NASA
Aiming at Targets: The Autobiography of Robert C. Seamans Jr.
Robert C. Seamans Jr.
Biographies & Memoirs
Aiming at Targets: The Autobiography of Robert C. Seamans Jr.
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An essential volume in the NASA History Series by Robert C. Seamans, Jr., the Associate Administrator of NASA during the Apollo program. A stirring insider's account of NASA and the manned space program at the highest levels. Relationships with the Department of Defense, the Apollo 204 fire, the assassination of President Kennedy, and more. Aiming at Targets is a series of fascinating topical vignettes covering the author's professional life. Taken together, like broad brushstrokes in an impressionist painting, they give a better picture of Bob Seamans and his work than a detailed recitation of facts and dates could hope to do. This is a cheerful account of an interesting and successful career. The book is full of good stories, with many memorable characters. Like the proverbial sundial, it counts the sunny hours.

Language
English
ISBN
9780160489075
Aiming at Targets
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER ONE: Liftoff
Grandfather Bosson-An Early Family Influence
My Parents
My Brothers
Boyhood
Tower School
Mastoidectomy
Marblehead
Kent School
Lenox School
Harvard College
Rheumatic Fever
Gene
Postgraduate Studies
Doc Draper
In Love
Master's Thesis
Engagement to Gene
World War II
Our Wedding
War Work
Target Acquisition
Tracking Control
Middleton
My Mentor
Project Meteor
RCA
Airborne Systems Laboratory
Wrapping Up
CHAPTER TWO: The NASA Years
First Weeks at NASA
Tour of the NASA Centers
Moving the Decimal Point
The Question of Organization
What Will Kennedy Do?
Life at the Rocket
The Coming of Jim Webb
Reorganization
Moving Forward
Moving Faster
Negotiating with DOD
Organizing for a Trip to the Moon
Long Hours, Hard Work
Bringing the Work Home
The Politics of NASA
Brainerd Holmes Moves On
Another Wedding
George Mueller Moves In
President Kennedy
Family Times
More Travel Overseas
LBJ
End of the Triad
The Fire
Back to the Hill
Watershed
Afterthoughts
Mission Accomplished
CHAPTER THREE: The Air Force Years
Forming the Team
NASA and DOD
Source Selection
Contracting
Project Manager
Project Reviews
Galaxy and the Company Books
From TFX to a Successful F-111
The F-15-Can the Air Force Do It Right?
AWACS, from Air Defense to Battle Control
AX-The Tension of Roles and Missions
Interdiction-The Mice Win
The B-1-Big League Competition
DSS-The Unthinkable Alert
Campus Life
Globetrotting
The POWs Come Home
Leaving the Air Force
CHAPTER FOUR: Reentry
The National Academy of Engineering
ERDA
Admiral Rickover
An Unexpected Detour
A Soviet Tour
The Shah of Iran
Parading out of ERDA
Dean at MIT
Venture Capital
Johnny Appleseed's
Directorships
Eli Lilly and Company
Combustion Engineering
Putnam Funds
Nonprofits
Write a Book?
APPENDIX A: Selected Documents
July 15 and 26, 1960: NASA Administrator T. Keith Glennan's letter to me and my response
May 8, 1961: Letter, with report attached, from Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and NASA Administrator James E. Webb to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson
November 15 and December 6, 1961: Letter from NASA researcher John Houbolt to me, and my response
February 5, 1967: My initial report on the Apollo 204 fire to NASA Administrator James E. Webb
October 5 and 12, 1967: Letters from President Lyndon B. Johnson and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey upon my resignation from NASA
August 4, 1969: Letter from me as secretary ofthe Air Force to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew
April 1 and 5, 1971: My mid-term letter to Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird and his response
April 10 and May 15, 1973: My letter of resignation from the Air Force and President Richard M. Nixon's response
January 18, 1977: My letter to James Schlesinger, assistant to the President-elect (for energy)
January 18 and 19, 1977: My letter of resignation from ERDA to President Gerald R. Ford, his reply, and a January 19 letter to me from Richard W. Roberts of ERDA
December 16, 1985: Letter to me from former President Gerald R. Ford upon his resignation from the Aerospace Corporation
APPENDIX B: Biographical Appendix
APPENDIX C: Chronology for Robert C. Seamans, Jr.
INDEX
THE NASA HISTORY SERIES
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