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As NASA celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, ¿ìÉ«ÊÓƵ commemorates the alumni who worked for NASA at the time – July 20, 1969 – and played critical roles in the historic lunar landing.

Edward Sheinberg, LU ’68, a mechanical engineer who received a letter of commendation for his overall support during the Apollo 11 mission as well as the Man on the Moon Award from NASA. He was a liaison engineer between JSC and North American Rockwell of the Command Module of Apollo 11 during its checkout phase at Downey California and served as a research engineer. He re-evaluated the portable life support system of the astronauts’ space suit prior to Apollo 11. He is currently the department chair of computer science and engineering technology at the University of Houston-Downtown.

John K. Hirasaki, LU ’63, was a mechanical engineer at NASA during the entire Apollo program and was

actually the first person brought into direct contact with the Apollo 11 crew inside the spacecraft when it returned to Earth, July 24, 1969. During an about his work, Hirasaki said that four engineers from his team volunteered to spend 21 days in quarantine with the returning astronauts but only one was chosen by a very scientific process – they drew straws. Hirasaki drew the short straw and basically risked his life, not knowing if the astronauts returned home with some type of contamination that would affect his health and well-being. Hirasaki is also known as the first human to observe rocks and soil from the lunar surface on Earth. He opened and inspected the rocks Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin brought back from the moon.

Scott Millican, LU ’64, an industrial engineer who trained the astronauts for spacesuit operations while they were on the moon. He continued in the Crew Training Division for the remainder of the moon missions and

served as the Book Manager for the “Lunar Surface Checklist” on Apollo 13. At the time of the lunar landing, Millican was 27 years old. The average age of NASA’s Apollo 11 team was 26.  Millican, the founder and owner of HE Space who splits his time between Texas and The Netherlands, said the number one priority of the mission was the safety of the spacecraft but the second priority was the spacesuit. He and six others were responsible for the operation of the suit. Millican watched the lunar landing from the Johnson Space Center and talked the astronauts through their moonwalks and throughout the entire mission. See the featuring Millican.

 Chuck Royston, LU ’61, also a NASA electrical engineer. He helped design the Apollo communication system and worked in mission control. Royston initially worked for Boeing on the Saturn first stage rocket. He was

charged with ensuring that the missile did not break up due to extreme vibration, and his program helped facilitate smooth launchings. In 1964 he moved to help design the Apollo communications systems and worked in mission control. He was on shift during the moonwalk on July 20, 1969, and recalls being too busy with maintaining the fragile video feed to take in the remarkable scenes broadcast from the moon. On April 13, 1970, Royston heard over the communication system “Houston, we have a problem.” His 24 hour a day effort for six days to help the crew of Apollo 13 make it home safely after an explosion “blew out a huge portion of the Apollo 13 Service Module” earned him a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“They locked all three shifts of us in. I had to sleep in a chair or on the couch when I napped. They needed us all there around the clock. Well, we got the whole crew home safely. They gave us all a Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was a 24 hour a day struggle, but we did it,” Royston said. “That’s what I’m most proud of. Apollo 11, the moon landing, was pretty nice, too. I’d say that’s secondary,” said Royston.

Royston worked on all of the Apollo missions. He is most proud of his work on Apollo 13, Apollo 11, and a “rendezvous in space” between the Americans and the Russian astronauts on the Soyuz capsule, where they met up in space to “shake hands and get to know each other.”

Royston is retired and the author of the several books, including “The Black Chip.”

Rod Loe, LU ’61, a NASA mechanical engineer, who worked for Boeing in Seattle but joined NASA in 1964 and

worked on the operations side of the Gemini missions. He later joined the Apollo missions in SPAN – Spacecraft Analysis. Read oral histories of his NASA career and .   

Don Bennett, LU ‘61, an electrical engineering who received a Silver Snoopy Award for his work on Apollo 11. He trained astronauts and designed safety specifications for the space shuttle.  He retired in 2010 and in 2013.