page_title: Vince Weldon
section_title: Aerospace career
hierarchical_section_title: Vince Weldon / Aerospace career
caption_attribution_description: English: The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle, in a landing configuration was photographed in lunar orbit from the Command and Service Module Columbia. Inside the module were Commander Neil A. Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin. The long rod-like protrusions under the landing pods are lunar surface sensing probes. Upon contact with the lunar surface, the probes sent a signal to the crew to shut down the descent engine.
context_page_description: Vincent A. Weldon is an American aerospace engineer who has designed critical components for both the Apollo moon mission and the Space Shuttle. Weldon attracted controversy in 2006 for his criticism of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, an airliner he claims is unsafe, and for his sacking from Boeing shortly afterwards under disputed circumstances.
context_section_description: Weldon joined Boeing in 1960, beginning a 46-year career with the firm. He was first involved with the wing design of the Boeing 727 airliner, a design that incorporated high-lift devices such as triple-slotted flaps, which enabled the 727 to be one of the first jet aircraft capable of operating from relatively short runways.
  In mid-1962, Weldon was assigned to the Apollo program, where he designed the support and release system for the Lunar Module. He was also tasked to design a new thrust structure for the Apollo Service module's main engine, which would be 100% stiffer, yet not increase the weight of the Service module. Weight was critical, to allow the unit to be carried aboard the Saturn V launch vehicle.
  In the 1970s, he led the design team at Boeing's space research facility in Kent, Washington, responsible for creating complex components of the Space Shuttle. Weldon was made Contractor Preliminary Design Review (PDR) Team Leader for the Space Shuttle orbiter Aft Fuselage. He was a pioneer in the use of advanced composite materials in aerospace design, and the Orbiter was one of the first composite (Titanium/ Boron Epoxy) reusable aerospace major primary structure applications.
  While working in collaboration with the RAND workshop, it was Weldon's research that showed titanium would be better than Inconel as a honeycomb structural material for building metallic Trans-Atmospheric Vehicles (TAVs) and X-33 spacecraft. Later, Weldon became the Senior Aerospace Engineer at Boeing Phantom Works research center.
caption: The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle in lunar orbit.
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