August 17, 2000
Bob Jacobs
Headquarters, Washington, DC
(Phone: 202/358-1600)
Ed Campion
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)
Release: H00-127

DR. ROBERT GILRUTH, AN ARCHITECT OF MANNED SPACE FLIGHT, DIES

Dr. Robert Rowe Gilruth, an aerospace scientist, engineer, and a pioneer
of the American space program during the glory days of Mercury, Gemini,
and Apollo, is dead after a lengthy illness. He was 86.

During his forty-year career with NASA and its predecessor, the National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), Dr. Gilruth led many of the
nations leading flight research and human space flight operations.

In 1961, Dr. Gilruth was named director of the Manned Spacecraft Center
(MSC), in Houston, TX. That complex would later become known as the
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.

"Gilruths management style developed the best minds in the space
program into the finest organization of its time," said Dr. Christopher
Kraft Jr., who served as deputy director of the Manned Spacecraft Center
and director of Flight Operations during Gilruths tenure.

"There were many heroes during the early days of the space program, but
Bob Gilruth was the most respected of them all and, particularly, by
those who knew what it took to reach the goals that were established,"
added Dr. Kraft. "Personally, I had a higher regard for Gilruth than any
other person in my lifetime."

A specialist in flight research, Dr. Gilruth organized an engineering
team in 1945 to investigate experimental rocket-powered aircraft, which
later became the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division (PARD) and led to
the creation of NACAs Wallops Island launching range.

In 1952, Dr. Gilruth was appointed assistant director of the Langley
Laboratory responsible for investigations in high-temperature structures
and dynamics loads, and for hypersonic aerodynamics research at Wallops
Island.

Dr. Gilruths focus suddenly shifted from rocket-powered planes to
spacecraft when the Soviet Union launched the worlds first satellite,
Sputnik, in 1957. "I can recall watching the sunlight reflect off of
Sputnik as it passed over my home on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia,"
Dr. Gilruth said in 1972. "It put a new sense of value and urgency on
things we had been doing. When one month later the dog, Laika, was
placed in orbit in Sputnik II, I was sure that the Russians were
planning for man-in-space."

When NASA was chartered in 1958, Dr. Gilruth became director of the
Space Task Group at Langley. That group comprised Dr. Gilruth and 34
other Langley employees. They worked in seemingly ad hoc fashion during
the next three years but, according to Dr. Gilruth, came up with all the
basic principles of Project Mercury, including the conical, blunt-ended
capsule, qualifications for astronauts, launch criteria and mission
operation procedures.

Later, at the MSC, more than 1,400 employees worked in a dozen locations
around Houston, including shopping centers, apartment complexes and
vacant stores, while a 1,600-acre cattle pasture south of the city was
transformed into what Dr. Gilruth called, " the free worlds largest
and most advanced research and development center devoted to manned
space flight."

During his 10-year tenure as MSC director, Dr. Gilruth directed 25
manned space flights, including Alan Shepards first Mercury flight in
May 1961, the first lunar landing by Apollo 11 in July 1969, the
dramatic rescue of Apollo 13 in 1970, through the Apollo 15 mission in
July 1971.

"There is no question that without Bob Gilruth there would not have been
a Mercury, Gemini, or an Apollo program," George Low, director of the
Apollo lunar landing program, once commented during an interview. "He
built in terms of what he felt was needed to run a manned space flight
program it is clear to all who have been associated with him that he
has been the leader of all that is manned space flight in this country."

"His courage to explore the unknown, his insistence on following strict
scientific procedures, and his technical expertise directly contributed
to the ultimate success of the American manned space program and the
landing of a man on the moon," said NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.

After retiring as MSC director in January 1972, he served as director of
key personnel development at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. When
he retired in December 1973, he became a consultant for the space
agency.

Dr. Gilruth was born Oct. 8, 1913, in Nashwauk, MN. He received his
Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering in 1935 and a
masters degree in 1936 from the University of Minnesota, and joined
NACA after graduation.

When he wasnt contemplating trips to the moon, Dr. Gilruth headed for
Galveston Bay near the space center. An avid boater, he built the first
successful sailing hydrofoil system and participated in many hydrofoil
projects.

He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National
Academy of Sciences. Dr. Gilruth was named an honorary fellow in the
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a fellow in the
American Astronautical Society, an honorary fellow of the Royal
Aeronautical Society, and a member of the International Academy of
Astronautics.

Dr. Gilruth has been honored with the highest awards given by the
aerospace industry and academia -- most notable are the Sylvanus Albert
Reed Award from the Institute of Aerospace Sciences, U.S. Chamber of
Commerce Great Living American Award, the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim
International Astronautics Award of the International Academy of
Astronautics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Award, the City
of New York Medal of Honor, Spirit of St. Louis Medal by the American
Society of Engineers, several NASA Distinguished Service Medals and the
Presidents Award for Distinguished Federal Service.

Dr. Gilruth also received the prestigious Goddard Memorial Trophy of the
National Rocket Club, the Louis W. Hill Space Transportation Award, the
Reed Aeronautics Award and the National Aeronautical Association and
National Aviation Clubs Robert J. Collier Trophy for " the greatest
achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America."

He was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from the University of
Minnesota, the Indiana Institute of Technology, George Washington
University, Michigan Technological University, and New Mexico State
University. Dr. Gilruth became one of the first people installed in the
National Space Hall of Fame.

The Gilruth family plans a private memorial service. Expressions of
sympathy may be made to the Evans-Gilruth Foundation, 7076 Glanamman
Way, Warrenton, VA 20187.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Past interviews with Dr. Robert Gilruth may be found
at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsinfo/gilruth.html

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