Author
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Topic: Skylab parasol designer Jack Kinzler (1920-2014)
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mode1charlie Member Posts: 1169 From: Honolulu, HI Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 03-14-2014 11:09 PM
Jack Kinzler, the longtime chief of the Technical Services Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, passed away on 4 March 2014. Mr. Kinzler was known as NASA’s resident "Mr. Fix-It", and was responsible for building many of the full-scale models of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo spacecraft used in preflight tests, and solving a spate of other mechanical problems over the years. However, his obituary in the New York Times points out that perhaps his greatest accomplishment was as the architect of an improvised thermal shield he created for the Skylab station after the original was stripped away during launch. When Skylab shed its shield, most of the proposed solutions entailed a spacewalk, with all its inherent dangers. To Mr. Kinzler, that was an unattractive prospect: The commander of Skylab’s crew, Charles Conrad Jr., known as Pete, was his next-door neighbor and friend.What was needed, Mr. Kinzler knew, was a fix that could be done from the inside. He learned that Skylab had an airlock — a narrow passage meant for use as a camera port — near the site of the damage. It might be possible, he thought, to build a kind of flat, collapsible shade tree, which could be extruded through the airlock and, once outside, made to bloom. He phoned a sporting-goods store and ordered a set of fiberglass fishing rods. The salient thing about them was not that they caught fish, but that they telescoped. To build his prototype, Mr. Kinzler arranged four rods like the ribs of an immense umbrella, securing one to each side of a piece of parachute silk roughly 24 feet square. Folded, the parasol would just fit into the airlock. Once extruded, its canopy could be snapped open by means of springs. |
randy Member Posts: 2176 From: West Jordan, Utah USA Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 03-15-2014 12:24 AM
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David Carey Member Posts: 782 From: Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 03-15-2014 12:53 AM
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Greggy_D Member Posts: 977 From: Michigan Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 03-15-2014 01:07 AM
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mach3valkyrie Member Posts: 719 From: Albany, Oregon Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 03-15-2014 01:49 AM
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Kite Member Posts: 831 From: Northampton UK Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 03-15-2014 02:40 AM
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GACspaceguy Member Posts: 2476 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 03-15-2014 04:31 AM
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East-Frisian Member Posts: 586 From: Germany Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 03-15-2014 05:00 AM
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capoetc Member Posts: 2169 From: McKinney TX (USA) Registered: Aug 2005
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posted 03-15-2014 06:11 AM
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Lunar rock nut Member Posts: 911 From: Oklahoma city, Oklahoma U.S.A. Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 03-15-2014 07:45 AM
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Delta7 Member Posts: 1505 From: Bluffton IN USA Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 03-15-2014 08:18 AM
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cspg Member Posts: 6210 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
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posted 03-15-2014 08:27 AM
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Grounded! Member Posts: 367 From: Bennington, Vermont, USA Registered: Feb 2011
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posted 03-15-2014 10:12 AM
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Michael Davis Member Posts: 528 From: Houston, Texas Registered: Aug 2002
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posted 03-15-2014 10:41 AM
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Jeff Member Posts: 474 From: Fayetteville, NC, USA Registered: May 2009
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posted 03-15-2014 11:35 AM
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Shuttle Endeavour Member Posts: 234 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Aug 2013
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posted 03-15-2014 11:39 AM
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fredtrav Member Posts: 1673 From: Birmingham AL Registered: Aug 2010
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posted 03-15-2014 12:32 PM
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Apollo-Soyuz Member Posts: 1205 From: Shady Side, Md Registered: Sep 2004
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posted 03-15-2014 04:41 PM
Here is a scan of a cover as a tribute to Jack Kinzler. |
Astro Rich Member Posts: 133 From: Huntsville, Alabama Registered: Feb 2014
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posted 03-15-2014 06:04 PM
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RobertB Member Posts: 160 From: Israel Registered: Nov 2012
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posted 03-15-2014 06:35 PM
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LM1 Member Posts: 667 From: New York, NY Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 03-15-2014 07:32 PM
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jasonelam Member Posts: 691 From: Monticello, KY USA Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 03-15-2014 07:57 PM
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dss65 Member Posts: 1156 From: Sandpoint, ID, USA Registered: Mar 2003
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posted 03-15-2014 11:10 PM
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JohnPaul56 Member Posts: 180 From: Montclair, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2010
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posted 03-15-2014 11:32 PM
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Ronpur Member Posts: 1211 From: Brandon, Fl Registered: May 2012
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posted 03-16-2014 07:33 AM
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apolloprojeckt Member Posts: 1447 From: Arnhem, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2009
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posted 03-16-2014 08:43 AM
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hlbjr Member Posts: 475 From: Delray Beach Florida USA Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 03-18-2014 10:24 PM
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Gilbert Member Posts: 1328 From: Carrollton, GA USA Registered: Jan 2003
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posted 03-19-2014 08:27 PM
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-20-2014 11:24 PM
In addition to the New York Times' obituary cited above, the Washington Post, TIME magazine and the Daily Telegraph noted his passing. |
astro-nut Member Posts: 946 From: Washington, IL Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 03-22-2014 10:41 AM
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