Maxime "Max" A. Faget (pronounced
FAH-jey) (August 26, 1921 – October 9, 2004) was an American engineer. He was the designer of the
MercuryProject Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a human in orbit around the Earth...
capsuleA space capsule is an often manned spacecraft which has a simple shape for the main section, without any wings or other features to create lift during atmospheric reentry....
, as well as contributing to the later
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
Gemini and
ApolloNASA's Apollo Program landed the first humans on Earth's moon. US President John F. Kennedy announced his support for a manned moon landing on May 25, 1961, as part of a special address to a joint session of Congress:...
spacecraft and also the
Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System , is a spacecraft operated by NASA for orbital human spaceflight missions. It began operations in the 1980s and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches...
.
Born in
Stann CreekStann Creek is a watercourse in southeastern Belize. The administrative division, Stann Creek District, is named after the river. South Stann Creek rises in the foothills of the eastern slopes of the Maya Mountains within the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary; the South Stann Creek drains the...
,
British HondurasBritish Honduras was the former name of what is now the independent nation of Belize, when it was still a British colony.First colonised by Spaniards in the seventeenth century, the territory on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, became a British crown colony from 1862 until 1964,...
, Faget attended
community collegeA community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-United States:In the United States, community colleges, sometimes called junior colleges, technical colleges, or city colleges, are primarily two-year public institutions providing...
in
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
, and he received a
Bachelor of ScienceA Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
degree in
Mechanical EngineeringMechanical Engineering is an engineering discipline that was developed from the application of principles from physics and materials science. Mechanical engineering involves the analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of various systems...
from
Louisiana State UniversityLouisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 near Pineville, Louisiana, under the name Louisiana State...
in 1943. After three years as a submariner in the
U.S. NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
, he joined the
Langley Research CenterLangley Research Center is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base. LaRC focuses primarily on aeronautical research, though the Lunar Lander was flight-tested at this facility and a number...
in
Hampton, VirginiaHampton is an independent city in Virginia, and therefore not part of any Virginia county. One of the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads, it is on the southeast end of the Virginia Peninsula, bordering on Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay....
as a research scientist.
Maxime "Max" A. Faget (pronounced
FAH-jey) (August 26, 1921 – October 9, 2004) was an American engineer. He was the designer of the
MercuryProject Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States. It ran from 1959 through 1963 with the goal of putting a human in orbit around the Earth...
capsuleA space capsule is an often manned spacecraft which has a simple shape for the main section, without any wings or other features to create lift during atmospheric reentry....
, as well as contributing to the later
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program. NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and Space Act on July 29, 1958, replacing its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for...
Gemini and
ApolloNASA's Apollo Program landed the first humans on Earth's moon. US President John F. Kennedy announced his support for a manned moon landing on May 25, 1961, as part of a special address to a joint session of Congress:...
spacecraft and also the
Space ShuttleThe Space Shuttle, part of the Space Transportation System , is a spacecraft operated by NASA for orbital human spaceflight missions. It began operations in the 1980s and is scheduled to be retired from service in 2010 after 134 launches...
.
Born in
Stann CreekStann Creek is a watercourse in southeastern Belize. The administrative division, Stann Creek District, is named after the river. South Stann Creek rises in the foothills of the eastern slopes of the Maya Mountains within the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary; the South Stann Creek drains the...
,
British HondurasBritish Honduras was the former name of what is now the independent nation of Belize, when it was still a British colony.First colonised by Spaniards in the seventeenth century, the territory on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, became a British crown colony from 1862 until 1964,...
, Faget attended
community collegeA community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-United States:In the United States, community colleges, sometimes called junior colleges, technical colleges, or city colleges, are primarily two-year public institutions providing...
in
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. It is the eighth most densely populated city in the U.S. and is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the larger San...
, and he received a
Bachelor of ScienceA Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
degree in
Mechanical EngineeringMechanical Engineering is an engineering discipline that was developed from the application of principles from physics and materials science. Mechanical engineering involves the analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of various systems...
from
Louisiana State UniversityLouisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 near Pineville, Louisiana, under the name Louisiana State...
in 1943. After three years as a submariner in the
U.S. NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
, he joined the
Langley Research CenterLangley Research Center is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base. LaRC focuses primarily on aeronautical research, though the Lunar Lander was flight-tested at this facility and a number...
in
Hampton, VirginiaHampton is an independent city in Virginia, and therefore not part of any Virginia county. One of the Seven Cities of Hampton Roads, it is on the southeast end of the Virginia Peninsula, bordering on Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay....
as a research scientist. While working for
NACANACA may refer to:*NACA , a human gene*National Association of Consumer Advocates, an organization of consumer lawyers*National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the forerunner of the U.S...
at Langley, Faget worked on the design of the famous X-15 hypersonic spacecraft.
