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Imagination took us to the moon

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Skip Steele learned a few life lessons from the time he attended the U.S. Naval Academy to the time he served as an engineer for such U.S. space programs as the Apollo mission and beyond. He shared his expertise with Columbia's Explorers Club at the Capital City Club for their September meeting to commemorate the 40-year mark since man landed on the moon in the. Apollo 11 mission.

Steele also shared some of his memories. He said that as a first classman--or fourth year stu-' dent--it was his responsibility to help Sen. John McCain get through his first year at the Naval Academy. "You never know when you turn around who you're gonna meet," he said in an interview.

Steele also recalled some of NASA's darkest moments. He sent a letter to NASA calling for them to reduce the level of oxygen from 100 percent in the event the astronauts encountered a fire in the first manned Apollo mission. Steele was criticized for his letter, and three astronauts died on the mission because they couldn't put a fire out and couldn't escape the pressurized cabin.

Steele credited Dr. John Houbolt with the success of the Apollo program. He said Houbolt's Lunar Orbit Rendezvous--a mission in which the main spacecraft travels with a separate lunar module in orbit--defined the program. An out-of-the-box thinker, Houbolt suggested using a smaller rocket with less hardware. "The true barriers of science and growth are driven by imagination and creativity," Steele said.

NASA was eventually sold on Houbolt's idea, but Steele said he never got the credit he deserved. And many initially criticized him for his idea.

Steele said the U. S. attempted the first moon landing out of a desire to beat the Russians. But numerous scientific achievements have resulted from our space exploration, he said. Among those benefits are microelectronics and strides the U. S. has made with computers.

These achievements didn't come easily. It required 15 tons of fuel per second to power the six million-pound Saturn V--the spacecraft used in Apollo missions four through 17. German rocket physicist, Wernher von Braun designed the spacecraft.

Steele said belief that one can create something is the key ingredient in success. "The problem is that once the human creature says, 'I can't,' it's all over with."

But as an engineer, Steele's attitude was "I can." One of his achievements was building a solar power system that powered the seismic experiment. Astronauts used the experiment to measure seismic activity on the moon. Steele's solar panels lasted more than a year-- longer than any other solar panels had lasted before. He also designed, built, and tested devices the astronauts used to measure temperature, levels of dust, and radiation on the moon.

At age 79, Steele knows learning is a life-long achievement. He received an MBA from Canbourne University in London in 2000. "Knowledge is power," he quoted the adage.

But Steele doesn't keep his knowledge to himself. He recently visited Afghanistan where he trained six engineers. And in addition to speaking to groups like the Explorers, Steele looks for opportunities to teach future generations some of the lessons he learned when he was helping man land on the moon.



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© 2009 The Columbia Star Columbia, South Carolina. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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