Robert Rowe Gilruth
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Robert Rowe Gilruth (October 8, 1913 – August 17, 2000) was an American aerospace engineer and an aviation/space pioneer who was the first director of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's
Manned Spacecraft Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in ...
, later renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. He worked for the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...
(NACA) from 1937 to 1958 and its successor NASA, until his retirement in 1973. He was involved with early research into supersonic flight and rocket-powered aircraft, and then with the United States human spaceflight program, including the Mercury, Gemini, and
Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
programs.


Biography


Early life

Gilruth was born October 8, 1913, in Nashwauk, Minnesota, and moved to
Duluth Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...
when he was nine years old. He graduated in 1931 from Duluth Central High School. As a teenager, Gilruth was fascinated by aeronautics and spent time building model airplanes. He was inspired to pursue a career in the field after reading about NASA's Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia. Gilruth received a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the
University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...
in 1935, and received his
Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...
degree in 1936. While there he was a member of the Professional Engineering Fraternity
Theta Tau Theta Tau () is a professional collegiate engineering fraternity. The fraternity has programs to promote the social, academic, and professional development of its members. Theta Tau is the oldest and largest professional engineering fraternity ...
, of which he was later inducted as a Hall of Fame Alumnus.


Flight test career

In January 1937 Gilruth was hired at NACA's Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, where he performed flight research. His research led to the NACA Report R755, ''Requirements for Satisfactory Flying Qualities of an Airplane'', published in 1941, in which he defined a set of requirements for the handling characteristics of an aircraft. Until this point, no set of guidelines for pilots and aircraft designers existed. Gilruth also pioneered the recording of data from instruments during flight test, to be later correlated with the pilot's experience. This would go on to become the standard operating procedure.


NASA career

Gilruth had been working on
hypersonic In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds five times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above. The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since i ...
missile rockets as the assistant director of the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division of
NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...
. He and his team pushed their superiors to pursue a program to launch satellites into space, but he was rebuffed by administrators. The dynamic quickly changed after the Soviets succeeded in launching Sputnik, and Gilruth became involved in the transition of NACA into
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
. When NASA was created, Gilruth became head of the Space Task Group, tasked with putting a man in space before the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. In 1961, when President John F. Kennedy announced that America would put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade (the 1960s) and bring him back safely to Earth, Gilruth was "aghast" and unsure that such a goal could be accomplished. He was integral to the creation of the Gemini program, which he advocated as a means for NASA to learn more about operating in space before attempting a lunar landing. In 1962, he was awarded the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service by President John F. Kennedy. Soon the
Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
was born, and Gilruth was made head of the NASA center which ran it, the new Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) (now the
Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...
). Gilruth was inducted into the National Space Hall of Fame in 1969 and served as director of the MSC until his retirement in 1972. He was inducted as a member of the inaugural class to the International Space Hall of Fame in 1976. He oversaw a total of 25 crewed space flights, from
Mercury-Redstone 3 Mercury-Redstone 3, or ''Freedom 7'', was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astr ...
to
Apollo 15 Apollo 15 (July 26August 7, 1971) was the ninth crewed mission in the Apollo program and the fourth Moon landing. It was the first List of Apollo missions#Alphabetical mission types, J mission, with a longer stay on the Moon and a greate ...
. In 1971, Gilruth, along with the Apollo 15 crew, was awarded the Collier Trophy. In 1992, Gilruth was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the
San Diego Air & Space Museum The San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) is an aviation and space exploration museum in San Diego, California. It is located in Balboa Park (San Diego), Balboa Park and is housed in the former Ford Building (San Diego), Ford Building, which is li ...
, in 1994, he was inducted into the
National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with ...
and in 2015, the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame as a posthumous induction.


Death

In 2000, Gilruth died in Charlottesville, Virginia, at the age of 86.


Portrayals in dramas

*''Apollo 11:'' by William Mesnik. *''
From the Earth to the Moon ''From the Earth to the Moon: A Direct Route in 97 Hours, 20 Minutes'' () is an 1865 novel by Jules Verne. It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an en ...
:'' by John Carroll Lynch. *''
Hidden Figures ''Hidden Figures'' is a 2016 American Biographical film, biographical Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Melfi and Allison Schroeder. It is loosely based on the 2016 non-fiction Hidden Figures (boo ...
:''
Kevin Costner Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Costner, various accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primeti ...
's Al Harrison was mainly based on Gilruth. *'' First Man:'' by Ciarán Hinds. *'' The Right Stuff:'' by Patrick Fischler


References


External links


Requirements for satisfactory flying qualities of airplanes
1943 NACA report by Robert Gilruth
Dr. Robert Gilruth
1986 interview transcript from the
National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

Dr. Robert R. Gilruth
2000 tribute at NASA's Human Space Flight website
''Robert R. Gilruth 1913–2000''
2003 memoir at the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
, written by NASA flight director Christopher Kraft
''From Minnesota to the moon''
2013 ''
Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...
'' article by Cirrus Aircraft co-founder Dale Klapmeier honoring Gilruth's legacy {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilruth, Robert R. 1913 births 2000 deaths NASA people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences American aerospace engineers Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Collier Trophy recipients University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni People from Itasca County, Minnesota ASME Medal recipients 20th-century American engineers Recipients of the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees People from Duluth, Minnesota