|
Author
|
Topic: Joe Schmitt, spacesuit technician (1916-2017)
|
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 09-26-2017 05:27 PM
   
Joe Schmitt, NASA's first suit tech and equipment specialist in the crew systems division, died on Monday (Sept. 25), according to Thomas Rochford, son of suit tech Al Rochford, on Facebook. Schmitt was 101. Sad news today. Learned that my Dad's mentor, Joe Schmitt, passed this morning at the age of 101... Joe was an incredible man and will be missed. In 1998, Schmitt was interviewed for an oral history, which he subsequently donated to NASA's Oral History Project. Here he describes his preparations for Alan Shepard to become the first American astronaut to fly in space. ...we were getting ready for our first manned space flight which was with Alan Shepard. I had to set up my space suit shop. By the way, I made the first, well not the first, but the first one that we used on a manned space flight — an instrument panel for checking out the space suit. I made that out of a 3-quarter-inch plywood board and I mounted various flow meters and pressure gauges on there and valves of various kinds. I was kind of proud of that. But it is very crude compared to today's instrumentation. We got the job done with it. Schmitt's work was immortalized by artist Norman Rockwell in a painting that captured him and Rochford suiting up Gus Grissom and John Young for Gemini 3. ...they hired Norman Rockwell, who was an illustrator, to paint a picture of the suiting of the crew. He took a lot of pictures of the crew and I happened to get in on that. What was interesting to me was the fact that Mr. Rockwell was so precise on exacting data. In the picture that he painted, it had a countdown clock. And he came back a day or so later on the telephone and he said, "Now, when you were suiting the crew up at this particular time, what time would be showing on the countdown clock?" So I figured it up and got it to within a minute or so of what that would be.  Schmitt worked for NASA from 1958 through 1982, first at Langley Research Center in Virginia and then at the Manned Spacecraft Center (later Johnson Space Center) in Houston, Texas. He was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1981.  |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
|
posted 09-26-2017 05:31 PM
. |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
|
posted 09-26-2017 05:33 PM
. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2476
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
|
posted 09-26-2017 06:26 PM
. |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
|
posted 09-26-2017 06:30 PM
. |
Jeff
Member Posts: 474
From: Fayetteville, NC, USA
Registered: May 2009
|
posted 09-26-2017 06:40 PM
.
|
David C
Member Posts: 1015
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012
|
posted 09-26-2017 07:05 PM
. |
randy
Member Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
|
posted 09-26-2017 07:23 PM
. |
Jurg Bolli
Member Posts: 977
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Nov 2000
|
posted 09-26-2017 07:46 PM
. |
Jonnyed
Member Posts: 396
From: Dumfries, VA, USA
Registered: Aug 2014
|
posted 09-26-2017 08:32 PM
Love the Norman Rockwell connection. RIP. |
MCroft04
Member Posts: 1634
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005
|
posted 09-26-2017 08:47 PM
. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 09-26-2017 08:50 PM
. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
|
posted 09-26-2017 08:55 PM
. |
Wehaveliftoff
Member Posts: 2343
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
|
posted 09-26-2017 10:17 PM
101, wow. A photo of the same meet up as the Rockwell art: |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
|
posted 09-26-2017 10:42 PM
. |
Grounded!
Member Posts: 367
From: Bennington, Vermont, USA
Registered: Feb 2011
|
posted 09-26-2017 10:43 PM
. |
mode1charlie
Member Posts: 1169
From: Honolulu, HI
Registered: Sep 2010
|
posted 09-26-2017 11:22 PM
. |
Headshot
Member Posts: 864
From: Vancouver, WA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 09-26-2017 11:23 PM
101 ... a good life. He will be missed.. |
Lasv3
Member Posts: 410
From: Bratislava, Slovakia
Registered: Apr 2009
|
posted 09-26-2017 11:33 PM
. |
Kite
Member Posts: 831
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009
|
posted 09-27-2017 01:37 AM
. |
apolloprojeckt
Member Posts: 1447
From: Arnhem, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2009
|
posted 09-27-2017 02:30 AM
. |
SPACEFACTS
Member Posts: 301
From: Germany
Registered: Aug 2006
|
posted 09-27-2017 03:54 AM
. |
413 is in
Member Posts: 628
From: Alexandria, VA USA
Registered: May 2006
|
posted 09-27-2017 04:20 AM
. |
minipci
Member Posts: 365
From: London, UK
Registered: Jul 2009
|
posted 09-27-2017 05:43 AM
. |
jasonelam
Member Posts: 691
From: Monticello, KY USA
Registered: Mar 2007
|
posted 09-27-2017 06:11 AM
. |
Panther494
Member Posts: 402
From: London UK
Registered: Jan 2013
|
posted 09-27-2017 06:16 AM
. |
Joel Katzowitz
Member Posts: 808
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999
|
posted 09-27-2017 07:32 AM
. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
|
posted 09-27-2017 07:52 AM
. |
astrobar1
Member Posts: 112
From: Mishawaka, IN, USA
Registered: Apr 2005
|
posted 09-27-2017 08:37 AM
. |
alanh_7
Member Posts: 1252
From: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2008
|
posted 09-27-2017 09:50 AM
. |
David Carey
Member Posts: 782
From:
Registered: Mar 2009
|
posted 09-27-2017 10:10 AM
. |
NovaRob
Member Posts: 242
From: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Registered: Nov 2008
|
posted 09-27-2017 11:15 AM
. |
Spoon
Member Posts: 143
From: Cumbria, UK
Registered: May 2006
|
posted 09-27-2017 11:24 AM
. |
bruce
Member Posts: 916
From: Fort Mill, SC, USA
Registered: Aug 2000
|
posted 09-27-2017 02:15 PM
. |
dom
Member Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
|
posted 09-27-2017 02:20 PM
. |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
|
posted 09-27-2017 03:54 PM
.
|
ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
|
posted 09-27-2017 04:25 PM
We have lost an exceptional man and yet another link to our spaceflight past. |
Mike_The_First
Member Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014
|
posted 09-27-2017 04:56 PM
. |
capoetc
Member Posts: 2169
From: McKinney TX (USA)
Registered: Aug 2005
|
posted 09-27-2017 05:58 PM
. |
star51L
Member Posts: 340
From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
|
posted 09-27-2017 06:01 PM
. |
advertisement