This Space Signature Spotlight is the start of what I hope will develop into a regular series, with others sharing their own examples of the spotlight signer as replies to each post.
Perhaps not too well known in the military and aerospace world by some space collectors is U.S. Air Force General Samuel C. Phillips (1921-1990). Key to developing new management techniques and more effective ways of completing critical milestones, General Phillips brought to NASA more than 100 senior U.S. Air Force officers to effect major changes on the road to the moon. His many peers described the high-ranking four-star Air Force general as a superlative leader, an unequaled manager, and one of our nation's most eminent engineering managers who led the team that put Americas on the moon.
He was hired by NASA on loan from the Air Force in 1963 as the nationwide director of the Apollo program until after humanity's first lunar landing mission in 1969. As Apollo director General Phillips investigated delays and budget issues and wrote a summary of his findings in what later became known as "The Phillips Report" after the tragic Apollo 1 spacecraft fire. He later stepped down from Apollo in Sept. 1969 and returned to the Air Force to assume command of the Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) of the Air Force Space Systems Command in Los Angeles, California.
The university graduated electrical engineer started his military career as a fighter pilot of two highly decorated European combat tours of duty for the Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war Phillips served as a senior project officer for the B-52 bomber aircraft and in the new growing aerospace field while working on the Falcon and Bomarc missile programs. From there, he rapidly advanced as director of the multi-stage Minuteman ICBM program as a driving force for the large-scale strategic integrated circuit breakthroughs in silicon rocket-use technology.
Depicted are a few signed postal space covers and photos by Phillips as a Lt. General (three star grade) as NASA's Apollo program director and as commander of SAMSO from Sept. 1969 to 1972.
One of the black-and-white glossy photos shows Phillips inside the firing room of Kennedy Space Center's Launch Control Center just after the Apollo 11 launch in July 1969. He can be seen at right smiling and laughing with his hands on a console chair along with three other highly prominent NASA top leaders that got the U.S. on the moon; Dr. George Mueller, Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight, rocket pioneer Dr. Wernher von Braun as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, and Charles Mathews, Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight. At the far left of the picture can be seen Dr. Eberhard F. M. Rees, von Braun's deputy, and KSC Center Deputy Director Miles "Mike" Ross.
For his outstanding aerospace career from the 1960/70's, Phillips had been the recipient of numerous awards and citations for his distinguished achievements and contributions to Apollo and other national missile and space programs.
posted 04-03-2024 03:54 PM
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