Design Article
Chronicles of Grumman's 1960s Lunar Excursion Module development
Suzanne Deffree
3/1/2012 6:52 PM EST
President John F. Kennedy's vision was put into motion, stretching America toward the goal of landing man on the moon during the 1960s. A group of daring, talented men was specially chosen for the success of this heroic, pioneering effort. They were not astronauts but a team of young Grumman engineers about to embark upon an historic journey filled with technical design challenges in an extremely hostile environment. Their goal: to protect the lives of the many crews of astronauts that would be ferried to the moon and back.
Roserio (Ross) Bracco was selected as one of the initial group of 25 engineers who would begin development of the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) in November 1962 at Grumman's Bethpage, NY, facility. The contract was completed in 1966 with 21 LEMs built-14 for flight and seven designated as LTA (LEM test article) -1 through -7.
Bracco is a graduate of Cooper Union in New York and was one of the first students there to receive a master's degree in mechanical engineering. When I visited him recently at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, Long Island, NY, where he volunteers, he shared some incredibly interesting memories of his design journey in pursuit of a dream to have the first man safely set foot on the moon.
Most of the pictures in this article were taken at the museum; it has an extraordinary display of LEM history, including actual, full-size LEM test articles. One is located in a huge room simulating the lunar surface and sky, complete with stars and the earth as it looked to Neil Armstrong when he stepped onto the moon's surface. The museum also has an exhibit that chronicles the entire history of flight, including some amazing restorations and models of aircraft. It's definitely worth a visit!
Bracco was part of the Grumman ascent-stage team in the propulsion area. The ascent stage of the Apollo LEM is the control center and manned portion of the space vehicle. The vehicle's three main sections are the crew compartment, midsection, and aft equipment bay and tank section. The crew compartment and midsection make up the cabin. The ascent-stage structure consists of several subassemblies: the front face, cabin skin, midsection, and aft equipment bay.
Next: A perilous situation
Roserio (Ross) Bracco was selected as one of the initial group of 25 engineers who would begin development of the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module) in November 1962 at Grumman's Bethpage, NY, facility. The contract was completed in 1966 with 21 LEMs built-14 for flight and seven designated as LTA (LEM test article) -1 through -7.
Bracco is a graduate of Cooper Union in New York and was one of the first students there to receive a master's degree in mechanical engineering. When I visited him recently at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, Long Island, NY, where he volunteers, he shared some incredibly interesting memories of his design journey in pursuit of a dream to have the first man safely set foot on the moon.
Most of the pictures in this article were taken at the museum; it has an extraordinary display of LEM history, including actual, full-size LEM test articles. One is located in a huge room simulating the lunar surface and sky, complete with stars and the earth as it looked to Neil Armstrong when he stepped onto the moon's surface. The museum also has an exhibit that chronicles the entire history of flight, including some amazing restorations and models of aircraft. It's definitely worth a visit!
Bracco was part of the Grumman ascent-stage team in the propulsion area. The ascent stage of the Apollo LEM is the control center and manned portion of the space vehicle. The vehicle's three main sections are the crew compartment, midsection, and aft equipment bay and tank section. The crew compartment and midsection make up the cabin. The ascent-stage structure consists of several subassemblies: the front face, cabin skin, midsection, and aft equipment bay.
Next: A perilous situation
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GeniusEE
3/1/2012 8:56 PM EST
Was he also the guy who made the bad decision on the CO2 scrubbers to not use compatible componenets between the CM and LEM, almost killing the crew? Selective-recall heroism - let's balance it and hear about screwups in this kind of forum, which are actually more useful to engineers than building pedestals of awe for plebes.
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patrick.mannion
3/2/2012 1:59 PM EST
Hi Andy, your point is valid (but you should avoid name-calling, in general: there's as much to be learned (if not more) from what didn't work as from what actually did work. Edison's work on bulb filaments is a great example of that. We would definitely be keen to do a series on mistakes and what was learned from them. In the case you mention above in your comment, the lesson may well just be simply 'don't do that', but there are plenty more mistakes that can and have important lessons to teach. Are you interested in kicking off a series on that? It would indeed be very helpful and useful (so long as we avoid calling people 'plebes'.
