Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-02
Boss Of Moon Program
Is Dedicated Fighter
BY RALPH DIGHTON
Associated Press Staff Writer

When outspoken D. Brainerd
Holmes quit as chief of the
United States moon program,
a lot of people predicted his
successor would have to be
quiet plugger who would never
argue with space boss James E.
Webb.
DR.. George E. Mueller, who
took over DR.. Holmes job yes
terday, is quiet, but there his
resemblance to the forecast
image ends.
He's a brilliant scientist
not just a plugger-and when
convinced he's right, friends
say, he'll do more than argue
he'll fight until he drops.
Tenacity Demonstrated
Deeply emotional, much more
so than his almost ascetic face
and figure hint, DR.. Mueller
once sat at a launch control
panel at Cape Canaveral, Fla,
for more than 20 hours without
rest.
He was 40 then, but he wore
younger men to exhaustion fid-
ding with dials trying futilely
to make the Inflated Pioneer
is third-stage injection rock
cts fire and send it into orbit
around the moon.
No one could have succeeded.
The bird just wasn't responding
to radio commands. But DR..
Mueller stayed with the task
until all hope was lost.
That was five years ago.
Today, he still has a keep
sake dating back to that period
of his life.
Saves a Fragment
It's a plastic embedded frag-
ment of an unnamed 1858
rocket which DR.. Mueller calls
Pioneer o. Noon aimed, too,
this rocket blew up during
launch.
Glued to the bottom of the
fragments poliShed-wood base
Is this legend:
This fragment is one-eighth |
Of the only piece of the first
Able-1 payload recovered from
the ocean at Cape Canaveral.
I had it mounted, not to serve
as a paperweight, but rather
to serve as a reminder in the
development Of our future
systems of the very narrow
path that leads to success, and
from which even the tiniest OF
deviations will fragment the
dreams and bring to naught
the tremendous labors of men,"
He brought the fragment
with him when he came here
from the Space Technology
Laboratories in Los Angeles to
take over as deputy associate
administrator for manned space
flight in the National Aero
nautics and Space Administra-
ton.
Heads Gemini, Apollo
That long title means he'll
run the two-man Gemini and
three-maD Apollo capsule de-
velopment programs and, If he
lasts, he'll be largely respon-
sible when an Apollo lands the
first Americans on the moon
sometime before 1870.
DR.. Mueller is confident the
job can be done, and that he
can do it.
A technical associate who
knows some of the financial
and administrative problems
DR.. Mueller faces said:
Hes sticking his head In a
lions mouth. But he's a big
boy. He knows what he's
doing"
DR.. Mueller says his first
concern will be the $20-to-$40-
billion moon program, but he
is also looking far beyond.
tits an open-end program"
he says, land our ultimate
objective can only be pre-
eminence in space"
Deeply involved in the man
agement of the Atlas, Titan,
Minuteman and Thor missile |
programs and NASA's Pioneer
and Explorer satellites, DR.. !
Mueller has proved he is not
only a top technical man but
also expert at managing peo-
pie.
An electronics specialist, DR..
Mueller is recognized as an au-
thority in the field of COM
munications. He is writing a
Dodd Sees Eusino