JIM'S LITTLE PHOTO AND POEM PLACE: A Tuesday Haibun Poem for the Tuesday Platfom

Art by Cassie Kerns ,
from The Imaginary Garden
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My Fifth Lifetime;

working at NASA, helping

with Apollo Lunar Missions

It was in my1,2,3,4,5,6,7, oops during the fifth lifetime when I was working at NASA, the Johnson Manned Space Center, Houston, Texas (Number One is High School, when I became a real person.

I was an Aerospace Engineer working for Ford Aerospace Division, or perhaps as a Philco Tech Rep Engineer which was purchased by Ford while I was working there, 1964 to 1979. I was holding an Engineering slot as a college dropout with Experience in Lieu of a Degree.

Technically my job then was a Digital Telemetry and Data Processing Engineer. This was the first to use a newly developed state of the art telemetry processor to identify and sort the various astronaut, spacecraft, rocket, and experiment parameters that were downloaded and now would be shown on the Flight Control console displays and meters. Some were saved for later scientific study.

Our equipment was in two large rooms, each backup for the other in case of breakdown. We had no breakdown that day of July 16, 1969 during Apollo 11 Lunar Landing, nor any during the entire mission. We did have TV monitors to watch the proceedings as you may have seen at home plus numerous other activities which were not broadcast publicly.

Finally a couple of weeks later we were still processing data at splashdown time. This called for cigars all around. We would get ours by going through double doors which lead to the control room. At that time most Aerospace Engineers and Technicians were men, but the women were getting their cigars as well. I do not know of any of those with us who smoked theirs although I have known women who would smoke a cigar.

Afterwards, I left NASA December 31, 1969 soon after I finished my final graduation. During the eleven years of college, mostly at night, along with working 50 to 60 hours a week around mission time. I had three new degrees, an Associate Degree in Pre-engineering, a Bachelor of Science in Economics, and a Juris Doctorate of Law by that time.

My next job would be a full time Professor of Business Studies at San Jacinto College with three campuses in the Houston Area. Had I stayed at NASA, I was a Senior Engineer by now, I would have been a Manipulator Arm Specialist in Flight Control Simulations Branch.

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From Engineer

to College Professor

Busy Life Number Five

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