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WA2PYX
3/2/2012 3:11 PM EST
The decision to use NiCd batteries was greatly influenced by the late(R.Adm.)George Klaus of the Grumman Electronic Systems Center. He deserves some of the credit for the successful recovery of Apollo 13. I worked for him and still have a couple of the test NiCd batteries as souvenirs. Those were interesting times.
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GregB1
3/2/2012 3:47 PM EST
Yes Grumman was the prime contractor but there were I'm sure many sub contractors that are never mentioned. My dad worked long and hard on the LEM for Hughes Aircraft. Makes me upset that these guys get al the glory when in fact it was a much larger team effort.
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anonymous user
3/2/2012 6:52 PM EST
May God bless ALL of the fine men and women who worked on the US Space Program, and allowed us to fulful President Kennedy's words to land a man on the moon before the decade's end. The engineers, technicians, and brave men and women who trained as astronauts, got us to the moon before the Soviet Union, and helped us win the Cold War. I am afraid that with the discontinuation of the Space Shuttle, that level of technical expertise will now be lost, and we will never be able to achieve such technical prowess ever again. Thanks again for all your efforts!
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anonymous user
3/2/2012 6:54 PM EST
May God bless ALL of the fine men and women who worked on the US Space Program, and allowed us to fulful President Kennedy's words to land a man on the moon before the decade's end. The engineers, technicians, and brave men and women who trained as astronauts, got us to the moon before the Soviet Union, and helped us win the Cold War. I am afraid that with the discontinuation of the Space Shuttle, that level of technical expertise will now be lost, and we will never be able to achieve such technical prowess ever again. Thanks again for all your efforts!
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oldtimer8080
3/3/2012 2:00 AM EST
It might be interesting to have someone check into the history of the " Blue Cube " and the surrounding Ford Aerospace and GTE plants in the SFBA. I know AMD supplied MIL-SPEC parts for quite a few projects ( My job at AMD )and I had a good idea of what went on inside the cube.
Onizuka Air Force Station
The Wiki article only scratches the surface of what went on. My " Let's Move Some Chairs " buddies didn't talk about what they did...
( that is, if the NRO & NSA lets you )
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anonymous user
3/5/2012 6:38 PM EST
The "Spider" episode of the HBO series "From the Earth to the Moon" was just about my favorite of the series. I'm sure it has its made for TV inaccuracies, but the development details they put in showed that somebody with a lot of love for what happened was on the writing staff somewhere. The hatchway part reminded me of that.
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anonymous user
3/5/2012 9:11 PM EST
Of course there were many thousands employed by subcontractors to Grumman who made valuable contributions. I know my Dad had dozens of job shoppers during the Lunar Test Article (LTA) thermal vacuum testing, which he was responsible for as Test Engineering Chief for Grumman in Houston.
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anonymous user
3/5/2012 11:18 PM EST
I recently had the opportunity fo visit The Cradle of Avation Museum and the Grumman display of the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). The entire history of the developement and the flight is amazing. The 60's era developeers were real pioneers and deserve recognition in our country's history. Thanks to these men and women for their extreme efforts! God Bless.....
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anonymous user
3/6/2012 8:20 PM EST
I was one of the techs. on the Saturn V program and I did watch the live feed of the first step on the moon.
CHK
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anonymous user
3/12/2012 1:59 PM EDT
n 1966/67 I worked for North American Aviation as a "Ground Support Technician" and was on Pad during the build up and Lauch of the first "LEM" from Cape Kennedy Fl. I remember the Boys from Bethspage NY were the Penny Pitchingist bunch I have ever seen. lol We built up Pad 37 just for the first Launch of the LEM. It was atop of an UpRated Saturn 1B.... A beautiful Launch and a beautiful Recovery. Those were the days!
John W Lynch
SWORD Electronics LLC
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