Robert R. Gilruth

Infobox Person
name=Robert Rowe Gilruth


image_size= 200px
caption= Gilruth at NASA Manned Space Center
birth_date= birth date|1913|10|18|mf=y
birth_place= Nashwauk, Minnesota
death_date= death date and age|2000|8|17|1913|10|18|mf=y
death_place= Charlottesville, Virginia
occupation= Director of NASA Manned Space Center, now Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

Robert Rowe Gilruth (October 18 1913 - August 17 2000) was an American aviation and space pioneer. [cite web | url = http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/gilruth/gilruth_obit.html | title = FORMER MANNED SPACECRAFT CENTER DIRECTOR DIES | publisher = NASA]

In the beginning of his career he was involved with early research into supersonic flight and rocket-powered aircraft and then with the manned space program, including the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo projects. He worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics from 1937 to 1958 and its successor agency, NASA, until retirement in 1973.

Early education and career

Gilruth was born in Nashwauk, Minnesota. He attended and completed high school in Duluth, Minnesota. Gilruth received a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering at the University of Minnesota, and received his master's degree in 1936.

In the NACA Report R755, "Requirements for Satisfactory Flying Qualities of an Airplane", published in 1941 he defined a set of requirements for the handling characteristics of an aircraft. Up until this point, no set of guidelines for pilots and aircraft designers existed.

Creation of NASA

When NASA was created, Gilruth became head of the Space Task Group, tasked with putting a man in space before the Soviet Union. When that didn't happen, Gilruth suggested to President John F. Kennedy that the United States should announce a bigger goal, such as going to the Moon. Soon the Apollo program 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). Gilruth served as director of the MSC until 1972 and oversaw a total of 25 manned spaceflights, from Mercury-Redstone 3 to Apollo 15.

Portrayals in dramas

In the 1996 TV movie "Apollo 11" Gilruth was played by William Mesnik. In the 1998 miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" he was played by John Carroll Lynch.

References

External links

* National Air & Space Museum Oral History project [http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/dsh/gwspi-p1.html#GILRUTH interviews] with Robert Gilruth.
* [http://stills.nap.edu/html/biomems/rgilruth.html National Academies Press Biographical memories] , written by NASA flight director Chris Kraft
* Human Space Flight (HSF) - [http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/gilruth/ Robert Gilruth Tribute]
* NASA HSF [http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/gilruth/gilruth_obit.html Obituary]
* cite web
author= Wilford, John Noble
title= Robert Gilruth, 86, Dies; Was Crucial Player at NASA
publisher= "The New York Times"
date= August 18 2000
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9902E3DF153EF93BA2575BC0A9669C8B63
accessdate= 2008-04-06
* cite web
author= Bond, Peter
title= Obituary: Robert Gilruth
publisher= "The Independent" via FindArticles
date= September 4 2000
url= http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000904/ai_n14334496
accessdate= 2007-03-06

Persondata
NAME=Gilruth, Robert Rowe
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Aviation and space pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH=October 18 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH=Nashwauk, Minnesota, United States of America
DATE OF DEATH=August 17 2000
PLACE OF DEATH=Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America