Then with time passing Voyager missions sparked once more the avid desire to be involved in the Aerospace endeavour. I remember playing with black powder rockets using lizards as "astronauts" pilots and then recovered by the parachute system fully alive was a sign of my commitment in Aerospace science. Today I enjoy being an active part of European Space Agency projects as well as Ariane 5 cryogenic configuration upper stages.

From my earliest days, aviation and space travel were part of my life.

My father was a naval aviator, and later flew for United Airlines. Man was about to land on the moon. Occurring during my formative years, these events played an important part of shaping who I am today, and the interests and activities I’ve engaged in during my life.

An interesting anecdote that might stretch believability occurred when my mother was five months pregnant with me. She was on a Dependant’s Day cruise aboard the USS Lake Champlain, which my father, in VS-22, flew off of.

Being a Landing Signal Officer (LSO), my father, and another LSO, invited their wives to watch LIVE launch and recovery operations from the LSO platform. An announcement was eventually broadcast from the bridge, “GET THOSE WOMEN OFF THE DECK!”

I’ve often wondered if the roar of the “Stoof’s” (Grumman S-2 Tracker’s) Wright radials didn’t reach deep down and resonate within me, creating an “embryonic” interest in all things that fly.

Recently this interest in the “skies above” led to my submission of a proposal, to the corporation I work for, recommending that we engage in joint research with NASA to learn how to extract iron from lunar soil-to fabricate structures on the moon-while utilizing the spin-off technology on Earth.

Since that time I have been truly blessed at Boeing having hired in to the NASA High Speed Civil Transport program, and then moving on to the Sonic Cruiser, and 787 (where I am in management in Flight Test). Along the way I also supported other very interesting projects including the Russian Regional Jet program, and the Silent Aircraft Initiative.

Outside of designing airplanes however, one of the most fascinating experiences I cannot stop talking about was the two years I worked with NASA measuring F-18 Sonic Booms at NASA Dryden as part of the PARTNER (http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/partner/index.html) program.

There is probably no more inspirational place I can think of than NASA Dryden/Edwards Air Force Base, while testing there we were frequently treated with F-22, V-22, B1, B52, and other incredible displays ("there is an airshow every day").

My desire to be a pilot budded in my pre-school years. My grandfather, an Imperial Japanese Army cavalry officer and accomplished equestrian, was my primer for speed (of a stallion running) and altitude (of riding saddle). The military was just taking up aeroplanes as the obvious future weapon system. Also, listening earnestly to my mother’s side grandfather, an admiral, and uncle, a navy captain, my “speed and altitude” notion quickly heightened to a determined kid’s fancy of becoming a navy fighter pilot.

Reaching middle school, I signed up for the school glider club, which operated a ground-skimming Primary class glider. But the first-year students were allowed only to crew, pulling the bungee cord to launch the upper-class member manned glider. So I switched to judo club to “train” as a warrior — a step toward fighter pilot. The war came to an end while I was in my second year studying hard for the naval academy entrance exam. I guess I escaped becoming a kamikaze pilot.

The only way I could get into aviation then was to go to America. I gained a four-year tuition and board scholarship to Michigan Tech and got my engineering degree loaded with fluid- and thermo-dynamics. The Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River (MD) was waiting for me with my dream job of a GS-5 flight test engineer. I stood on the Flight Test Division’s flight line — with my heart pounding — looking up at the pointed nose of the F8U Crusader, which test pilot, later astronaut, John Glen had just flown across the continental U.S. to establish a speed record. “I am so-o-o close to my ‘speed & altitude’ goal!” That began the ten years of my continuously exciting flight testing career. I tested and got to fly Navy’s new experimental and prototype aircraft — all aboard aircraft carriers. I even had chance to invent new carrier approach and landing systems, which are now operational aboard carriers across the world.

