking, “How should I do this?” but rather, “When do you need the answers?” Attitude can overcome many drawbacks or disadvantages. It is as simple as how one chooses to look at the world—half empty or almost full.

  For the men of the Trench, I will forever treasure your friendships and contributions to our shared grand adventure in space.

  Family

  Mom and Dad gave us our start in the small coal-mining town of Old Forge, Pennsylvania. Their faith in God and life was reflected in the birth of three boys, Glynn, Bill and Jerry, in the continuing depression of the thirties and our sister Carol after the war. Their faith in us was always evident in the high expectations they set for us, and the quiet encouragement
that was ever present. From the present perspective of my own lifetime, I have a much sharper appreciation for what they did and what it must have taken. Thank you Mom and Dad – you set us all on different but satisfying courses, even if we then moved away from home and raised our families that you loved in distant places.

  It is amazing how two decisions we make early in life have such long-standing consequences for us. Before we are mature enough to know much, we choose a career path and a spouse. Profession choices usually work out and, with an education, can be adjusted. But, this choice of spouse is a first order determinant to our wellbeing, state of mind and happiness. Marilyn and I recently celebrated our fiftieth anniversary with family and friends. We are on the other side of life from those choices now. And I treasure all the good times and joys with our loving family and I have to wince at my shortcomings.

  With four kids, Marilyn served on every child-related activity in Friendswood. As a first, she initiated the start of the Catholic Church in town when baptism for Shawn was two towns away. Then came swimming, cub scouts, brownies, and boy scouts, little leagues for every sport, horse lessons, PTO, PTA, and others I probably never knew of. Eventually, the school board and then president of the school board were guided by her “close to the kids” insights. The community drafted her for a new justice of the peace position in recognition of her service and an election with four contending lawyers could only have one outcome. For the Trench, there was a magic time in the sixties and early seventies when our home was their home and gathering place, even after they married. It was part of the bonding of this band of brothers that has lasted a lifetime and Marilyn gave it all of her patience, caring and no-nonsense.

  It goes without saying but must be emphasized – Marilyn made it possible for me to participate fully in this grand adventure. She managed the daily press and crises of family life and did so with caring, competence and common sense. It was comforting for me to know that all would be well with the Lunney unit while I contributed what I could to our Nation’s space program.

  Our kids went on to professional careers. Jenny is a veterinary specialist in cardiology and internal medicine, and runs her own business with her husband Kyle of the same credentials. Their three girls are Erin, Caitlin Shea and Daira. Glynn graduated with a B.S. in Petroleum engineering, worked a few years in the Oil patch, went back to Stanford Law and now teaches Law at Tulane University in New Orleans. His three boys are Connor, Bryce and Grant. Shawn took his marketing degree and grew to become a business strategist VP and head of various departments for several small medical device companies. Shawn and his wife Becky have three girls: Abbey, Kendall and Jordan. Bryan was a Flight Director in MCC, first for the space station and later for the shuttle. We are the first family to have two generations serve in that position. His wife, Amori, works in the school system as a teacher substitute and they have three children also: Christopher, Macy and Drake. All of ours graduated from Texas A&M and are Aggies to the core.

  When I look back on our family times especially early with the young men of the Trench, it is with a sense of joy and wonder. Being a husband, father and now grandfather is a wonderful gift. I confess that I have received far more than I may have deserved. It is true that the space work was an obsession for me, like so many others at the time. I missed a lot of kid activities and I never made time to coach one of the teams. However, I did try and fail (according to Marilyn and her girls) at umpiring some of Coach Marilyn’s girls’ softball games. The credit for bridging this gap in our family activities belongs one hundred percent to Marilyn. She was the glue that held us together and kept all of our aspirations supported and encouraged. Some years ago and somewhat accidentally, the subject of Dad’s missing time and its effect on our kids came up for family discussion. Our kids, old enough then to be our teachers, felt that they did get a life lesson out of those times. They did not attach much significance to Dad’s missing time from their games or events. Rather they saw the larger lesson. Living life with a commitment to a noble cause and the dedication to serve it well was the lesson they took away and internalized for themselves. I would add that they have improved on the lesson by a better balancing of their life’s priorities.

  And now to close and gratefully acknowledge:

  The gift of values and formation from Mom and Dad.

  The gift of such wonderful children and grandchildren.

  The gift of and by Marilyn to create and sustain this circle of love to encompass all of us.

  You have blessed me beyond measure. Thank you.

  About The Author

  Glynn Lunney arrived as a new graduate in 1958 at NACA and the Space Task Group near the beginning of the Mercury Project--where they had to learn how to build, launch, sustain and land one man in a small ship. For Lunney, this involved the mastering of the essence of orbital mechanics and helping to design and eventually operate the monitoring and control functions for that discipline in the Mercury Control Center. He went on to Gemini-- the training ground for Apollo. His small group of operators, the ‘Trench’ in the new Mission Control Center in Houston, mastered the new world of rendezvous, docking, multiple maneuvers and guided entry. As a Flight Director for Gemini, he became one of the leaders of the operations team--planners, controllers and flight crews-- experienced and anxious to roar into Apollo. That was delayed by the tragedy of the Apollo fire. In time, Apollo was back on track and the fifth manned Apollo mission took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into history. Lunney went on to perform what he termed ‘his best piece of operations work ever’, coming on-duty one hour after the oxygen tank exploded on Apollo XIII.

  Leaving operations, he moved to project management as the Cold War took a new turn in the space theater. After a decade of competition, both countries saw the value in cooperation on rendezvous and docking systems to enable the possibility of rescue of stranded space travelers. Lunney became the US Director and this concept was tested in 1975 with the success of the Apollo/Soyuz docking mission. He was also the project manager for the three transport ships, which brought astronauts up and down to repair and live in Skylab, the first US space station. He was known to refer to his work as “The Best Job in the World”!

  Lunney grew up in Old Forge in North East Pennsylvania. He went to Scranton Prep, a Jesuit high school, the University of Scranton for 2 years and then the University of Detroit where he co-oped his last 3 years at the NACA Lewis Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio. After the period covered by this book, he went on to other executive positions in NASA and to a dozen years in the Aerospace industry. He is most proud of the ‘Medal of Freedom’ award to the Mission Operations team for Apollo XIII.