Glynn Lunney
Glynn Lunney | |
---|---|
Born | Glynn Stephen Lunney November 27, 1936 |
Died | March 19, 2021 Clear Lake, Texas, U.S. | (aged 84)
Alma mater | University of Detroit Mercy, B.S. 1958 |
Occupation(s) | NASA manager and flight director |
Spouse | Marilyn Kurtz Lunney |
Awards |
Glynn Stephen Lunney (November 27, 1936 – March 19, 2021) was an American
Lunney was a key figure in the US human spaceflight program from
Early life and NACA career
Glynn Stephen Lunney was born in the coal city of Old Forge, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, on November 27, 1936,[2] the eldest son of William Lunney, a welder and former miner who encouraged his son to get an education and to find a job beyond the mines, and his wife Helen Glynn Lunney. That family's surname rhymes with "sunny".[3] He graduated from the Scranton Preparatory School in 1953.[4][5]
A childhood interest in model airplanes prompted Lunney to study engineering in college.
After graduation, Lunney remained with NACA. His first job was as a researcher in aerospace dynamics at Lewis Research Center, where he worked with a team studying the thermodynamics of vehicles during high-speed reentry. Using a
NASA career
Mercury
Only a month after Lunney graduated, President Eisenhower signed into existence the
A member of the Flight Operations Division, Lunney was one of the engineers responsible for planning and creating procedures for
Lunney's colleague
Lunney worked both in the Control Center and at remote sites; during the flight of
Gemini
Gemini was a step forward for NASA's human spaceflight program: the Gemini capsule was larger and more advanced than Mercury, capable of supporting two men for up to a two-week mission. Because of the longer mission durations, Mission Control began to be staffed in shifts. In 1964, Lunney and Kranz were selected by Kraft to join him and his deputy John Hodge as flight directors. Aged only twenty-eight, Lunney was the youngest of the four.[19]
Lunney was stationed in Bermuda for the uncrewed
Apollo
As with
Lunney was not scheduled to serve as a flight director on the first crewed Apollo mission, later known as
The aftermath of the fire, in which three astronauts were killed, left Lunney and his colleagues at NASA feeling that they had perhaps failed to recognize the risks they were running in their efforts to meet Kennedy's timetable of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade and bringing him safely back to Earth. "Maybe," said Lunney over thirty years later, "we had gotten a little overconfident".[25]
Lunney attracted significant media attention in 1968, when he worked as lead flight director on Apollo 7, the first of the crewed Apollo flights. Coming as it did after the Apollo 1 fire, the mission was an important test for the Apollo program, and was stressful for astronauts and controllers alike. Lunney had primary responsibility for dealing with the mission commander, Wally Schirra, who repeatedly questioned orders from the ground. Although pressed by reporters in news conferences, Lunney stayed diplomatic and said nothing critical of Schirra.[26]
Privately, however, he was exasperated, and later assured his team of young controllers that "manned spaceflight is usually better than this".
As a flight director Lunney was known for his good memory and his unusually quick thought processes—traits that could sometimes prove problematic for his team of flight controllers.[29] "Glynn would drive you crazy", said Jay Greene, a fellow controller, "because his mind would race so fast that he could churn out action items quicker than you could absorb, much less answer."[30] He was the lead flight director again during the Apollo 10 mission, a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 Moon landing.[3]
During the
On the day following the Apollo 13 splashdown, Lunney joined his fellow flight directors in accepting the
Apollo–Soyuz Test Program
In 1970, while still a flight director, Lunney was selected as one of the members of a NASA delegation to the Soviet Union, which was to discuss the possibility of cooperation between the two countries in the field of human spaceflight. "For me it was out of the clear blue sky", said Lunney, who was told of the plans while at a conference in early October. "I did not know anything about [the proposed talks] until that time."[33]
The trip took place in late October. While in Moscow, Lunney gave a presentation to Soviet engineers on the techniques that NASA used for orbital rendezvous, and on the compromises that would have to be made in order to achieve a rendezvous between American and Soviet spacecraft. The technical agreement that he helped to draft laid the groundwork for the mission which was to become the
Lunney was named technical director of the ASTP in the following year. As technical director, he made several more trips to the Soviet Union, helping to negotiate the seventeen-point agreement that would govern the conduct of the mission.[35] He also took part in working groups in Houston that dealt with the technical details of the project. A New York Times profile reported that he was taking Russian lessons in order to be better prepared for the role.[36]
On June 13, 1972, Lunney was given overall responsibility for the test project; henceforth he would be in charge not only of building a partnership with the Soviets, but also of mission planning and of negotiating with North American Rockwell, the spacecraft contractor. According to the official history of the ASTP, Lunney's performance during Apollo 13 and during the Soviet negotiations had recommended him to Chris Kraft, who was by then director of Johnson Space Center.[37] In 1973, Lunney became manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, a position which gave him responsibility for the Apollo spacecraft used during Skylab missions, as well giving him more authority in his role as head of the ASTP.[38]
The ASTP mission took place in July 1975. It was criticized by some journalists as a "costly space circus", who felt that it wasted NASA funds that could have been better spent on projects such as Skylab.[39] However, Lunney supported the project, saying in a later interview that he did not believe the cooperation necessary to build the International Space Station would have been possible if ASTP had not laid the groundwork for it.[40]
