News John Houbolt Dies at 95

[Unstung]

As an early proponent of using Lunar Orbit Rendezvous to get Americans to the moon, John Houbolt helped fulfill Kennedy's vision. If it wasn't for Houbolt's continuous and unwavering support for the idea of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous over Direct Ascent and Earth Orbit Rendezvous, it is possible that Project Apollo may have never succeeded. Many people may recognize him for his representation in From the Earth to the Moon.

Red Orbit: "John C. Houbolt, Unsung Hero of the Apollo Program, Dies at Age 95"

collectSPACE: "John Houbolt, NASA engineer who fought for Apollo moon landing method, dies"

Were it not for John Houbolt, the United States might never have landed men on the moon.

The engineer, who died on Tuesday (April 15) at the age of 95, successfully sold the country's space program leaders on an alternate flight plan, Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), which ultimately led to the six Apollo moon landings of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Houbolt's death was confirmed by a spokesman for NASA on Thursday.

Before Houbolt began championing LOR as the way to go to the moon, NASA's rocket scientists, including Wernher von Braun, envisioned lunar missions of a type now more often associated with early science fiction. In the original plan, a large rocket would fly directly from the Earth to the moon, landing on its tail and blasting off the lunar surface for a direct return to Earth.

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[garyw]

A man who was so convinced in his arguments that he pushed hard for LOR and get men on the moon. Quite a guy.

 

[Urwumpe]

Somewhat as a voice in the wilderness, I would like to pass on a few thoughts.

Its not really fair to reduce him just to LOR - he was working for NASA until 1985 and didn't just stop in 1963 - it was really his moment in history.

Pretty much a good role model for any engineer, since he was also willed to take personal risks for the success of the program. Not many would trust their numbers so much, that they would also bet their career on them.

 

[Topper]

John C. Houbolt has died

John C. Houbolt was one of the greatest NASA engineers and has worked for the Appollo programm. As far as I know it was his merit that NASA had developed two spacecrafts and use them to land a men on the moon, the LEM and the CSM. Without this great idea it would have been much more complicate (or maybe impossible) to land a men on the moon.

I wish him and his family all my best!