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Memorial Tributes Volume 12 (2008) / Chapter Skim
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Maxim A. Faget
Pages 116-121

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From page 117...
... FAGET, inventor of the Mercury spacecraft and chief NASA engineer for every manned spaceship developed and flown by NASA, probably until 2010, died on October 9, 2004, at the age of 83. The director of engineering and development at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, from 1961 until his retirement in the summer of 1981, Faget is widely recognized by his colleagues as the father of the Mercury, Apollo, and Space Shuttle spacecraft.
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From page 118...
... He also contributed directly to the design of the X-15, an experimental aircraft that flew at speeds up to Mach 6. In 1957, shortly after the successful flight of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth, Max joined a small group of individuals in the NACA Space Task Group investigating ideas to make human space flight possible.
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From page 119...
... Although the project was never completed, in large part because of the loss of Challenger in 1986, Max's work ethic, approach to solving tough engineering problems, and overall vision of excellence enabled his colleagues to continue in other lines of business. Max continued to be a senior advisor to the company, which eventually became Veridian, a publicly traded corporation with annual revenues of more than $1 billion and a workforce of about 8,000 engineers, scientists,
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From page 120...
... is not that kind of country. The king does not appoint a royal spaceship designer." He then pointed to a picture behind his desk of John Paul Jones, often called the father of the American Navy and one of Max's longtime heroes, beside several impressive ships.
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Key Terms

  • max faget
  • space industries
  • johnson space
  • mercury capsule
  • space vehicles

  • space flight
  • space center
  • soviet space
  • naca space
  • industrial space

  • national space
  • reusable space
  • inexpensive space
  • space transportation
  • human space

  • spaceship developed
  • meet additional
  • escape tower
  • tropical diseases
  • work ethic

  • orbit earth
  • inventors hall
  • tower designed
  • dynamic pressures
  • traded corporation

  • apollo spacecraft
  • distinguished service
  • francisco junior
  • design changes
  • includes nasa


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