"Father of the lunar module" dies

[ToSeek]

Tom Kelly, RIP

Note that there was no deathbed recantation. [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

_________________
"... to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." - Tennyson, Ulysses

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ToSeek on 2002-03-25 10:39 ]</font>

[JayUtah]

I read this report with great sadness. Tom Kelly is one of a few engineers that achieved engineering sainthood in his lifetime.

As for deathbed recantations among Apollo functionaries, this falls under the conspiracist tautological reasoning. If they recant before they die, they're whistle-blowers. If they don't recant before they die, they were murdered to protect the conspiracy. We can't have any hypotheses that lead to something other than a hoax, now can we? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[ToSeek]

Just wait - some HBer will claim that Tom Kelly was just about to reveal all to them and was killed before he could.

[JayUtah]

I'll put $10 on Bill Kaysing attempting that first.

[Donnie B.]

I just ordered his book "Moon Lander" - hardback, $19 plus shipping at Amazon.

Pulmonary fibrosis... sounds like a tough way to go. Say... that's not one of those diseases you get when some stranger puffs a cloud of funny dust in your face, is it?

(Oh, I think I'm gonna be sorry I ever said that.)

[JayUtah]

Pulmonary fibrosis sounds like a disease you get from working in industrial environments your whole life. I'm not sure though.

[ToSeek]

On 2002-03-25 14:52, JayUtah wrote:
Pulmonary fibrosis sounds like a disease you get from working in industrial environments your whole life. I'm not sure though.

That's one of a number of known causes.

[Thumper]

Tom Hanks'/HBO's series "From the Earth to the Moon" had one entire episode about the formation, design, and first flights of the Lunar Modules. It was told from Tom Kelly's viewpoint at Grumman and was called "Spider". It was humorous at times but I tend to get a little teary eyed everytime I watch it. I thought it was a very informative look at how the concept of a LM came about and how the engineers at Grumman poured their heart and souls into its construction. I have not read Kelly's book but would like to. But with BA's book on deck and being in the middle of Gene Kranz's book, and my very slow reading speed, I'm not sure when I'll get to it. But it is indeed sad news to hear of his passing...

[ToSeek]

"Spider" may be the best episode of that series. At the very least, it's up there with the Apollo 15 one.

Kelly's book is decent and extraordinarily frank about the Grumman-NASA relationship, but I have another one called (I think) Chariots for Apollo (not the NASA publication) that I recall as being better.