Behind the Moon, Inside Apollo: Profile of a Rocket Scientist
Behind the scenes
Robyn becomes most animated when the conversation turns away from the specifics of her job onto the bigger picture of the Apollo program. She snaps into a higher gear when asked whether she and her coworkers in the lab felt any connection to the astronauts,
Oh, absolutely! Our job was to do everything that we could humanly, possibly do to make sure that the guys [astronauts] got there and home safe. Once, Gus Grissom came through the lab with an entourage of suits, and said to them, ‘Hey, I don’t have the dangerous job, these people do’. And you’re sitting there wide-eyed with a grin on your face. It was terribly exciting. I felt like, ‘I can’t go to the moon, but this is pretty close.’
Robyn and her fellow engineers didn't have time for the politics of Apollo, but that didn't stop its closure effecting them all.
It’s clear that for Robyn, there was no sense of her work at Apollo being a normal nine-to-five. She and her partners in the lab didn’t have much time for the politics which haloed the program either:
“We were dreamers and the dream that we shared was brought into clear focus by John Kennedy: we were going to go to the moon. We were given the carte blanche to innovate to think, to be wrong, to bring out the very best in our sci and tech, invent new ways of solving problems. The space program was inspiring children to be mathematicians and engineers, scientists and astronauts.”
It turns out that Robyn was the only woman in her outfit, although she doesn’t even think to mention this until asked.
There was a lighter hearted side to Apollo too. It wasn’t all big dreams and hard maths. For one test, Robyn’s lab had needed industrial grade ethanol to clean the glasswear. They got it tax free, without a liquor license. One bright spark decided to install an extra nozzle on the lab’s old school Coke machine. Robyn described the process: “You put the dime in and a cup came down. It squirted in the seltzer water, the Coca-Cola and a full shot of rocket propellant grade alcohol. We had the most popular Coke machine in Cape Canaveral, probably the State.”
Extracurricular activities included taking naps between shifts in the pool which was used to test spacesuits for leaks. A tired chemical engineer would suit up, plug in an air pack and float, face down, looking like just another leaky spacesuit – halfway under and sound asleep. Rides on the Command Module Simulator were also begged.
Robyn says:
I never found anything since that was as exciting or rewarding or meant as much to me personally as the Apollo project.
Launch Day
On January 27th, 1967, a fire broke out in the command module of Saturn/Apollo 204 as it was on the pad, running though pre-launch tests. The three astronauts on board were killed – Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee.
From left to right, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. This photo was taken ten days before the fire.
It’s the first thing Robyn mentions when asked about her feelings on launch day. She becomes visibly upset when she describes the fire:
I had gone to work at the normal time, 0745. That evening, I was on overtime, it was 1802 or 1812 local, when we got the word that there was a fire, and shortly thereafter that our three guys were gone. One of those was a very close personal friend. I cried of course, one couldn’t help but cry. We immediately began plans in the lab to sequester all of the documentation. I didn’t go home that night, I didn’t go home the next night, matter of fact.
Robyn twists her face up and spits out her words, adding:
The spacecraft was filled with velcro. Velcro burns extremely hot, and it drips.
She stops and moves the conversation on, rubbing the backs of her hands together as she tries to get away from that topic and onto happier moments.
For Robyn, launch day was nothing to landing day. All her painstaking hours, weeks of chemistry, fuel tests and labour were validated as Eagle (the lunar lander from Apollo 11) touched down in The Sea of Tranquility.
She sets the scene in Houston:
The guys were holding their breath, turning blue and sweating as Neil Armstrong was guiding the LEM across boulder fields and Buzz Aldrin calmly says ‘10 seconds’, meaning you got ten seconds worth of fuel left. For me personally, landing on the moon was the first hurdle.
After Apollo
Robyn heard about the cancellation of the Apollo program long before the last liftoff from the Cape. She tugs at her fleece collar as she pieces her memories together, then begins quietly describing the buildup to cancellation:
I got an inkling of it [cancellation] a few months before I actually heard. I had gone up to Bethpaige and they had already gotten word that the lander for mission 17 had no follow on. I thought, ‘Uh oh, something is wrong here. We’re supposed to have 20 of these things, there’s only 17 and the people round here are looking really glum’.
More agitated, and speaking louder, she continues:
Richard Nixon had cancelled Apollos 18 through 20 and hauled Von Braun to the White House, telling him that there would be no further program. The Von Braun Mars program was stopped in its tracks. I got official word through Dr. Kurt Diebus, head of the Kennedy Space Center. Dr. Debus was a close personal friend of Von Braun. They were buddies from Peenemunde days.
Shuttle was sold for some time in the future as a means of lifting stuff into low earth orbit, a truck. What a cheapie that was, whoo.
Soon, the Shuttle program will end.
Even Shuttle – the useful hauler – is about to meet an end. There is no official replacement program. The plan for the moment is to hitch rides to the International Space Station on Russian Soyuz rockets at about $50 million a go. Private American space industry is supposed to step in and fill the void left by Nasa, providing the same service as the Russians for a better price, while meeting standards that Soyuz would fail.
The distinction between public and private was never that solid for Nasa and there are questions as to whether any private enterprise can conduct the kind of broadly ambitious program that put men on the Moon.
“Private space companies, that’s a misnomer”, Robyn says. “Remember that from day one, it was a government and industry partnership. It wasn’t Nasa that built engines. It wasn’t Nasa that built spacecraft. Nasa managed the space program, contracting private industry to do hardware and supplying personnel to oversee operations. They did quality control and kept and eagle eye on how the dollars were spe
VUBQQG In awe of that answer! Really cool!
I know this lady as a friend on Twitter, but also as a colleague in those glorious days of the Apollo program. No, I did not have the honor of being on that team, but shared a common involvement in those things we call rockets. To get an additionally personal comment and tribute to NASA and the Apollo program, readers are encouraged to visit here http://bit.ly/hIivxc for an article by Ms. Villavecchia.
I remember staying up as a kid watching it on our TV while my parents were away on holiday. It was one of those moments that you remember where you were when you watched it! However, compared to what we aspired to in the 60's and 70's, we haven't achieved what any of us expected in space travel.
This is such a wonderful article Hal! It places me in a time I was never born enough to experience. I hope that such flashbacks can encourage and restore the future of space travel... so that maybe one day I can experience a moon landing and mars landing (comfortably from Earth).
I love the story behind the story of how we got to the moon and back. Like lots of kids, I followed the progress of every space mission and will never forget the moment Neil Armstrong stepped on the surface. This is a terrific view behind the scenes.
A wonderful and personalized moment with both the memory and spirit of the Apollo program. The spirit comes alive through Robyn and her story. A delight to read and a greater delight in reminiscing about those historic days. Well done.