User:MLilburne/Shea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

THIS PAGE IS PART OF MY SANDBOX AND THE ARTICLE IS IN WORK

Joseph Francis Shea
Shea demonstrates a docking between the Apollo lunar module and command module
Born	September 5, 1926 Bronx, New York
Died	February 14, 1999 Weston, Massachusetts
Occupation	NASA manager

Joseph Francis Shea (September 5, 1926- February 14, 1999) was manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office (ASPO) during the early years of the Apollo program, at the height of America's efforts to land a man on the Moon. His former colleague George Mueller remembered him as "one of the greatest systems engineers of our time".^[1]

Contents 1 Early life 2 NASA career 2.1 Apollo 1 fire 2.1.1 Background 2.1.2 Role in investigation 2.1.3 Breakdown 2.1.4 Reassignment 3 Raytheon 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] Early life

Shea was born and grew up in the Bronx, New York. He attended the University of Michigan, from which he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics (1946), a Master of Science in Engineering Mechanics (1950) and a PhD in Engineering Mechanics (1955).

[edit] NASA career

Shea was manager for the lunar landing module and the capsule. He was instrumental in the decision to use a lunar orbit rendezvous.

[edit] Apollo 1 fire

[edit] Background

[edit] Role in investigation

[edit] Breakdown

Joe Shea got up and started calmly with a report on the state of the investigation. But within a minute, he was rambling, and in another thirty seconds, he was incoherent. I looked at him and saw my father, in the grip of dementia praecox. It was horrifying and fascinating at the same time.[2]

[edit] Reassignment

Later in 1967, Shea was replaced by George Low as chief of the ASPO. He was reassigned to work as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C., where he was to work for George Mueller. Shea was widely considered to have been made a scapegoat for his role in the fire. He later said that "I don't understand why, after everything I had done for the program, why I was only one that was removed. That's the end of the program for me." In an anonymous interview with Time Magazine, one of Shea's friends commented that:

If Joe stays in Washington, it'll be a promotion. If he leaves in three or four months, you'll know this move amounted to being fired.[3]

Shea himself considered the new position to be a "non-job." He left NASA later that year, only six months after the fire (and x months after taking the new position), in order to become a Vice President at the Polaroid Corporation in Waltham, Massachusetts.

[edit] Raytheon

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Mueller, "Joseph F. Shea," in Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering, Volume 10, p. 211.
2. ^ Kraft, Flight, p. 275.
3. ^ "How Soon the Moon?", Time Magazine, April 14, 1967.

[edit] References

• Gray, Mike (1992). Angle of Attack: Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-140-23280-X.

• How Soon the Moon?. Time Magazine (April 14, 1967). Retrieved on 2006-11-27.

• Kraft, Chris (2001). Flight: My Life in Mission Control. New York: Dutton. ISBN 0-525-94571-7.

• Mueller, George (2002). "Joseph F. Shea". Memorial Tributes: National Academy of Engineering 10: 210-214. ISBN 0-309-59422-7. Retrieved on 2006-11-27.

• Murray, Charles, Catherine Bly Cox (1989). Apollo: The Race to the Moon. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-61101-1.