Glynn lunney biography of christopher
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In this role, he was responsible for a global team of flight controllers, researchers, engineers and support personnel to ensure the safety and success of NASA astronauts and missions.
"Although he retired from the agency many years ago, he is forever a member of the NASA family. Donated by Lunney’s family, the collection offers a rare, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most important figures in the history of American space exploration.
A Giant of Human Spaceflight
Born in a Pennsylvania coal mining town, Lunney’s journey to becoming a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and one of NASA’s top flight directors is told through original correspondence, personnel records, photographs, handwritten flight notes, and more.
Items from the production of the 1995 film Apollo 13 include letters from actor Marc McClure, who portrayed Lunney, director Ron Howard, and lead actor Tom Hanks.
“The Glynn S. Lunney Papers provide the public with a 360-degree view of a man considered to be a symbol of America’s progress during the early days of the US space program.
His unique leadership and remarkably quick intellect were critical to the success of some of the most iconic accomplishments in human space flight," said Mark Geyer, the director of the NASA's Johnson Space Center, in a statement. After moving to Houston, the task group eventually became the Manned Spacecraft Center, now NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
Photo gallery: Glynn Lunney
“Glynn was the right person for the right time in history.
His team’s work was widely credited with keeping the crew alive and safe while longer-term plans were developed for a successful reentry and splashdown.
Lunney received the Presidential Medal of Freedom as part of the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team.
In Lunney’s own words from his NASA oral history:
“I felt that the Black Team shift immediately after the explosion and for the next 14 hours was the best piece of operations work I ever did or could hope to do.
His unique leadership and remarkably quick intellect were critical to the success of some of the most iconic accomplishments in human space flight,” said Johnson Director Mark Geyer. Lunney and his flight control team took immediate command, helping orchestrate the critical course corrections that would bring the astronauts safely back to Earth.
"Glynn was the right person for the right time in history. I think people view these things as challenges as much as anything, and challenges to be overcome by their own performance," Lunney said.
He was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom as part of the Apollo 13 mission operations team. “Known for his role in the space program as a flight director, we hope to use the materials in the collection to show his full life to the public, and how he faced the many pressures and challenges that affected him and his family throughout the space race of the 1960s and 1970s.”
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As the evening shift was about to begin, an oxygen tank exploded on the spacecraft en route to the Moon.The unveiling of this collection coincides with the 50th anniversary of the mission, which launched on July 15, 1975.
Personal Legacy
The Lunney Papers also reveal his influence outside the control room. And when something comes along that requires them to do something out of the ordinary, they usually embrace it, and go at it with all the energy they can put into it.
In 1981, he became the manager of the Space Shuttle Program Office just before the launch of the first Shuttle mission.
Now, researchers and the public can explore the Glynn S. Lunney Papers (HSF-90), housed in UHCL’s Human Space Flight Collection at Neumann Library’s UHCL Archives and Special Collections. He led the mission control team credited with key actions that made it possible to save three Apollo 13 astronauts aboard a spacecraft disabled on the way to the Moon.
Throughout his career, he was a key leader of NASA human spaceflight operations, beginning as a member of the original Space Task Group at NASA’s Langley Research Center established shortly after NASA was formed to manage America’s efforts to put humans into space.
NASA Remembers Legendary Flight Director Glynn Lunney
RELEASE: J21-001
NASA Remembers Legendary Flight Director Glynn Lunney
Legendary NASA Flight Director Glynn Lunney, 84, died Friday, March 19.
Lunney was a flight director for the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission, and was lead flight director for Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo flight, and Apollo 10, the dress rehearsal for the first Moon landing, in NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston.
Lunney, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1936, retired from NASA in 1985 as manager of the space shuttle program. He rose from a family of Pennsylvania coal miners to earn the Presidential Medal of Freedom as a NASA flight director,” said Matthew Peek, associate director of the UHCL Archives and Special Collections.