Jay Greene
Encyclopedia
Jay H. Greene is a retired NASA
engineer
. He worked as a FIDO flight controller during the Apollo Program and a flight director from 1982 to 1986, most notably as ascent flight director during the Challenger accident in 1986. Greene worked for four years as a manager on the International Space Station
project and received several awards for his work including the NASA Distinguished Service Medal
. After his retirement in 2004 he served as a part-time consultant on the Exploration Systems Architecture Study
. NASA Associate Administrator Rex Geveden
described him as "a famous technical curmudgeon in the Agency."
and graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering
. His first job was at North American Aviation
in Downey, California
, but he did not find the work particularly satisfying. Less than a year later, he accepted a job with NASA at the Manned Spacecraft Center (later named the Johnson Space Center) in Houston, Texas
.
His first shift as a flight controller was during the launch of the unmanned Apollo 6
. The launch turned out to be a memorable one, as two engines cut out on the second stage of the Saturn V booster less than five minutes after lift-off. Although the mission was not aborted, it was a challenging launch for the Flight Dynamics officer—the spacecraft diverged from its intended trajectory so severely that Greene was nearly forced to call an abort.
In 1969, Greene was chosen to work the descent shift for Apollo 11
, the first lunar landing. This was a coveted and prestigious assignment, showing the esteem in which he was held by his superiors. Flight Director Gene Kranz
, who also worked the descent shift, described Greene as "elite in the ranks of the FIDOs, cocky and crisp with his calls."
During the Apollo 13
crisis, Greene played a less major role. Unlike many other flight controllers, most notably Gene Kranz
, he was not positive about the astronauts' chance of survival. "A lot of them in retrospect will tell you how macho and cool [it was]," he said in an interview some years later, "but it was pretty grim." Greene later stated that "when they opened up that capsule, I was sure all they would find would be three dead bodies. I honestly didn't see how we could get them home."
Greene was a FIDO on Apollo 6 through 17, excluding Apollo 9.http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/GreeneJH/GreeneJH_Bio.pdf
during launch. He fought to keep the Shuttle from being fitted with a range safety destruct system, which would allow it to be destroyed remotely from the ground. However, he was not successful and believes that he was removed from the position as a result of his stand on the issue.
Greene remained in the flight dynamics branch until 1982, spending 1976 through 1979 as section head and 1980 through 1982 as branch chief. He was a FIDO on STS-1
and worked his last mission as FIDO in 1981 on STS-2
, the second Shuttle launch. By that point, his responsibilities in the flight dynamics branch were largely managerial.
That year, at the request of Johnson Space Center director George Abbey, he began the process of training to become a flight director. He worked STS-3
and STS-4
as a backup flight director, learning the job by being paired with the experienced flight director Tommy Holloway and observing him at work. Greene's first mission as flight director in his own right was STS-6
, which launched on April 6, 1983. As a flight director, Greene specialized in the ascent shift, considered to be one of the most demanding and dangerous phases of a mission. He worked on ten flights between 1983 and 1986, including STS-61-C
, which was notable for having included Rep. Bill Nelson
(D-FL) as a member of the crew. In his book about the mission, Nelson characterized Greene as a "no-nonsense type of man," "underpaid and overworked," yet dedicated to his job. His tenth and final mission as lead Flight Director was on STS-51-L
.http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/GreeneJH/GreeneJH_Bio.pdf
In the minutes following the loss of Challenger, Greene's responsibilities as flight director centered on ensuring that data from the accident was properly recorded and preserved, and that incident reports were written up.
NASA adopted a policy of minimum engagement with the press in the immediate aftermath of the accident. On the following day, the New York Times noted that "neither Jay Greene, flight director for the ascent, nor any other person in the control room, was made available to the press by the space agency". He did, however, appear at a press conference later that day, where he answered questions about the accident. All the data received at Mission Control up to the time of Challengers disintegration appeared normal, he reported, and he was not able to shed light on the accident's cause.
After Challenger, Greene chose to retire as a flight director. In October 1987, after a short period working with a study group on lunar exploration, he was appointed head of NASA's safety division. The division had been created after the Challenger accident at the recommendation of the Rogers Commission, which saw its establishment as key in creating a new, more vigorous "safety culture" at NASA. However, Greene feared that too much introspection by NASA engineers could lead to a damaging loss of confidence. In an interview a year later, he said that NASA had been on "a fantastic guilt trip," adding that "I believe NASA has been overly eager to defend itself against all critics. Any time you have an independent panel, you ought to be able to name a defense attorney for the status quo."
In the following years, among other positions, he worked as Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC from 1991 through 1993. In 1995 he became Manager of the Space Shuttle Engineering Office, a technically challenging job that he enjoyed greatly. "That was an amazingly good feeling," he later said, "owning four Shuttles. Going down to the Cape and visiting them and actually feeling ownership and responsibility for them." However, his opposition to the creation of the United Space Alliance
was controversial, and he spent less than two years in the position.
From 1996 to 2000, Greene was Deputy Manager for Technical Development on the International Space Station
. He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal
, the Rotary Stellar Award, and a Silver Snoopy award for his work on the station. Finally, between 2000 and 2004, he served as Chief Engineer at Johnson Space Center, where his role consisted primarily of advising the Center Director.
, which aimed to provide a blueprint for America's return to the Moon and Mars. "We put together a greybeard review team," explained NASA Associate Administrator Rex Geveden
, describing Greene as "a famous technical curmudgeon in the Agency."
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
. He worked as a FIDO flight controller during the Apollo Program and a flight director from 1982 to 1986, most notably as ascent flight director during the Challenger accident in 1986. Greene worked for four years as a manager on the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
project and received several awards for his work including the NASA Distinguished Service Medal
NASA Distinguished Service Medal
The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award which may be bestowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States...