Space Shuttle
After the ASTP mission was completed, Lunney became manager of the Shuttle Payload Integration and Development Program. During this period, it was anticipated that NASA's space shuttle fleet would be flying very frequent missions, and carrying commercial payloads as well as flying missions for government organizations such as the Department of Defense and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The payload integration program was responsible for determining how the various demands of these customers could be satisfied, and how mixed payloads could best be physically accommodated within the cargo bay of the shuttle.[41] During these years Lunney also spent time working at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., as Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight and later as Acting Associate Administrator for Space Transportation Operations.[7]
In 1981, Lunney became manager of the Space Shuttle program, a high-level position where Lunney found himself responsible for setting the agenda for the developing program. His responsibilities were broad ones; they included supervising program planning, budgeting and scheduling; systems engineering; and mission planning. During the earlier shuttle flights he was involved in determining whether the weather was suitable for launch, but in later years that responsibility was largely devolved to lower levels of the hierarchy.[42]
Many of his colleagues had expected Lunney to succeed his mentor, Kraft, as director of
In 1985, Lunney decided to leave NASA, feeling that the Space Shuttle program had worn him out physically and mentally and that he was ready for a new type of challenge.[44] Although he had retired from NASA the year before, he was called to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology in the aftermath of the Challenger accident. While still manager of the shuttle program, he had signed the "Criticality 1" waiver that allowed Challenger to launch even though the joints of its solid rocket boosters had recently been redefined as non-redundant systems.[45] His actions were not unusual in the context of NASA practice at the time, which allowed a "walk through" of such potentially controversial waivers if no debate was expected.[46]
Career at Rockwell
Upon leaving NASA in 1985, Lunney took a position at Rockwell International, the contractor responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Space Shuttle. At first he worked in California, managing a Rockwell division that was building satellites for the Global Positioning System; this was his first experience with satellites.[47] In 1990, he returned to Houston as President of the Rockwell Space Operations Company, which provided support for flight operations at Johnson Space Center and employed about 3,000 people. For Lunney, this represented a return to his roots in mission operations, which he had left twenty years before.[48]
In 1995, Rockwell joined forces with its competitor Lockheed Martin to form the United Space Alliance, a jointly owned organization created to provide operations support for NASA, as well as to take over some of the functions previously performed by NASA employees. At this point, Lunney became Vice President and Program Manager of the United Space Alliance's spaceflight operations in Houston; he stayed in this position until his retirement in 1999.[1]
Personal life
While at Lewis Research Center, Lunney met Marilyn Kurtz, who worked there as a nurse. They were married in 1960 and had four children: Jennifer, Glynn Jr., Shawn, and Bryan.[6] Their youngest son Bryan also pursued a career at NASA, becoming a flight director in 2001 and retiring in 2011.[49] Lunney and his son Bryan were the first multi-generational flight directors to have served NASA.[2]
During his leisure hours, Lunney enjoyed sailing; during the 1960s the family owned a twenty-foot sailboat which they took out on Galveston Bay, and he occasionally dreamed of going with his wife and children on an ocean cruise lasting for months.[6][26] In his retirement he enjoyed golf, saying that "I have come to realize that golf will not be mastered, but will continue to be humbling."[50]
Described as "legendary" by NASA, Lunney died on March 19, 2021,[21] at his home in Clear Lake, Texas, at the age of 84.[3] He had been treated for leukemia for several years,[2][15] but according to his family he succumbed to stomach cancer.[3]
Awards and honors
Lunney was a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 1971, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate from the University of Scranton. He received many awards from NASA, including three Group Achievement Awards, two Exceptional Service Medals and three Distinguished Service Medals.[7][51]
In 2005, he received the National Space Trophy from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation. The award is given to individuals who have made an outstanding and career-spanning contribution to America's space program. Previous winners have included
In 2008 he received the
In films
In the 1995 film Apollo 13, Glynn Lunney was portrayed by Marc McClure. McClure had a relatively minor role leading writer Charles Murray to lament that Lunney was "barely visible in the movie", being overshadowed by the focus on Lunney's fellow flight director Gene Kranz. "Without slighting Kranz's role", Murray commented, "the world should remember that it was Glynn Lunney ... who orchestrated a masterpiece of improvisation that moved the astronauts safely to the lunar module while sidestepping a dozen potential catastrophes that could have doomed them."[54] "They didn't give me credit for any of the work that I did," Lunney said in 2019. "As a matter of fact, if you watch the movie, you'll see I'm sort of portrayed as a flunky."[15]
In the 2020 television miniseries The Right Stuff, Lunney was played by Jackson Pace.[55]
Select publications
- Lunney, G. S. and K. C. Weston. (1959). "Heat-Transfer Measurements on an Air-Launched, Blunted Cone-Cylinder Rocket Vehicle to Mach 9.7". NASA-TM X-84. Cleveland, Ohio: NASA Lewis Research Center.
