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Author Topic:   Space Task Group member Stephen Huzar
C2Ag93
New Member

Posts: 8
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Jun 2019

posted 09-21-2020 05:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for C2Ag93     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I've spent a lot of time researching my father's history with NASA (Stephen Huzar (1938-2003). Unfortunately, I effectively lost him when I was 13. I am wondering if any of you have any direct knowledge of him or ideas on where to get information on him that I have not already done.

In short, he began with the Space Task Force in Hampton, Virginia (Langley Station) in 1961. He moved to Houston when his group moved in April 1962 (Mission Analysis and Planning, lunar trajectories).

Mr. Harold Beck (his boss in Houston) shared some good information with me. In February 1963, he transferred into Structures and Mechanics. He started when NASA was in the temporary buildings all over the southeast side of Houston (before present-day Johnson Space Center was constructed). I already know a lot about the temporary buildings, NASA phone books, and know where he worked in all of them (Houston Petroleum Center, the Rich Building, Ellington Field, then finally to the Manned Spacecraft Center when it opened in 1964).

While in Structures and Mechanics, he worked on vibrations and testing of the LEM. There is a NASA News Release where his team won an award from Maxime Faget for their work in Building 49, the Vibrations and Acoustics Test Facility. He left NASA in May 1968 to return to school (Texas A&M), and did some early work on the Space Shuttle through 1972 (with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio).

I have (so far) -

  1. gleamed what I can from all over the internet
  2. gathered what I could from NASA archives at Clear Lake (obtained four memoranda he wrote)
  3. corresponded with NASA HQ and the archive in Fort Worth (who cannot locate anything)
  4. Obtained his NASA personnel file from the National Archives (with a lot of great details)
  5. Found and gathered some few memories of my father from at least five NASA Alumni League people who actually worked with him
  6. I was fortunate enough to be invited to and intend alumni events around the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing at JSC last year (in 2019). From there, an amazing person who currently works at NASA organized a tour of the VATF (Building 49) for me.
As you see, I've done a lot. So really, my only thought of posting is that perhaps someone reading this would remember him. Or, by posting what I have already done to research him, someone may know a little-known way of getting more information on "ancient" NASA history of specific people like engineers (my father) during the 1960s. I would love to find a picture of him at NASA in the 1960s, but I have yet to find a way to get pictures (except through googling which yields too many to sort).

If you have any knowledge, thanks in advance!

Buel
Member

Posts: 820
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012

posted 02-20-2022 02:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Buel   Click Here to Email Buel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Can you share what you’ve learned so far?

Editor's note: Threads merged.

C2Ag93
New Member

Posts: 8
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Jun 2019

posted 02-20-2022 05:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for C2Ag93     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My dad's name was Stephen Huzar. I know a lot about him now, after doing a year or so of research and becoming connected to Apollo-era people that worked with him. But the basics:
  • July 1961 — Graduated college and went to work for NASA as a civil servant in Hampton VA with the Space Task Group

  • April 1962 — Moved with the Mission Analysis Branch to Houston when the MSC moved. Worked in Lunar Trajectories. This is when the MSC was in temporary locations closer to downtown in Houston. His team calculated fuel, travel times, maneuvers, etc.

    One of his papers is quoted in the Apollo Chronology.

  • March 1963 — Transferred to Structures and Mechanics (theoretical models, vibration studies, etc. as they designed craft for Gemini and Apollo). Also helped in the design of equipment used in the VATF, Building 49, which would eventually open in March 1965 at the permanent MSC.

  • March 1964 — All MSC employees had moved to the permanent MSC. He continued studies on Gemini and Apollo first in Building 13, before Building 49 was opened.

    Most of his time was spent at Building 49. They would run tests on the Apollo stack in the VATF, both with vibration and acoustics. The VATF is described in detail in oral histories of Bob Wren, his division head, whom I got to meet at an Apollo 11 50th Anniversary reunion.

In January 1967, the team my father was on was included, each person by name, in a NASA News Release, awarded for their work by Maxime Faget, head of SMD. Specifically, they worked on the LM test models. The work (in concert with contractors of course) was to ensure structural integrity of the craft and ways to make it lighter.

He left NASA in May 1968, as did other engineers, since it was clear reductions in force were coming. His plan was to go back to college for a doctorate in engineering and, from what I gather, in hopes to make himself more marketable to stay on with NASA in its next phases. He didn't complete his doctorate since he landed a job with the Southwest Research Institute working on early vibration studies for the Space Shuttle. But wasn't there long and switched roles to an engineering position in regular industry. Suppose after Apollo, it was hard to top!

I, of course, have a lot of granular details, a couple of his whitepapers he wrote while in Mission Analysis, etc. But those are the basics!

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