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Author
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Topic: Mercury capsule designer Max Faget (1921-2004)
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-10-2004 03:38 PM
   
Max Faget, who in the late 1950s designed the United States first manned spacecraft, died Saturday at his home in Houston, Texas. He was 83. |
ASCAN1984
Member Posts: 1049
From: County Down, Nothern Ireland
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-10-2004 03:52 PM
This is terrible news. Another great man is gone. This past seven days has brought terrible news for the space comunity. My thoughts are with his family. How awfull. |
star51L
Member Posts: 340
From: Vilano Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 10-10-2004 03:58 PM
Rest in Peace Max... your contributions were immense.Agree with Ascan, it's been a pretty disheartening past few days for the space community. We are losing too many legends. |
MSS
Member Posts: 633
From: Poland
Registered: May 2003
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posted 10-10-2004 04:03 PM
Rest in peace, Max!Express condolences to his family from friends from Poland!
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nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 10-10-2004 04:14 PM
What a great engineering mind we have lost. God bless Max Faget. |
Scott
Member Posts: 3307
From: Houston, TX
Registered: May 2001
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posted 10-10-2004 05:34 PM
What a nice fellow. He signed some pictures for me and even took the time to answer my question about his main priorities when designing the Mercury capsule. His answer was: - Heating
- Stability
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Richard Scheer
Member Posts: 14
From: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted 10-10-2004 06:23 PM
One cannot read long or much of the history of American aeronautics and the space program without running repeatedly into the name of Max Faget. He was a giant at a time when true giants strode the landscape of the space program. RIP -- and may all his family and loved ones be comforted by the prayers being said for Max and them in this hour of their loss. |
Captain Apollo
Member Posts: 260
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 10-10-2004 06:38 PM
A great loss - reminds me what a shame his original design for the Shuttle was not chosen. |
spaceuk
Member Posts: 2113
From: Staffs, UK
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 10-10-2004 06:50 PM
Max - a pioneer in every sense.May god speed on the wings of Mercury.
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Spacepsycho
Member Posts: 818
From: Huntington Beach, Calif.
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted 10-10-2004 07:37 PM
Max was such a brilliant man who's one of the few who's genius was truly responsible for getting this country into space. Imagine if someone like Max and Burt Rutan had been colleagues like Max and Caldwell were. In today's race for space, that's a team that would have been pure brilliance.Another cornerstone of the space program is gone, the truth is we're all going to follow them someday and I can only pray that there will be others who will carry the torch like these great legends. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-10-2004 07:44 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Spacepsycho:
Imagine if someone like Max & Burt Rutan had been colleages like Max & Caldwell were.
On a related note, Rutan and Faget knew each other, or at least met. Here's a photo (courtesy The Space Review) of the two (plus Aldrin) together at last year's rollout of SpaceShipOne. |
Danno
Member Posts: 572
From: Ridgecrest, CA - USA
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted 10-10-2004 07:57 PM
Max was a funny guy, I love the stories about him.I wrote to Max a few months back and asked what he thought of the X-Prize and SpaceShipOne. He replied that he hoped Burt wins. I'm glad he lived long enough to see it. |
pokey
Member Posts: 361
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 10-10-2004 08:21 PM
Was honored to have been able to speak with Mr. Faget twice. The last time (at STS-1 20th anniv. party) was after he ran into the back end of a dump truck that didn't have its lights on in the early evening on Interstate 10. He managed to inject humor into his telling of the story even though I know he had to have been in great pain as a result of the accident. Lively, kind, egalitarian. I hope to live as long and enjoy life as much as he seemed to. Then there was the time Faget gave a talk at JSC (with Gge. Abbey present) that had a handwriten overhead that showed how NACA became NA$A. He definitely had our attention. He had his daughter go up on the stage and drop a piece of paper. It swung back and forth as it slowly zigged zagged to the ground. That was how the Mercury capsule worked. |
zee_aladdin
Member Posts: 781
From: California
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 10-11-2004 12:32 AM
I worked on design & integration of sounding space rockets for the government in the late 1990's (1st successful sounding rocket launched from Kodiak, Alaska) and also worked on some NASA sounding rockets and the National Missile Defense program, and let me tell you that space design and integration is an extremely crazy, complicated, and difficult field to work in. MAX was a genius ahead of his time, and we are all very fortunate to have him been part of our lives. May God Bless Him and his family, and may he continue to inspire us and future generations in our pursuit of Space Exploration. |
hinkler
Member Posts: 573
From: Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 10-11-2004 04:54 AM
Rest in Peace Max Faget. God Bless. A genius of a man. |
Sy Liebergot
Member Posts: 501
From: Pearland, Texas USA
Registered: May 2003
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posted 10-11-2004 09:28 AM
I too, am saddened by Max Faget's passing, whom I knew personally. His sometimes caustic humor, combined with his careful and logical approach to engineering problems singled him out as a unique individual. A true "mover and a shaker," Max lived a full life, leaving behind fond personal memories with those he left behind and a lasting mark on manned spaceflight history. I have become acutely aware of the loss of the "first-person" history that in most cases will never be told with each passing of the people who were manned space exploration visionaries and technical experts. Just think of the inside anecdotes these space pioneers could tell. Appendix E of my book, "Apollo EECOM" lists 40 names of my flight operations colleagues who had passed away, with four more lost last year. More sobering is, if I included all the other significant players, the list would be more than twice as long.
I will miss Max. |
nojnj
Member Posts: 503
From: Highland Heights, KY
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted 10-11-2004 12:01 PM
Very saddened to hear of the passing of Max Faget. I am not sure of the reason, but with each passing of such great individuals brings a more distinct feeling of loss. Perhaps it is the understanding that we are slowly losing such unique individuals from a great epic in human exploration. Their stories are now lost and will not be able to be recounted firsthand. All I can say is "thanks for letting me live out my childhood dreams through you" as I know I will not ever be able to actively participate in such an adventure. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. |
pokey
Member Posts: 361
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 10-11-2004 02:13 PM
I forgot about another Faget talk. It was a few years ago and was a slide show about the trip him, Gilruth and Von Braun took to Antaractica in the late 60's. He still remembered the name of each ice station they visited, how far down they had to climb to get to the living level, plus other entertaining details. Someone at the end of the talk asked Faget what Antarctica had to do with going to the moon. Faget just smiled and said, "Lady, don't you understand? It was a boondoggle!" Everyone in the room roared with laughter. A great punchline. Somehow I think it was the only time the talk was ever given. |
KC Stoever
Member Posts: 1012
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 10-11-2004 02:29 PM
Some of my favorite stories about Faget appear in the 1996 oral histories, one part of the series is here.They include lively, candid interviews jammed with personal anecdotes the space pioneers tell about each other-- Guy "Tibby" Thibodaux, Max Faget, and Paul Purser. (Please note that these interviews fall in three or four parts. Wish they were grouped together on a common site.) Only Tibby survives. |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3161
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 10-11-2004 06:18 PM
Jim Oberg has written an interesting retrospective on him here. |
KC Stoever
Member Posts: 1012
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 10-11-2004 07:35 PM
Thank you, Francis, for the link to Oberg's exemplary tribute. |
Rob Joyner
Member Posts: 1308
From: GA, USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 10-12-2004 03:31 AM
Faget never went into space but because of his passion and genius a lot of others did...
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