Robert Frimtzis
Encyclopedia
Robert Frimtzis - Born 1930, Robert Frimtzis, the author of From Tajikistan to the Moon – a memoir, lived in Bălţi
formerly Bessarabia, now Moldova
.
In June 1941, at the age of eleven his peaceful town was destroyed by the Nazi Luftwaffe
and he survived the ravages of World War II
by running for 3000 miles across Ukraine
, Russia
and Uzbekistan
to Tajikistan
. Hunger forced him to quit school and get his first full-time job at the age of twelve, while his father, mobilized into the Red Army
fought in the fierce battles to defend Stalingrad
where he was wounded.
To escape from Soviet anti-Semitism
and get to America, Robert crossed many borders illegally. From the Soviet Union
he crossed into Romania where he unsuccessfully tried to reach Palestine
. From Romania
into Hungary
, then Austria
, and to reach Italy
he crossed the Alps
twice by foot. In the DP camps in Cremona
, Italy, he discovered ORT schools, where he and two others, out of 400 applicants throughout Italy, were accepted into the Central ORT Institute in Anieres near Geneva, Switzerland.
In 1950, after some three years in DP camps, at the age of nineteen, Frimtzis reached America were he earned a bachelor’s degree from CCNY in 1956, and a master’s from Columbia University
in 1960, both in electrical engineering, without finishing high school. Subsequently, in various engineering management positions, Robert contributed to the successes of America's space and defense programs.
In 1960, Robert Frimtzis was introduced to the newly evolving and fascinating dinosaur industry. At General Dynamics, Astronautics (GDA) in San Diego, California, he headed a study titled Lunar Vehicle Gudiance Study, under contract to the Navigation and Guidance Laboratory of Aeronautical Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command. This study was led in conjunction with two other studies. Rendezvous Study performed by MIT Instrumentation Laboratories, and Earth Terminal Guidance and Lunar Landing, by ITT Laboratories. These were early pioneering lunar studies in the area of guidance and trajectory. At the end of the study, Technical Documentary Report ASD-TDR-62-207 dated March 1962, was issued.
In 1962, at North American Aviation (Rockwell) in Downey, California, Robert Frimtzis was engaged in guidance and control studies for advanced systems. Later, as project manager of the Apollo Mission Simulator (AMS), a device being designed for the purpose of training astronauts to fly to the moon, Robert worked closely with Neil Armstrong
, the only astronaut assigned to follow the AMS. He later managed the development of the timelines defining all the activities the three astronauts had to perform in the correct chronological sequence for each lunar Apollo mission.
In 1966 at Hughes Aircraft Company (HAC) in El Segundo, California, Frimtzis was the assistant manager of the Trajectory Analysis Department on the Surveyor program. The department developed the trajectories for all Surveyor spacecraft flights. Additionally, he managed the Liftoff and Translation experiment. It proved that spacecraft engines can be reignited on the lunar surface, a task which was not a Surveyor technical requirement. The Surveyor was the first unmanned spacecraft to soft land on the moon. In addition to collecting and analyzing lunar samples, and photographing the surface of the moon, it proved the principle of soft landing a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and selected the landing corridor for the future Apollo manned flights.
Later, as the engineering department manager, and assistant laboratory manager of systems engineering for a critical defense satellite program, Frimtzis had responsibility for the design and analysis of all major analytically complex spacecraft functions, such as orbit, and attitude determination, and spacecraft pointing. In addition to being responsible for trajectory analysis and launch vehicle integration, he also managed various studies of advanced defense satellite systems.
In 1978, at TRW, Redondo Beach, California, Frimtzis, as an assistant to the director of systems engineering conducted various advanced system studies. Subsequently, he was the project manager of the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO), where he was responsible for winning the competitive study and negotiating one hundred million dollar contract to build the huge spacecraft requiring the entire shuttle to launch it into earth orbit. He was later the project manager of a space laser crosslink system.
In 1984, Robert Frimtzis with his wife, a mechanical engineer, founded in Torrance, California, RFA Associates Inc., a software engineering company, contracting with major aerospace companies like TRW, Hughes, Rockwell, and Northrop. RFA also developed a logistics analysis program called LISA for use by government contractors.
Robert Frimtzis is currently retired and lives in California
.