I earned my FAA Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor ratings and even owned my own airplanes. The ‘speed & altitude’ Japanese kid was now an American ‘free enterprise’ pilot. I joined the ranks of test pilots as a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

My fortunate pursuit of aviation continued into Washington as I got myself reassigned in 1967 to the newly established Research & Technology Group of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics turned Naval Air Systems Command — for the rest of the 38-year service to the Naval aviation. By the time I retired from my formal aviation career, I had been selected to the SES (Senior Executive Service), a “Flag rank” as the military would call it. I guess I caught up with my grandfathers, ‘where’ my dream to go ‘fast and high’ started.

The earliest event that I can remember was submitting an isometric view of a Gloster Javelin to an art competition when I was eight years old. I used to love drawing pictures of airplanes. When I was nine I transferred to a boarding school that was close to the approach to USAF Manston, on the south-east coast of England. I was so excited. My parents had bought me a subscription to RAF Flying Review (later Flying Review International), and my father would regularly bring home a copy of Flight from his office at the BBC. This was given to him by the BBC's aviation correspondent, Reginald Turnill, who had a double subscription. At school I could watch an almost endless stream of US aircraft on final approach to Manston - F-84s, F-86s, C-47s, C-82s, occasionally a B-36, and others. One day in 1956 I was dozing in a History class and heard a different sound. I looked out of the window - it was a Tu-104 on finals. I recognized it immediately and thought I was dreaming (which was not unusual in History class). I read in the newspaper the next day that the airplane was carrying the Bolshoi Ballet on its first visit to the UK, and had been diverted from London Heathrow because of fog. The choice of diversion airfield no doubt gave the USAF a chance to inspect the airplane, which was a derivative of the Tu-16 medium bomber.

I received my Batchelor's degree at Bristol University in 1965 and did my apprenticeship with Bristol Siddeley Engines. Those were exciting days, with Concorde airframes being built across the field at Filton, the Vulcan flying test bed testing the Olympus Mark 593 engine for Concorde, and the Hawker Kestrel on hover trials. A few times I saw the Bristol T-188 on a test flight. Then I moved to Hawker Siddeley Aircraft at Hatfield and worked in preliminary design, but I could see that the best opportunities were in the US. Even when I lived in England, the idea of becoming a member of the AIAA excited me. So when I came to the US in 1969 to get my Master's degree, I immediately joined the AIAA and became the MIT Student Branch secretary. After various jobs as an aero bracero, I settled down with Lockheed and spent 30 years with the company, mostly in preliminary design. I've also served the AIAA as secretary of the San Fernando Valley Branch, and chair of the Air Transportation Systems TC. I'm now retired, but Theodore von Karman said that you don't really know a subject until you teach it, so I'm still learning by teaching an air vehicle design class at UC San Diego.

But in the middle of that airplane modeling history I got into radio-controlled boat model design and construction. I developed and raced a sailboat model with an airplane-type “wingsail” designed from data Coe Wescott and I obtained by tests in a University of Washington wind tunnel. Thirty-some years later the U.S. America’s Cup contender, the “Stars and Stripes,” with a wingsail very similar to ours, beat New Zealand for the championship.

Another Boeing engineer, Leroy Perkins, and I invented an electromechanical digital decoder and memory for a model fireboat we were building, took the model to England in 1960, and won an international championship with it. Meanwhile, in the middle of my forty-year career with Boeing (mostly in engineering management) we were developing the BOMARC air defense missile, using vacuum tubes (The transistor had just been invented, and was not in production yet). The bean counters said it was going to require 350 tubes to do a vital part of the missile control job that my partner and I had done on the model fireboat with a single gadget the size of your fist. So we sold our patent rights to The Boeing Company. I was in charge of the development of the Boeing version of the device and was getting paid a salary for working on our “toy boat” invention. Sweet.

I retired from Boeing 28 years ago, and am still an engineer at heart.

