Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

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First Steps into Space: Projects Mercury and Gemini
Source: Folder 18674, NASA Historical Reference Collection, NASA History
Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington DC.
The creation of the Space Task Group based at Langley Research Center proved a critical
decision for the management of Project Mercury. NASA handpicked the members of this
group from among the best in the agency and placed Robert Gilruth in charge. Gilruth,
perhaps more than any other NASA official, served as the godfather of human spaceflight
in the U.S. Under his direction NASA successfully completed Projects Mercury, Gemini, and
Apollo. His organization recruited, trained, and oversaw the astronauts and the human
spaceflight program throughout the heroic age of spaceflight. Yet, his name is lesser known
than many others associated with these projects. He was a contemporary on par with Wernher
von Braun, and he certainly contributed as much to human spaceflight as any of his colleagues,
yet his name is rarely mentioned as a key person. He is a representative of the engineering
entrepreneur, a developer and manager of complex technological and organizational
systems, accomplishing remarkably difficult tasks through excellent oversight of the technical,
fiscal, cultural, and social reins of the effort.
This memorandum identifies the individuals selected by Gilruth as the original members of
the Space Task Group. Many of the Group’s original members went on to be central to the
development of the U.S. human spaceflight program.
MEMORANDUM For Associate Director
Subject: Space Task Group
NASA - Langley
November 3, 1958
1. The Administrator of NASA has directed me to organize a space task group
to implement a manned satellite project. This task group will be located at
the Langley Research Center but, in accordance with the instructions of
the Administrator, will report directly to NASA Headquarters. In order that
this project proceed with the utmost speed, it is proposed to form this space
task group around a nucleus of key Langley personnel, many of whom have
already worked on this project.
2. It is request, therefore, that initially the following 36 Langley personnel be
transferred to the Space Task Group:
Anderson, Melvin S. (Structures)
Bland, William M., Jr. (PARD)
Bond, Aleck C. (PARD)
Boyer, William J. (IRD)
Chilton, Robert G (FRD)
Donlan, Charles J. (OAD)
Faget, Maxime A. (PARD)
Field, Edison M. (PARD)
Gilruth, Robert R. (OAD)
Hammack, Jerome B. (FRD)