Balti
Balti can refer to:* Balti language, a language spoken in Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir* Balti people, Muslims of Ladakhi/Tibetan origin from Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir...
formerly Bessarabia, now Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
.
In June 1941, at the age of eleven his peaceful town was destroyed by the Nazi Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
and he survived the ravages of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by running for 3000 miles across Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
to Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
. Hunger forced him to quit school and get his first full-time job at the age of twelve, while his father, mobilized into the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
fought in the fierce battles to defend Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
where he was wounded.
To escape from Soviet anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and get to America, Robert crossed many borders illegally. From the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
he crossed into Romania where he unsuccessfully tried to reach Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. From Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
into Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, then Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and to reach Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
he crossed the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
twice by foot. In the DP camps in Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
, Italy, he discovered ORT schools, where he and two others, out of 400 applicants throughout Italy, were accepted into the Central ORT Institute in Anieres near Geneva, Switzerland.
In 1950, after some three years in DP camps, at the age of nineteen, Frimtzis reached America were he earned a bachelor’s degree from CCNY in 1956, and a master’s from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1960, both in electrical engineering, without finishing high school. Subsequently, in various engineering management positions, Robert contributed to the successes of America's space and defense programs.
Career
After his bachelor's degree, Frimtzis gained valuable experience in designing flight simulators for the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC7 airplanes at Curtiss-Wright, Electronics Division. Then at Emerson Radio and Phonograph Co., he performed systems engineering for the Radar Operator Simulator of the Hughes MG-13 Fire Control with the purpose of training radar operators on the F101B fighter plane.In 1960, Robert Frimtzis was introduced to the newly evolving and fascinating dinosaur industry. At General Dynamics, Astronautics (GDA) in San Diego, California, he headed a study titled Lunar Vehicle Gudiance Study, under contract to the Navigation and Guidance Laboratory of Aeronautical Systems Division, Air Force Systems Command. This study was led in conjunction with two other studies. Rendezvous Study performed by MIT Instrumentation Laboratories, and Earth Terminal Guidance and Lunar Landing, by ITT Laboratories. These were early pioneering lunar studies in the area of guidance and trajectory. At the end of the study, Technical Documentary Report ASD-TDR-62-207 dated March 1962, was issued.
In 1962, at North American Aviation (Rockwell) in Downey, California, Robert Frimtzis was engaged in guidance and control studies for advanced systems. Later, as project manager of the Apollo Mission Simulator (AMS), a device being designed for the purpose of training astronauts to fly to the moon, Robert worked closely with Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong
Neil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
, the only astronaut assigned to follow the AMS. He later managed the development of the timelines defining all the activities the three astronauts had to perform in the correct chronological sequence for each lunar Apollo mission.
In 1966 at Hughes Aircraft Company (HAC) in El Segundo, California, Frimtzis was the assistant manager of the Trajectory Analysis Department on the Surveyor program. The department developed the trajectories for all Surveyor spacecraft flights. Additionally, he managed the Liftoff and Translation experiment. It proved that spacecraft engines can be reignited on the lunar surface, a task which was not a Surveyor technical requirement. The Surveyor was the first unmanned spacecraft to soft land on the moon. In addition to collecting and analyzing lunar samples, and photographing the surface of the moon, it proved the principle of soft landing a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and selected the landing corridor for the future Apollo manned flights.
Later, as the engineering department manager, and assistant laboratory manager of systems engineering for a critical defense satellite program, Frimtzis had responsibility for the design and analysis of all major analytically complex spacecraft functions, such as orbit, and attitude determination, and spacecraft pointing. In addition to being responsible for trajectory analysis and launch vehicle integration, he also managed various studies of advanced defense satellite systems.
In 1978, at TRW, Redondo Beach, California, Frimtzis, as an assistant to the director of systems engineering conducted various advanced system studies. Subsequently, he was the project manager of the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO), where he was responsible for winning the competitive study and negotiating one hundred million dollar contract to build the huge spacecraft requiring the entire shuttle to launch it into earth orbit. He was later the project manager of a space laser crosslink system.
In 1984, Robert Frimtzis with his wife, a mechanical engineer, founded in Torrance, California, RFA Associates Inc., a software engineering company, contracting with major aerospace companies like TRW, Hughes, Rockwell, and Northrop. RFA also developed a logistics analysis program called LISA for use by government contractors.
Robert Frimtzis is currently retired and lives in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.