'Houston! We read you loud and clear'

摘要

We were gathered at the hallowed halls of Charterhouse, Godalming in Surrey, UK for the 2014 BIS Space History Conference, held 24-26 July. There was a hushed expectancy as we saw four distinguished elderly NASA veterans sitting in a studio in Houston. A ripple went through the audience, would the technology work? Then 'Houston we can hear you', and we launched into two hours of live questions and answers about President Kennedy's pledge in May 1961 that the US should land a man on the Moon before the end of the decade and return him safely to Earth. George Abbey, former director of the NASA Johnson Spaceflight Center, believes that the British engineers who joined NASA in 1959 were of critical importance in this effort. So important, George Abbey speculates, that without the British and Canadian engineers the landing may not have been achieved in 1969. Achieved but not within the time frame that was pledged by Kennedy. Now, thanks to George Abbey's efforts we had Peter Armitage born in Leeds and Dennis Fielder born in Hamble in Hampshire speaking to us live from Houston. They had both worked for Avro Canada on the iconic Avro Arrow. When the project was cancelled in 1959 they were recruited as part of a group of 31 senior engineers joining the NASA Space Task Group.