posted 08-11-2009 03:05 PM               

When preparing the foreword for their 2007 book "Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965," Paul Haney, NASA's first news director and the "Voice of Mission Control" for Mercury, Gemini and the early Apollo missions, sent authors Colin Burgess and Francis French a "veritable firestorm" of e-mailed anecdotes.

Haney, a longtime NASA public affairs officer and news reporter for the Associated Press, the Erie Times and the Washington Evening Star, joined NASA at the agency's inception in 1958. He pioneered the still-in-place system of reporting space events as they happened, providing real-time information to the public and press covering NASA's missions.

According to French, the anecdotes "all displayed his typical frankness and biting sense of humor." They also shared many moments from the middle of key decisions in space history.

Unfortunately, there were far too many anecdotes to fit into the book's foreword...

posted 08-11-2009 11:09 PM               

"Low's story has never been told.", he said. I know I've never seen anything substantial in terms of a bio. Is there anything out there?

Funny how a PA officer can turn out to be so candid... For example, his terminology for "the good old fashioned space barfing upset"!

I like to imagine Dr Gilruth giving "the Goddard bust victory sips of his martini."