CHAPTER 1

The Road Not Taken

I originate from the veteran generation third classification,part of a post-World War II cohort, born in the middle of theera, 1939. The first classification is Depression Era, born 1912to 1921. The second classification is World War II, born 1922 to1927. Society defined my generation as having the best work andeducation opportunities, because of the postwar economic boom.We also tend to hold a deep regard for security, comfort, andfamiliar activities and environments.

In 1963, the third group of NASA astronauts and supportspecialists was made up of five young men from this generation.Dr. Joe Allen, age twenty-six, held a master's in physics from Yaleand was a guest researcher at Brookhaven National Laboratory.Major Ed White, age thirty-three, held a master's in aeronauticalengineering from Michigan and was an experimental test pilot.Captain Richard Gordon, age thirty-four, had a bachelor's inchemistry from the University of Washington and was a Navytest pilot. Colonel Buzz Aldrin, age thirty-three, held a doctoratein astronautics from MIT and was an Air Force fighter pilot. I, atthe age of twenty-four, had a master's in civil engineering fromStanford and was first lieutenant in base engineering at Brooks AirForce Base, San Antonio, Texas. I supported the NASA astronautgroup.

On January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy, in hisinaugural address, proclaimed the now-immortal words, "Andso, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do foryou—ask what you can do for your country." On May 25, 1961, ourpresident further defined our national strategic goal: "I believe thatthis nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before thisdecade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning himsafely to earth."

In June 1961, I graduated from the University of Vermont'scivil engineering program and was accepted into the graduateengineering program at Stanford, a second lieutenant with aone-year deferment from active duty. By 1962, I had completedmy master's degree and attained an automatic promotion to firstlieutenant. In July of that year, I reported for duty at Brooks AirForce Base (BAFB) in San Antonio, Texas.

I soon learned that BAFB was one of the first beneficiariesof President Kennedy's goal to put a man on the moon beforethe decade ended. Although the base, founded in 1917, was oneof the oldest facilities in the United States Air Force, it was nowthe center for Advanced Medical Research (AMD). The AMD'smission was to understand the human condition at the extremeborders of the earth's atmosphere and in interplanetary space.It represented the newest division of the Air Force SystemsCommand. Base engineering managed the design, engineering,and construction of six new buildings and infrastructure upgradesthat were the signature accomplishment, to date, of the fledglingspace program. The six buildings would support research for theProjects Gemini and Apollo. They included an extension of theheating and cooling plant and five buildings aptly named theProfessional Building, the Bioastronautics-Biodynamics Laboratory,the Bionucleonics Laboratory, the Aeromedical Library, and theVivarium Support Facility.

In time, I would work on upgrades to the centrifuge, agondola hung from a twenty-foot arm that spun a prospectiveastronaut at extremely high speeds, duplicating the bodily stressesexperienced at entrance to and exit from space. I would also workon the space cabin, a pressurized vessel allowing personnel totrain in simulated altitudes of up to 30,000 feet. The atmospherewithin the space cabin varied from ordinary air to pure oxygen.In this environment, the forerunner to the modern space suit wasdeveloped. The Vivarium Support Facility was a state-of-the-arthospital that cared for the well-being of research animals,including horses, sheep, goats, and monkeys. The Bionucleonicslaboratory housed the master slave, remote handling device—arobotic arm that allowed manipulation of experiments fromoutside a room, the forerunner to today's microsurgerytechnology. The...