- Lunney, G. S., L. C. Dunseith, and J. F. Dalby. (1960). "Project Mercury: Methods and Pertinent Data for Project Mercury Flight Computing Requirements". NASA-TM-X-69335. Hampton, Virginia: NASA Langley Research Center.
- Lunney, G. S. (1964). "Launch-Phase Monitoring". In Manned Spacecraft: Engineering Design and Operation. Ed. Paul E. Purser, Maxime A. Faget, and Norman F. Smith. New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc.
- Lunney, G. S. (February 6–8, 1967). Summary of Gemini Rendezvous Experience (PDF). American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Flight Test, Simulation and Support Conference. Cocoa Beach, Florida. AIAA paper 67-272.
- Lunney, G. S. (October 19–22, 1970). Discussion of Several Problem Areas During the Apollo 13 Operation (PDF). American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 7th Annual Meeting and Technical Display. Houston. AIAA Paper 70-1260.
Footnotes
- ^ a b c "Rotary National Award for Space Achievement". Guidry News Service. February 15, 2005. Archived from the original on March 18, 2006. Retrieved September 16, 2006.
- ^ a b c d Harwood, William (March 19, 2021). "Glynn Lunney, NASA flight director who played key role in Apollo 13, has died at age 84". CBS News. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Goldstein, Richard (March 27, 2021). "Glynn S. Lunney dies at 84; oversaw NASA flights from Mission Control". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ "Scranton Prep – Dr. Glynn S. Lunney Honored by Scranton Prep". Scranton Prep Alumni. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
- ^ Foley, Conor (October 4, 2009). "Apollo 13 Flight Director Wins Prep Alumni Award". The Times-Tribune. Scranton, Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- ^ a b c d ""Apollo Ground Chief: Glynn Stephen Lunney". The New York Times. October 23, 1968.
- ^ a b c d "Biographical Data Sheet. Name: Glynn S. Lunney" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project Biographical Data Sheet. December 9, 1998. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- ^ "NACA Overview". NASA. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
- ^ Staats, Elmer B. (May 19, 1977). NASA's Resource Data Base And Techniques For Supporting, Planning, And Controlling Programs Need Improvement (PDF) (Report). U.S. Government Accountability Office. PSAD-77-78. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
- ^ Swanson 1999, p. 203.
- ^ Lunney 1999a, p. 54.
- ^ Murray & Cox 1989, p. 30.
- ^ Swanson 1999, p. 204.
- ^ a b Kranz 2000, pp. 81–82.
- ^ a b c Schudel, Matt (March 23, 2021). "Glynn Lunney, NASA flight director who helped save Apollo 13 mission, dies at 84". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
- ^ Lunney 1999a, p. 10.
- ^ Kraft 2001, pp. 149–150.
- ^ Lunney 1999a, pp. 21–22.
- ^ Murray & Cox 1989, pp. 285–286.
- ^ a b Kraft 2001, p. 222.
- ^ a b "NASA remembers legendary flight director Glynn Lunney" (Press release). NASA. March 19, 2021. J21-001. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
- ^ Lunney 1999b, pp. 1–5.
- ^ Lunney 1998, p. 33.
- ^ Lunney 1998, p. 34.
- ^ Lunney 1998, p. 35.
- ^ a b Atwater 1969, p. 72.
