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Meet: Lonnie Moffitt
Support Engineer
Flight Crew Operations
NASA Johnson Space Center
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Who I Am and What I Do
My area of focus is all the systems on the orbiter.
I work directly for different astronauts as rotations are made through
technical jobs between flight assignments. I follow new hardware developments
for the crew office such as the development of the new Auxiliary Power
Units (APU's) and other items to improve the aging fleet of orbiters.
I also follow problems as they occur with currently installed hardware
on the orbiters and ensure that the crew office is kept up-to-date on
what is going on in the engineering community.
My Career Journey
Following graduation from college in 1965, I started
teaching school in Louisville, Kentucky. After one semester I had the
opportunity to go to Cape Canaveral to work in the Space Program. I arrived
at Cocoa Beach, Fla. in August of 1965 to begin work as a mathematician
during the height of the Gemini space program. I worked in data reduction
on a variety of missiles such as the Titan, the Polaris, the Minuteman,
the Saturn, etc... It was a very exciting time for a country boy from
Kentucky! I eventually was sent to Sunnyvale, California for a brief period
of time and then ended up at the Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Johnson
Space Center) in Houston, Texas in 1968. I was privileged to work at the
space center during the Apollo program and was working during the Apollo
11 landing on the moon. I was also working during the Apollo 13 incident.
I worked during all but the final two Apollo lunar landings at the space
center.
I Moved Back to My Hometown
In 1972, I moved back to my hometown (Mayfield, Ky.)
to teach school. It was during this time that I went back to Murray State
University and got a master's degree. I taught math, science, and Spanish
and coached basketball (the favorite pasttime of most folks in Kentucky)
until 1981. This was a great time in my life because I know that I was
able to influence numerous youngsters to pursue their dreams. I tried
everyday to instill an excitement in the study of mathematics and science!
Every so often, I still run into former students and it gives me great
pleasure to find out where their lives have taken them. In 1990, I came
to work in the Astronaut Office as a support engineer to the astronauts.
[Read about Lonnie Moffitt's other experiences in NASA by reading his
additional thoughts.]
Influences
The Russian launching of Sputnik while I was in high
school and then America's response to enter the space race made me start
dreaming of eventually working with rockets and space. Once Alan Shepherd
launched, I really knew where I wanted to be...at Cape Canaveral in Florida!
Personal Information
I am a person who has always had a "love affair" with
the Space Program and have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity
to participate in it. I grew up in a small town in Western Kentucky (Mayfield,
Ky) graduating from high school in 1960. I went to college at Murray State
University in Murray, Ky., graduating with a major in Mathematics in 1965.
My Family
I have been married to my high school sweetheart,
Joyce, for over 34 years and we have two great sons and two great daughters-in-law.
We also now have a new grand-daughter, Autumn, (born Sept., 1996). My
wife is a bookkeeper for a small business, my eldest son, Steve, is a
consultant for Ernst and Young, and my youngest son, Chad, a graduate
of Texas A&M, is about to become a Doctor of Optometry at the University
of Houston. One of my daughters-in-law, Kristi, is a first grade school
teacher and the other, Wendy, is a flight attendant with American Airlines.
My family loves the water and for the past several
years have owned personal watercraft (Waverunners) that we would take
regularly to lakes in Texas. We also share a common love of the game of
basketball and are avid University of Kentucky Wildcat fans. Both sons
played throughout high school and still play in adult leagues. Steve had
the opportunity to play in a Final Four game in the Kentucky State Tournament
as a sophomore at Rupp Arena. What a lasting memory that is! For the past
ten years, I have been a high school basketball official in the Houston
area.
Likes About Career
Perhaps, the most fun part of my job is my day to
day contact with the crew members and the opportunity to learn something
new everyday about the most complex flying machine in the history of mankind.
It is also a great feeling to know I have been able to make close friends
with astronauts such as Eileen Collins, the first female Shuttle pilot
and Terry Wilcutt, the first and only astronaut from my home state of
Kentucky. It is because of Terry that I was named a Kentucky Colonel by
the Governor of the state of Kentucky.
My Future Plans and Goals
Someday, I would still like to fly in space (even
at my age). If they ever offer an opportunity for anyone other than astronauts
to fly, I will be at the head of the line. My current office mate is an
astronaut who has flown in space and when he speaks of space flying experiences,
I get excited and wonder how it would be to be free of the gravity and
to see the wonders of this planet from that view.
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