Nevertheless, the grace and beauty of flight has always been with me - from designing and building my own model airplanes, rockets, and even small hot air balloons as a kid to my participation in AIAA as an adult, eventhough I work in the automotive industry - and will be forever.

I knew Danny had an exceptional mathematical ability when he was about 6 years old. We were riding home from school one day when he began multiplying numbers aloud. I always asked my children what they had done that day in school. On this particular day, Danny said he learned about multiplication. He proceed, “If one 7 is 7, then two 7’s is 14”, and so on until he was fairly high in the calculations. I do not remember how high, but I was amazed, as all moms are with whatever their children do. Evidence of an exceptional mathematical ability manifested itself continuously throughout Danny’s elementary and high school careers. In high school calculus, he devised a short-cut formula for one equation. To this day, his teacher calls it the “Allgood” formula. To my knowledge, the short cut has never failed to calculate correctly.

However, I really did not know for sure until Danny called me one day after visiting testing labs. He was “beside himself” with excitement as he told me about all of the facilities at labs in the University of Cincinnati and Wright Patterson Air Force Base. It was clear that he loved this work.

I was so contented; because, you see, in spite of a severe speech problem, Danny defied and conquered every challenge---including people who did not have faith to believe. He was criticized many times and had the faith to ignore the negative and see the positive. Danny has the faith to believe and trust in the abilities he has been gifted with. Further, Danny has the faith to believe in all of the good that is to be gained from hard work and persistence----no matter what. I know that no matter what happens in his life, he will always see the positive---and believe in his God-given calling. A rocket scientist is someone who works hard and believes. I used to sing the song “High Hopes” to him, by Frank Sinatra--and Danny has “High Hopes.”

“Smile all day long, Danny.”

From the ceiling of my bedroom was hung a large flock of my model airplanes. Spring and summer days were spent launching rockets and then chasing them down in the surrounding corn fields. On July 20, 1969 I was glued to the TV and for a while I wanted to be an astronaut too.

When it came time to think about college, I applied to only one university, the one with the best aero school in my home state of Indiana, Purdue. So it is no wonder that as I enter my 24th year as an aeronautical engineer, I still love every minute of it.

When did I know? I guess you could say that I was born with a prescient knowledge of it. I had no big epiphany; I was just made that way. I have always known!

I’ll always be grateful for that movie and how it shaped my life. The film’s script was co-authored by none other than Robert A. Heinlein. A few years ago I bought a DVD of the movie, and it still gave me a thrill, as I relived that special moment of so long ago.

My career took an academic path – I’ve been on the faculty of the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the University of Washington in Seattle since 1972, and have served as Chair of the department since 1998. It has been a privilege and a joy to teach students the fundamentals of aerospace engineering and to do research in this wonderful field.

From time to time I give public lectures to local groups or organizations. Since 2004 I’ve focused these talks on Mars, and have often titled my presentations "Destination Mars!"

During my career, through research and direct support, I was able to contribute to the Apollo Program, the Viking Program, the Space Shuttle, the Space Station, and other national space programs. In addition, I was a manager of research on aircraft engines. Some very exciting work was activity related to the resolution of various flight anomalies.

My career with NASA was successful and I retired as a division chief, then I worked on national programs as an employee of MRJ, Inc. I was active in the AIAA. I served on technical committees, chairman of a technical committee, then I served as a director technical. I was honored with the coveted grade of Fellow. I cannot imagine a more exciting, satisfying career than mine in the aerospace profession.

First blind person to receive FAA advanced ground and instrument ground instructor certificates

I am 20

Lucky to be a student of the famous Ecole Polytechnique in Paris

Happy to be its rugby team captain, my most important occupation at that time...

4th of October 1957

Sputnik is in orbit, it's a big surprise, a tremendous event

We can hear its bip bip song

I know I will "do this"

This? Rocketry

I start working hard, I become a propellant engineer

A year later I am at Colomb Bechar, Sahara, starting to launch rockets....

