They Made it Happen: Oral Histories of the Unsung Heroes of NASA's Space Shuttle Program - Engineers and Managers Recount Amazing Stories about America's Winged Space Marvel

The oral histories of thirty-one engineers and managers for the Space Shuttle program - converted for accurate flowing-text ebook format reproduction - provide fascinating insights into the highs and lows of the extraordinary program, with hundreds of amazing anecdotes and stories. Each history provides unique information about the specialty of the individual, along with responses to the Challenger and Columbia tragedies. Many of the interviewees started in the Apollo era and recount interesting stories about the moon landing program as well. These interviews were conducted by NASA for the STS (Space Transportation System) Recordation Oral History Project.

Stan M. Barauskas - Shuttle APU system; Tony Bartolone - Lead External Tank (ET)/Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) project engineer; Gerald Blackburn - Boeing project manager; James A. Carleton - Solid Rocket Booster management; Joseph P. Chaput - marine operations manager and skipper of the Liberty Star, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; Wendall D. Emde - Rockwell thermal protection system and tiles; Donald H. Emero - Rockwell engineering; Frances A. Ferris - Rockwell and Boeing aviation; Otto K. Goetz - NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) engineer and manager; George Hopson - detailed discussion of lessons learned in rocket engineering and propulsion; Robert H. Kahl - Rockwell and Boeing; Julie Kramer White - Johnson Space Center Shuttle engineering; Robert E. Lindstrom - Saturn and Shuttle program management; Dr. William R. Lucas - Marshall Space Flight Center management; Alex McCool, Jr. - Marshall Space Flight Center propulsion; Donald L. McCormack, Jr. - Rockwell and NASA engineering; Royce Mitchell - early Shuttle design; James B. Odom - Marshall shuttle design and engineering; Myron "Mike" A. Pessin - Marshall External Tank; Eric S. Ransone - SSME; William J. Roberts - shuttle vehicle project engineering; Robert J. Schwinghamer - Marshall propulsion; Gerald D. Sheehan - KSC launch processing; Jody A. Singer - Marshall Huntsville ET/SSME/SRB; Gerald W. Smith - Solid Rocket Booster; Stephanie S. Stilson - Kennedy Space Center orbiter processing; Henry Taylor - Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA); John W. Thomas - Marshall Huntsville shuttle management; J.R. Thompson - Marshall Huntsville Space Shuttle Main Engine; John Tribe - hypergolics; Terrence R. White - KSC orbiter processing.