- ^ Greene 2004, p. 11.
- ^ Chaikin 2007, p. 76.
- ^ Murray & Cox 1989, p. 286.
- ^ Greene 2004, p. 34.
- ^ Mattingly 2001, p. 43.
- ^ "Remarks on presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team in Houston". The American Presidency Project. April 18, 1970. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
- ^ Ezell & Ezell (1978), p. 104
- ^ Ezell & Ezell (1978), pp. 110–111, 119
- ^ Ezell & Ezell (1978), pp. 186–187
- ^ "Glynn Stephen Lunney". The New York Times. May 25, 1972. p. 14. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- ^ Ezell & Ezell (1978), p. 196
- ^ Ezell & Ezell (1978), p. 217
- ^ Ezell & Ezell (1978), p. 353
- ^ Lunney (1999c), p. 37
- ^ Lunney (1999d), pp. 6–8
- ^ Lunney (2000a), p. 12
- ^ Hutchinson (2004), p. 4
- ^ Lunney (2000a), p. 48
- ^ "Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident". NASA. March 7, 2023.
- ^ Vaughan (1996), p. 152
- ^ Lunney (2000b), p. 3
- ^ Lunney (2000b), p. 22
- ^ Martin, Florian (April 5, 2011). "Flight director leaves NASA but not space flight exploration". Chron. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- ^ "2005 National Space Trophy Winner". Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation. 2005. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
- ^ "NASA's Highest Honor Won by Lunney". Scrantonian Tribune. Scranton, Pennsylvania. February 28, 1971. p. 1. Retrieved March 7, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "National Space Trophy Winners". Rotary national award for Space Achievement. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
- ^ "The Elmer A. Sperry Award". Elmer A. Sperry Board of Award. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
- ^ Murray, Charles (September–October 1995). "Hollywood Gets One Right". The American Enterprise.
- ^ Fienberg, Daniel (October 6, 2020). "'The Right Stuff': TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
Bibliography
- Atwater, James (January 11, 1969). "The Men Who Control Our Missions to the Moon". The Saturday Evening Post. pp. 34–36, 68, 70, 72.
- OCLC 166227448.
- Ezell, Edward Clinton; Ezell, Linda Neuman (1978). "The Partnership: a History of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project". The NASA History Series. NASA. OCLC 3705781. SP-4209. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Greene, Jay H. (November 10, 2004). "Oral History Transcript: Jay H. Greene" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Johnson, Sandra. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Hutchinson, Neil B. (January 21, 2004). "Oral History 3 Transcript: Neil B. Hutchinson" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Ross-Nazzal, Jennifer. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- OCLC 44493448.
- OCLC 1120567633.
- Lunney, G. S. (March 9, 1998). "Oral History 1 Transcript: Glynn S. Lunney" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Neal, Roy. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Lunney, G. S. (January 28, 1999a). "Oral History 2 Transcript: Glynn S. Lunney" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Butler, Carol. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Lunney, G. S. (February 8, 1999b). "Oral History 3 Transcript: Glynn S. Lunney" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Butler, Carol. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Lunney, G. S. (October 18, 1999c). "Oral History 7 Transcript: Glynn S. Lunney" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Butler, Carol. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Lunney, G. S. (December 9, 1999d). "Oral History 8 Transcript: Glynn S. Lunney" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Butler, Carol. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Lunney, G. S. (January 13, 2000a). "Oral History 9 Transcript: Glynn S. Lunney" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Butler, Carol. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Lunney, G. S. (March 9, 2000b). "Oral History 10 Transcript: Glynn S. Lunney" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Butler, Carol. Houston, Texas: Johnson Space Center. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- Mattingly, Thomas K. (November 6, 2001). "Oral History Transcript: Thomas K. Mattingly II" (PDF). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Wright, Rebecca. Costa Mesa, California: Johnson Space Center.
- OCLC 19589707.
- Swanson, Glen, ed. (1999). "Glynn S. Lunney". "Before This Decade is Out....": Personal Reflections on the Apollo Program. Washington, DC: NASA. OCLC 507180728. SP-4223. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
- OCLC 33166669.
Further reading
- Behar, Michael (October–November 2006). "The Ground". Air and Space Magazine. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2006.
External links
- "Interview with Glynn Lunney for NOVA series: To the Moon". WGBH Educational Foundation. 1998. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
- "Apollo 13: Apogee of the Crisis". www.apollostory.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved June 10, 2007. Audio of Lunney as flight director during the Apollo 13 crisis.