Sierra Hotel Blog
When Space Shuttle Columbia touched down at Edwards AFB on April 14, 1981 after her STS-1 maiden flight, nobody knew how close disaster had come. An overpressure wave from the solid rocket booster had damaged the heat shield and forced the body flap 5° beyond safe limits — a hydraulic rupture would have made controlled descent impossible. Commander John Young later admitted they would have ejected had they known.
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Margaret Heafield Hamilton led development of the on-board flight software for the Apollo space program at MIT. Three minutes before Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon, her software’s priority-based asynchronous executive averted a mission abort by managing a computer overload caused by a faulty radar input. Margaret Hamilton saved Apollo 11.
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On December 20, 1962, NASA research pilot Milton O. Thompson ejected inverted at 18,000 feet after his F-104 Starfighter experienced an asymmetric flap condition over Edwards AFB. He descended safely under a good chute, walked to the road, and was found hitchhiking by NASA Flight Operations chief Joe Vensel. Thompson went on to fly the M2-F1 lifting body 47 times, pilot the X-15 to Mach 5.48, and eventually become NASA Chief Engineer.
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General Joe Henry Engle earned astronaut wings in the X-15 at just 32 years old, flew 17 X-15 missions, and commanded two Space Shuttle missions including STS-2 aboard Columbia. He also flew Space Shuttle Enterprise on multiple unpowered Approach and Landing Tests, releasing from NASA's 747 at 25,000 feet. Joe flew over 185 aircraft types and logged more than 15,400 hours. He flew west on July 10, 2024, at the age of 91.
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NASA deliberately short-fueled the Apollo 10 lunar module to prevent Stafford and Cernan from attempting an unauthorized Moon landing. They came within 8.4 nautical miles of the surface — and set the all-time speed record for a manned vehicle at 24,791 mph on the way home.
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