In 1958, Faget became one of the 35 engineers who formed the
Space Task GroupThe Space Task Group was a working group of engineers based at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Created in 1958, the group was part of NASA and was tasked with superintending America's manned spaceflight program....
, creating the Mercury spacecraft. Faget based his designs on the aerodynamic work of
Harvey AllenHarvey Allen may refer to:*Harvey A. Allen, Alaskan politician in 1870s* Harry Julian Allen, also known as Harvey Allen, NASA engineer and administrator...
from the mid-1950s, and was instrumental in selecting the blunt-body shape that won the Mercury competition over numerous contenders. Faget also led the development of the escape tower system used on Mercury, which was used in various forms on almost all following manned spacecraft. Faget also worked on the
GeminiProject Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini operated between Projects Mercury and Apollo, with 10 manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966...
and
ApolloNASA's Apollo Program landed the first humans on Earth's moon. US President John F. Kennedy announced his support for a manned moon landing on May 25, 1961, as part of a special address to a joint session of Congress:...
vehicles, which shared many design points with the Mercury.
Faget also filed a patent for a space shuttle vehicle design in 1972. His design, which he named "
DC-3The DC-3 was a proposed space shuttle designed by Maxime Faget at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. Unlike the eventual Space Shuttle design that emerged, the DC-3 was a fully reusable two-stage-to-orbit design with a smaller payload capacity of about 12,000 lbs and limited...
" in homage to the famed
Douglas DC-3The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing, propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Because of its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II it is generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
airliner, was a small two-stage fully-reusable shuttle with a payload capacity around 15,000 lbs. DC-3 was officially studied by
North American AviationNorth American Aviation was a major US aircraft manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, and the X-15 rocket plane, as well as Apollo Command and Service Module, the...
and shown in the press as a baseline contender for the
Space Transportation SystemNASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current manned launch vehicle. The winged Space Shuttle orbiter is launched vertically, usually carrying five to seven astronauts and up to 50,000 lb of payload into low earth orbit...
(STS). North American also studied a version of the same basic system with a 50,000 lbs payload, which was much larger. However, the DC-3's nose-high re-entry profile was controversial, and eventually doomed it when the US Air Force joined the Shuttle program and demanded cross-range performance that the DC-3 simply couldn't meet. In the end, its most lasting contribution was to clearly identify the trade-offs inherent in any reusable design.
He continued to work for NASA until his retirement in 1981, shortly after the second Space Shuttle flight (
STS-2STS-2 was a space shuttle mission by NASA using the Space Shuttle Columbia, that launched on November 12, 1981 . This was the second space shuttle mission, and was also the second mission for Columbia...
). After his retirement, Faget was among the founders of Space Industries Inc., established in 1982. One of the projects of the company was the
Wake Shield Facility]Wake Shield Facility is an experimental science platform that was placed in low-earth orbit by the Space Shuttle. It is a 3.7 meter diameter, free-flying stainless steel disk....
, a device to create near-perfect
vacuumIn everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty," but in reality, no volume of space can ever be perfectly empty...
in space. The WSF flew three times with a Space Shuttle in 1994–96 (
STS-60STS-60 was the first mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried the first Russian cosmonaut, Sergei K. Krikalev, to fly aboard a Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Discovery, which lifted off from launch pad 39A on February 3, 1994 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida...
,
STS-69STS-69 was a Space Shuttle Endeavour mission, and the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility . The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on September 7, 1995.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 11,499 kg payload...
,
STS-80STS-80 was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle Columbia. The launch was originally scheduled for October 31, 1996, but was bumped back to November 19 for several reasons. Likewise, the landing, which was originally scheduled for December 5, was pushed back to December 7 after bad...
).
Faget is a member of the National Space Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and is a recipient of the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership.
Faget died of
bladder cancerBladder cancer refers to any of several types of malignant growths of the urinary bladder. It is a disease in which abnormal cells multiply without control in the bladder. The bladder is a hollow, muscular organ that stores urine; it is located in the pelvis...
on October 9, 2004, aged 83.
Patents
Max Faget was a co-inventor on five United States patents issued to Space Industries, Inc. between 1988 and 1992. The patents, which are listed below, can be found at the USPTO's public web site.
PAT. NO. Title
- 5,104,070 Structural latch for vehicle coupling mechanisms
- 4,903,919 Apparatus and method for docking spacecraft
- 4,834,325 Modular spacecraft system
- 4,747,567 Spacecraft with articulated solar array
- 4,728,061 Spacecraft operable in two alternative flight modes
External links