The
Space Task Group was a working group of engineers based at
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....
. Created in 1958, the group was part of
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...
and was tasked with superintending America's manned spaceflight program.
Created on November 5, 1958, the Space Task Group was headed by Robert Gilruth. Originally it consisted of only forty-five people, including eight secretaries and "computers" (the term for women who ran calculations on mechanical adding machines).
The
Space Task Group was a working group of engineers based at
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....
. Created in 1958, the group was part of
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...
and was tasked with superintending America's manned spaceflight program.
Created on November 5, 1958, the Space Task Group was headed by Robert Gilruth. Originally it consisted of only forty-five people, including eight secretaries and "computers" (the term for women who ran calculations on mechanical adding machines). Of its thirty-seven engineers, twenty-seven were from
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...
and ten had been assigned from Lewis Research Center in
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
. Original members of the group included Charles Donlan, Gilruth's deputy; Max Faget, head of engineering; Chuck Mathews, head of flight operations; Chris Kraft, also in flight operations; and
Glynn LunneyGlynn S. Lunney is a retired NASA engineer. An employee of NASA since its foundation in 1958, Lunney was a flight director during the Gemini and Apollo programs, and was on duty during historic events such as the Apollo 11 lunar ascent and the pivotal hours of the Apollo 13 crisis...
, who at twenty-one was the youngest member of the group.
In 1959, the group was greatly expanded by the addition of thirty-two engineers from Canada, who had been left without jobs when the Avro Arrow project was cancelled. These new additions, Canadians and some British, included
Jim ChamberlinJames A. Chamberlin was a Canadian aerodynamicist who contributed to the design of the Canadian Avro Arrow, NASA Gemini space capsule and Apollo Lunar Module . In addition to his pioneering air and space efforts, he is often cited as an example of Canadian brain drain to the U.S.-Profile:Jim...
, George Harris,
John HodgeJohn Dennis Hodge is a British-born aerospace engineer. He worked for the Avro Arrow project in Canada; when it was cancelled in 1959, he became a member of NASA's Space Task Group. During his NASA career, he worked as a flight director and as a manager on the cancelled Space Station Freedom project...
, Owen Maynard, Bryan Erb, Rodney Rose and Tecwyn Roberts.
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