The Unbroken Chain

Prologue

Having worked for over thirty years in the manned space program, I have had the opportunity to meet and interact with a huge variety of people. I worked with engineers and managers, astronauts and technicians, scientists and clerks. Because of my central position in the vast program infrastructure, I made contact with everyone from grade school students to business and political leaders. I traveled the globe and talked with people on five continents.

It quickly became apparent to me that what most people knew about our space programs came from television, movies, or stories in magazines and newspapers. These abbreviated accounts gave the impression that all it took to get a man to the moon was a spacecraft a big rocket, and some astronauts. I always felt that our commitment to space flight was a long-term affair and that people needed a better understanding so that they might find a way to fit in and be a part of the grand adventure that we had started.

I realized that I needed to find a way to explain the program in terms that students, teachers, business people, craftsmen, homemakers, and civic leaders could easily understand. That is when the idea of a chain came to mind.

Our space program has always been much more than a group of white coated engineers and dashing test pilots. In reality, our manned spaceflight program has long included tens of thousands of individuals, each one a link in my imaginary chain. To accomplish just one successful mission, each link in the chain has to perform within tight tolerances. The failure of one link can easily bring failure to the entire mission. The extremely successful history we have witnessed over the last forty years attests to the strength and flexibility of that chain of people.

Having accepted that our space program is analogous to a chain, it is easiest to analyze that chain in sections. A section might be an engine, a guidance system, a radar station, a spacecraft, a launch complex, a simulator facility, a computer tracking system, a scientific study group, or a development team. Different sections are under the authority of different groups such as the NASA centers, private contractors, military groups, and university think tanks. Each section must successfully interface with the sections adjacent to them. All along the way, they must be constantly inspected for flaws or safety concerns. A seemingly never-ending series of “interface tests” insure that the integrity of the chain remains intact. If a single link fails, the entire chain becomes useless until that link is repaired or replaced. The diversity of skills and knowledge needed to put a single human into space is simply mind boggling.

The first section is likely represented by NASA Headquarters in Washington, and the United States Congress. It is here that program goals are defined. As sections are added, the chain literally spreads itself across the entire planet. Each day the number of connected links grows until the rocket with its payload reaches the launch pad. This is the last place where broken links may be easily repaired. After launch, it can become exceedingly difficult - or impossible - to correct mistakes. Some repairs may be undertaken by the flight crew, or ground controllers may attempt to correct certain problems. But mission rules, developed long before the spacecraft leaves the pad, dictate the results. Fixes are applied, effects evaluated, and the mission is either continued or terminated. When a flight is terminated, it is because one or more of the links in our chain have failed.

Frequently, a newspaper or magazine article, or a TV show or movie will try to show the “most important” link in the chain. They might give the impression that a mission was successful because of the quick thinking flight controllers, or the astronaut who took over manual control of the spacecraft at the last minute. But in reality, a mission succeeds due, just as much, to the operators who successfully mated the spacecraft and booster and to the technicians who successfully fueled the vehicle with thousands of pounds of dangerous chemicals. For every person who got lit up in the public spotlight, a thousand others helped him accomplish his job.

Is one link more important than the next? Try pulling on a chain with a broken or missing link. It is doomed to fail. Ultimate success is just as likely attributed to the smallest, most seemingly insignificant link. Everyone must perform properly. In a chain, no one is insignificant.

In the following pages, I will try to show you the successes and failures we experienced while learning to put people into space. I was lucky to be a part of a fantastic adventure that was punctuated with countless victories and errors. For thirty years I was a link in the chain that started out in design drawings and ended on the moon. This is how I remember those years.

Guenter Wendt — Florida 2001