|
|
|
|
Author
|
Topic: Abe Silverstein, named Mercury and Apollo
|
dfox
Member Posts: 208
From: Scarsdale, NY, United States
Registered: Mar 2010
|
posted 09-15-2010 01:10 PM
   
I recently got back from a parent-child weekend at Space Camp with my kids. What a great place!One of the exhibits (near the F-1 engine) makes reference to Abe Silverstein's role in promoting cryogenic propellants and his role in naming the Mercury and Apollo programs. I was interested to learn more about him and came across this interesting article. The article provides an interesting counter to the conventional historical focus on von Braun as the "leader" of the Apollo program. |
MB
Member Posts: 155
From: Olmsted Falls, Ohio U.S.A.
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 09-15-2010 08:41 PM
It was a pleasure to hear that you read about Abe Silverstein and his role at NASA in the development of the liquid Hydrogen/Oxygen rocket engine. During my time working at NASA Lewis (now NASA Glenn) Dr. Silverstein is held in high regard there and for good reason. In fact his son is currently a researcher there as well. I read the article that you referred to concerning Dr. Silverstein and Dr. von Braun. While the article's tone was a bit anti-von Braun, Dr. Silverstein and Dr. von Braun did have an interesting relationship which has effected the overall relationship between the Glenn Research Center and the Marshall Space Flight Center over the years. For a more even assessment of Dr. Silverstein I would like to refer you to the book "Taming Liquid Hydrogen" which provides a good history of this program transfer and the relationship between the two men (it also describes how Marshall's management tried at one point to conspire with JSC's to take the Centaur Prime program from NASA Lewis). Another good book that I would recommend to you would be "Engines and Innovations, which provides a history of NASA Lewis and of Dr. Silverstein's role there and at NASA Headquarters. One point that the authors of the article that you referenced failed miserably to point out is that when the first Saturn V (Apollo 4) was launched, Dr. von Braun sent Dr. Silverstein an inscribed photo of the launch with von Braun giving Silverstein due credit for the success of the Saturn V. When the Silverstein family donated his NASA memorabilia to the NASA Glenn History Office, they retained this photo!! Most likely the main reason why you haven't heard about his role is that while Dr. von Braun was a genius at selling the space program and Marshall's role in its development, Dr. Silverstein and NASA Lewis in general has historically let its engineering/science work speak for itself instead of "Doing the Big Sell" through various media outlets. Unfortunately, this lack of media/marketing prowess has been a detriment to Dr. Silverstein's legacy and to NASA Lewis in general (to the point that a there is still a good number of people in Cleveland who still don't know that there is a NASA Field Center in Cleveland)!! Dr. Silverstein was a great engineer and hopefully a better history of his life and work will be written in the future. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
|
posted 09-16-2010 11:35 AM
Abe, it seems, first used Apollo as a name for the programme to land a man on the Moon at a lunch in a restaurant close to NASA HQ in Washington during discussions about the new spacecraft. I don't have the exact date or the name of the restaurant, so perhaps someone can fill in this gap.Thereafter, he continually referred to it as Apollo and the name stuck. Later, he was to say that it was a grand name for a grand plan and one that would stick in the memory. Apollo was the God of prophecy, light and progress. Much later it was discovered that he had another attribute to endow upon the plan to land men on the Moon. He was an archer of some renown who, it was claimed, could hit targets without fail from great distances. |
dfox
Member Posts: 208
From: Scarsdale, NY, United States
Registered: Mar 2010
|
posted 09-17-2010 03:48 PM
Thank you for your insights and information about Abe Silverstein. I will definitely add those books to my reading list (which grows longer every day!). | |
Contact Us | The Source for Space History & Artifacts
Copyright 2020 collectSPACE.com All rights reserved.
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47a
|
|
|
 advertisement
|