July 2000, Huntsville Alabama

I am blessed to deliver the "Luncheon Award Speech" of the AIAA Propulsion Conference

A 50-minute speech in english to 1500 people. Among them new faces. What a moment for an old French guy!!

But it works. They listen. Their eyes are shining, they still like space, they still desire space ventures

I am retired. Now I know the best is to come

I remember walking up and down the isles of that airplane, craning my neck at the small portals on the emergency doors trying to see the engines and wings. Those big, swaying turbofans pushing me across the Atlantic fascinated me. The wings that lifted us up, and the smooth way in which the plane tilted back to leave the runway, and splayed it's flaps to make a soft landing had me hooked. I remember the passengers clapping when the pilot made a smooth landing. That doesn't happen anymore, but the appreciation for the combination of piloting skill and engineering that made it happen was addictive.

I was a plane nut then, and evolved into a space nut (though the bug had been planted by the landings 2 years before.) But I still target myself toward human space-flight, because without the human element, spacecraft are just another form of robots. But when a human is along for the adventure, it becomes meaningful in a way that all humans intrinsically know, though don't always acknowledge or understand.

When I first knew I wanted to work in Aerospace is difficult to pin down but when my father took my brother and I to work when he was stationed in Germany at CFB Baden is a definite possibility. I was 8 years old at the time and was in awe of the several different fighter jets my dad let us play on. With the plan of becoming an Air Force Officer I graduated high school and was accepted into the Canadian Military Academy (The Royal Military College of Canada) as an Aerospace Engineer. I have since been fortunate enough to work at the Canadian Flight Test Center (The Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment) for five years as well as study and research with the US Navy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. I am glad I got sucked into this obsession so early as it has lead me to almost everything I have ever enjoyed.

He introduced me to Barry and I gave him a hug. Barry used to be my grandmother's flying partner. He asked me if I wanted to see the airplane, and he took me up for about a half hour. He even gave me my first flying lesson, no charge.

The first time I flew in that plane I was 4 years old. We went up from Redlands to Big Bear. I remember it clearly. I was seat-belted to my dad's lap. My mom and 2 little brothers were in the back. The sun was shining brightly and the snow on the ground was a few days old. A real delight. We ate breakfast at a cute little place up there. I don't remember anything else about the day except that when it was time to go back, we had to drive home. I was so sad, and I never knew why we couldn't fly home.

One day in our Aerodynamics course, at UCIrvine, Dr. Liebeck told us about the runway at Big Bear. It's short, and on a hot afternoon, density at that altitude is much less than at sea level. Stall speed is higher, so on a short runway with more than four people in a 4-seater... the memories came back and what a great feeling to know that my grandmother had planned the whole trip. Her car was in Big Bear so we could drive home. Later, she had my mom drive back up with her so she could fly her plane back to Redlands and my mom could take the car. All of these memories are so clear. I just wish I could remember that restaurant more clearly.

I am now an acoustics engineer at Boeing Phantom Works, the advanced research and development unit for Boeing. I still want to fly and to become an astronaut. I think it will take another ten years to achieve all of my goals, but I know that a job like this can take me anywhere I want to go.

Then on to science fairs, and supportive chemistry and physics teachers. My mother helped me get a scholarship to Iowa State in Aerospace engineering, supporting me in my quest for space exploration, even though her religion taught that such was damnable folly. Perhaps she knew my poor eyesight and a rapidly shrinking aerospace market would keep me planted firmly on Earth when I graduated with a BS in 1970.

The security of a steady job and my love of intellectual property law has kept me from space exploration from then until now. With the possibility of finding a home for new manufacturing technologies in ISRU, I have joined Amalgam Industries, which my friend Bob Wigger formed to attract capital, talent and seed technologies that work together to create new markets and industries. Amalgam expects to grow rapidly from a startup to a major player in the military, space, consumer, and infrastructure markets with an exciting and profitable amalgamation of these resources. Stay tuned!

