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Memorial Tributes Volume 11 (2007) / Chapter Skim
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Rocco A. Petrone
Pages 244-247

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From page 245...
... Rocco's career in rocketry began in the early 1950s at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, where, as an army officer, he joined the team headed by Wernher von Braun. He was assigned to the Missile Firing Laboratory, which was responsible for the development of hardware and techniques for the launch of bal 245
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From page 246...
... The complex included the Vehicle Assembly Building, the launch towers, and the 3,000-ton Saturn V CrawlerTransporter, which transported the stacked Saturn V from the Assembly Building to the launch pad about three miles away. In 1966, Rocco retired from the army and was employed immediately by NASA as director of launch operations, Kennedy Space Center, where he was responsible for the management and technical direction of pre-flight operations and systems integration, testing, checkout, and launch of all space vehicles.
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From page 247...
... Rocco Petrone left a legacy of excellence in the art and science of managing massive technical programs involving people from different cultures with a wide range of talents and skills. Guided by extraordinary engineering insight, he had an uncanny ability to ask the right questions when assessing the integrity of a design or the readiness of hardware for flight.
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Key Terms

  • assembly building
  • rockwell international
  • kennedy space
  • apollo program
  • space center

  • michael petrone
  • launch vehicles
  • including launch
  • landing program
  • appointed president

  • space vehicles
  • pershing missile
  • army officer
  • technical programs
  • employed immediately

  • rocco petrone
  • work ethic
  • nasa headquarters
  • skylab missions
  • lunar landing

  • launch operations
  • appointed manager
  • army football
  • launch pad
  • five crewed

  • characteristic vigor
  • attending sporting
  • appointed vice
  • juno space
  • stacked saturn


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