by Vernon T.
I spent my career working on space projects, including the Skylab, International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and almost every single Space Shuttle mission.
I first hired with Philco-Ford back in February
1967 with Project Blue Fortune, and was assigned to Korea. In 1968, I was
assigned to NASA at Langley, Virginia, working simulation of the lunar landing
chamber and the rocket test chamber. I was offered a transfer to Western
Development Laboratories (WDL), and was then assigned to NBAS in New Boston, New
Hampshire. There, I worked on numerous classified space programs, including the
very first manned lunar landing in 1969.
At that time, Philco-Ford became
Aeronutronic Ford and Ford Aerospace, which was later purchased by Loral Space
Corporation. About two years later, Lockheed Martin bought the San Jose WDL
division. I eventually retired with
nearly 37 years of combined service. I'm proud of the contributions I made and
after six years of retirement, I still keep in contact with co-workers and
watch the development of space programs.