I have vague memories of watching a Gemini launch on TV (I was 5). I have idyllic memories of Santa Claus, Apollo 8 and the reading of Genesis on Christmas 1998. I remember staying up late to see Neil and Buzz. I remember seeing Saturn for the first time early one morning in my 2 inch Tasco telescope - 4 am up by myself as a kid in the backyard. I remember summer camping with that little telescope, seeing a total solar eclipse in 1972 and listening to Carly Simon sing about it.

[Note: the toroidal space station image is not mine - it is someone else's and only represents memories for me - from many kid's books.]

My mother told of me climbing into my dad’s lap as a toddler, and making an ‘airplane’ by slipping his comb under the pocket clip of his pen. (I have no recollection of that.) I do remember deciding at age eight that I wanted to be a ‘space man’ some time after Sputnik, long before the Mercury astronauts were named, when human space flight was still a dream.

The passion for all things that fly resulted in a rewarding career as an aerospace engineer with NASA, and enjoying my favorite hobby as a private pilot.

As a nuts & bolts person, I rebuilt the coaster brake on my bike at around six years old. Rebuilt my minibike motor when I was ten, the story continues through motorcycles then cars. By the time I was 14 I knew engineers designed cars, so there was never any question at all in my mind...it would be an Engineering degree from GA Tech and I would design cars! Then we learned about out of state tuition & decided Auburn University would have to suffice - I figured the car companies did not much care which school you attended.

Then, in 1979, I got good offers for several opportunities from both Ford & GM. But what's the deal with these aerospace companies? They are offering around 20% more money, they are not in Detroit, in fact, you could pretty much pick your location anywhere in the US.

Well, it turned out that the aerospace jobs had all the mechanical gee whiz nuts & bolts stuff, if not more so than the auto industry. In addition, I seemed to fit in with the aerospace people I spoke with during the interview process better than with the auto crowd. I started as a design Engineer at Arnold Engineering Development Center in 1979. Through the years, I have held jobs with other aerospace companies and enjoyed the opportunity to work in the SSME improvement program and on wind tunnel testing programs in most major US facilities as well as some international programs. I am currently back at AEDC working on varying Mach no. hypersonic ground testing capability.

I first knew I wanted to work in aerospace when I saw dollar signs! I expect you are thinking something related to the world’s oldest profession...Guilty as charged!

LA

I also had a cat about that time that I named "Sputnik". In middle school I corresponded with Mrs. Robert H. Goddard and did so until I graduated from college. For the last 30 years I've worked at JPL and the Marshall Space Flight Center....I still have to pinch myself.

Ralph Carruth Manager, Materials and Processes Laboratory, NASA MSFC

I was completely blown away. I ran to the library and read every book on the space program, even ones I could not understand and ones published before there was anything man-made on the Moon. I built model rockets and model planes. I took greater appreciation of the ability to watch space shuttle launches from my front porch in Central Florida. I grabbed everyone within earshot to tell about the greatest adventure of mankind.

My wonder and exhilaration for space exploration has not diminished, but has grown and prospered through the years. I am now a graduate student working on liquid propulsion, working towards the goal of placing my own footprints on the surface of the Moon and turning upwards to see the absolute beauty of our planet Earth.

In September 1961 I entered the second grade. I took the rocket to school and launched it three times. And all three times ended me in the Principal's office.

The first time the rocket landed in the street, off the school grounds. Rocket launch was fine. For a second grader leaving the schools grounds, no. The second time the rocket landed on the roof. Launching the rocket was fine. Retrieving the rocket from the roof of a two story building was not. The third time was show-n-tell INSIDE a class. The rocket launch went as planned, a horizontal shot at the blackout curtain. The rocket hooked a fin into the curtain, splitting it all the way to the ceiling and dropped safely to the floor. The class went wild.

When the teacher thanked me for being our resident rocket scientist, I knew.