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Memorial Tributes Volume 18 (2014) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 290-297

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From page 291...
... director of flight operations at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Sig accepted the Medal of Freedom from President Richard M Nixon on April 18, 1970, on behalf of the entire Apollo 13 mission operations team.
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From page 292...
... President, all of us here at the Manned Spacecraft Center and indeed people throughout the country and world who had the opportunity to participate in Apollo 13 are extremely grateful for this award. Thank God for the return of the astronauts.
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From page 293...
... NASA announced the selection of America's seven Mercury astronauts in March of 1959. Sig became the operations coordinator of the flight operations division and assistant to the chief of flight operations, his NACA friend of many years, Chris Kraft.
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From page 294...
... Sig later summed up the feelings of those in the Space Task Group about Kennedy's announcement in his NASA oral history: "We were floored." Floored or not, the torrid pace picked up. Within the next two years, Mercury was a success and the newly built Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC)
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From page 295...
... After the triumphant Apollo 11 lunar landing mission by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins in July 1969, Chris Kraft moved up to become the MSC deputy director and Sig took over as director of flight operations. During Sig's tenure, NASA flew the Apollo 12, 13, and 14 missions to the Moon.
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From page 296...
... 296 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES Sig Sjoberg, a revered aeronautical engineer, a pioneer in America's space program and former deputy director of the Johnson Space Center, died on March 26, 2000, in Clear Lake, Texas, at age 80. Author's Note In writing this tribute I relied on many sources, particularly from records of the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.
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Key Terms

  • mission operations
  • space task
  • flight operations
  • operations team
  • space flight

  • national space
  • johnson space
  • chris kraft
  • spacecraft center
  • space center

  • manned spacecraft
  • bob gilruth
  • landing mission
  • presidential medal


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