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To: Richard Kimball

Not entirely true. Apollo was from early '60s to early '70s, IIRC. My participation began at NASA-MSC (now JSC) in '66. I worked in Mission Planning and Analysis Division, Flight Control Division and Flight Support Division, all housed in the administrative side of Mission Control Center. Some of the folks I worked with were my parents' age (Greatest Generation), and there were some Boomers, of course. But I'd say the largest segment of them were between my parents' age and my age. Of course, as more Boomers entered the work force, their numbers grew at NASA as well.


70 posted on 12/11/2005 12:33:21 PM PST by ru4liberty (Ann fan no more)
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To: ru4liberty

Thank you. Good to see you again. :-)


71 posted on 12/11/2005 12:35:56 PM PST by RadioAstronomer (Senior member of Darwin Central)
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To: ru4liberty; RadioAstronomer
Baby boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. While refinements continued, contracts for the Apollo spacecraft were put out for construction by 1963. Nine of the twelve astronauts who would eventually walk on the moon were already in training for NASA by that date. In 1963, the oldest baby boomer was seventeen, graduating high school. The median baby boomer was in the fourth grade, and the youngest hadn't been born.

Neal Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was born in 1930. Deke Slayton was born in 1924. Michael Collins was born in 1930. Buzz Aldrin was born in 1930.

When the first astronauts walked on the moon, the oldest baby boomers were 23. While I'm not particularly familiar with NASA requirements for employment, I would assume that to work on the space program they required a minimum of a Bachelor or Masters degree. I know that Chuck Yaeger was turned down as an astronaut because he did not have a college degree. I would guess that working as an engineer for NASA would require a master's degree, and that most have doctorates. Am I wrong in assuming that the average NASA engineer has six to eight years of post high school education? If so, the oldest baby boomer would not have completed his post-secondary education by the time men walked on the moon.

I find it difficult to believe that even a baby boomer that was born in 1946 had worked his way into a position of any significance with NASA by 1964, when NASA began testing the Saturn I rocket. I've checked the names of all the space mission people from around 1969 that I can find, and I haven't found anyone born later than around 1930-1935. Who were the baby boomers that had any significant impact on the Apollo program? I can't find them.

I stand by my statement that the boomers cannot take any credit in any way, shape or form for the Apollo program. I believe that the boomers may have started at the bottom of the ladder, probably beginning around 1970-1974, but that during the last twenty years (1985-2005), boomers have been calling the shots at NASA. The actual turnover of personnel, of course, occurred over a period of years. I'd pin 1985 as a good breakover point, but others may have better information.

103 posted on 12/11/2005 7:40:45 PM PST by Richard Kimball (Tenure is the enemy of excellence.)
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