Ralph Grayson

Ralph Lawrence Grayson (1921-1991) was a scientist, engineer, pilot, attorney, soldier, father and husband. He was born into poverty, the son of an Arkansas sharecropper. He went on to be a pioneer in network computing and play a lead role in the development of the Space Shuttle.

Early years

Ralph Lawrence Grayson was born April 29, 1921 in Fort Smith, Arkansas; the eldest of eleven children born to Albert Grayson. The first eight children were mothered by Albert's first wife, Pearl Grayson (maiden name, Pearl Agnes Foster, 1895-1934). Pearl died on July 23, 1934 (circumstances unknown). The following year Albert remarried and had three more children with Ruby Grayson (Maiden name, Ruby Tanner).

Ralph's siblings:
* James Foster Grayson, born April 19, 1923
* Albert Grayson, Jr., born January 26, 1925
* Howard Eugene Grayson, born April 29, 1927
* Anna Lou Grayson, born June 22, 1929
* Horace Ray Grayson, born June 29, 1931, fraternal twin to Doris Mae
* Doris Mae Grayson, born June 29, 1931, fraternal twin to Horace Ray
* Peggy Jo Grayson, born September 17, 1932, died as an infant

Ralph's half siblings:
* Robert Lee Grayson, born December 9, 1935
* William Hugh Grayson, born July 11, 1938
* Donald David Grayson, born March 27, 1941

Albert was a sharecropper. The home he raised Ralph and his other children in had dirt floors, a Wood-burning stove for heat, no indoor plumbing, a hand pump operated water well in the yard, and an outhouse.

NASA

In 197_(date?) Ralph retired from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as Associate Commander, Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center. During this time, NASA made many overtures to recruit him into various executive level roles within the agency. He initially turned these offers down. He was then approached with a package deal through Battelle to be an executive level member of the Space Shuttle development team, employed as a subcontractor. He accepted.

His title on the Space Shuttle Project was Principle Research Scientist, Aviation Safety Reporting, System Project Office located at Moffett Field Naval Air Station in Mountain View, California.

Ralph Grayson was an international calibre expert in the field of aviation safety — human error, redundancy systems, and computerized safety systems. His technical papers written during his final years at the FAA and his time at NASA would become reference material within the field for a generation. Many of both the procedural and technological innovations he brought to the Air Traffic Control system outlived him, and remained in use into the 21st century. The remaining fleet of Space Shuttles are scheduled for retirement in 2010.

External links

* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19810022620_1981022620.pdf NASA Technical Paper #1875, by Ralph L. Grayson and Charles E. Billings, pdf file]
* [http://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1988/8834/883408.PDF The Human Factor in Commercial Aviation, Princeton University Press, pdf file]
* [http://www.rcasey.net/shelton/shefostr.htm 4-286 Interactive Family Histories]
* [http://gigantico.squarespace.com/336554365346/2007/2/6/the-electric-car.html The Electric Car, GigantiCo]