. After his retirement in 2004 he served as a part-time consultant on the Exploration Systems Architecture Study
Exploration Systems Architecture Study
The Exploration Systems Architecture Study is the official title of a large-scale, system level study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in November 2005 in response to American president George W...
. NASA Associate Administrator Rex Geveden
Rex Geveden
Rex Geveden is the president of Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, Alabama. Previously he was the Associate Administrator of NASA. He was selected for that position by NASA chief Michael Griffin on August 17, 2005, after having served in an acting capacity since June of that year. Griffin...
described him as "a famous technical curmudgeon in the Agency."
Early life
Greene grew up in BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
. His first job was at North American Aviation
North American Aviation
North American Aviation was a major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service...
in Downey, California
Downey, California
Downey is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city is best known as the birthplace of the Apollo space program, and is the city where folk singer Karen Carpenter lived and died...
, but he did not find the work particularly satisfying. Less than a year later, he accepted a job with NASA at the Manned Spacecraft Center (later named the Johnson Space Center) in Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
.
Apollo program
Despite the fact that his degree was in electrical engineering, Greene was assigned to the flight dynamics branch and trained to be a Flight Dynamics Officer (FIDO) for the upcoming Apollo program. His responsibilities in Mission Control would include monitoring the trajectory of the Apollo spacecraft, computing changes in orbit, and plotting course corrections and adjustments.His first shift as a flight controller was during the launch of the unmanned Apollo 6
Apollo 6
Apollo 6, launched on April 4, 1968, was the Apollo program's second and last A type mission—unmanned test flight of its Saturn V launch vehicle. It was intended to demonstrate full lunar injection capability of the Saturn V, and the capability of the Command Module's heat shield to withstand a...
. The launch turned out to be a memorable one, as two engines cut out on the second stage of the Saturn V booster less than five minutes after lift-off. Although the mission was not aborted, it was a challenging launch for the Flight Dynamics officer—the spacecraft diverged from its intended trajectory so severely that Greene was nearly forced to call an abort.
In 1969, Greene was chosen to work the descent shift for Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
, the first lunar landing. This was a coveted and prestigious assignment, showing the esteem in which he was held by his superiors. Flight Director Gene Kranz
Gene Kranz
Kranz's book, titled Failure Is Not an Option, published five years after the movie, stated, "...a creed that we all lived by: "Failure is not an option."" . The book has three index references for the phrase, but none of those give any indication of the phrase being apocryphal...
, who also worked the descent shift, described Greene as "elite in the ranks of the FIDOs, cocky and crisp with his calls."
During the Apollo 13
Apollo 13
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
crisis, Greene played a less major role. Unlike many other flight controllers, most notably Gene Kranz
Gene Kranz
Kranz's book, titled Failure Is Not an Option, published five years after the movie, stated, "...a creed that we all lived by: "Failure is not an option."" . The book has three index references for the phrase, but none of those give any indication of the phrase being apocryphal...
, he was not positive about the astronauts' chance of survival. "A lot of them in retrospect will tell you how macho and cool [it was]," he said in an interview some years later, "but it was pretty grim." Greene later stated that "when they opened up that capsule, I was sure all they would find would be three dead bodies. I honestly didn't see how we could get them home."
Greene was a FIDO on Apollo 6 through 17, excluding Apollo 9.http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/GreeneJH/GreeneJH_Bio.pdf
Space shuttle program
After the Apollo program concluded, Greene spent two years as a Range Safety Coordinator, planning the procedures that would be followed if something went wrong with the trajectory of the Space ShuttleSpace Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
during launch. He fought to keep the Shuttle from being fitted with a range safety destruct system, which would allow it to be destroyed remotely from the ground. However, he was not successful and believes that he was removed from the position as a result of his stand on the issue.
STS-1
STS-1 was the first orbital flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program. Space Shuttle Columbia launched on 12 April 1981, and returned to Earth on 14 April, having orbited the Earth 37 times during the 54.5-hour mission. It was the first American manned space flight since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project...
and worked his last mission as FIDO in 1981 on STS-2
STS-2
STS-2 was a Space Shuttle mission conducted by NASA, using the Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission launched on 12 November 1981. It was the second shuttle mission overall, and was also the second mission for Columbia...
, the second Shuttle launch. By that point, his responsibilities in the flight dynamics branch were largely managerial.
That year, at the request of Johnson Space Center director George Abbey, he began the process of training to become a flight director. He worked STS-3
STS-3
STS-3 was NASA's third Space Shuttle mission, and was the third mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was the first shuttle launch with an unpainted external tank, and the only mission to land at the White Sands Space Harbor near Las Cruces, New Mexico.-Crew:-Backup crew:-Mission...
and STS-4
STS-4
STS-4 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission, using the Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission launched on 27 June 1982 and landed a week later on 4 July. STS-4 was the fourth shuttle mission overall, and was also the fourth mission for the Columbia.-Crew:...
as a backup flight director, learning the job by being paired with the experienced flight director Tommy Holloway and observing him at work. Greene's first mission as flight director in his own right was STS-6
STS-6
STS-6 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission conducted using Space Shuttle Challenger, carrying the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-1, into orbit. Launched on 4 April 1983, STS-6 was the sixth shuttle mission and the first of the ten missions flown by Challenger...
, which launched on April 6, 1983. As a flight director, Greene specialized in the ascent shift, considered to be one of the most demanding and dangerous phases of a mission. He worked on ten flights between 1983 and 1986, including STS-61-C
STS-61-C
-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter liftoff: **Orbiter landing: **Payload: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 28.5°*Period: 91.2 min-Mission background:...
, which was notable for having included Rep. Bill Nelson
Bill Nelson
Clarence William "Bill" Nelson is the senior United States Senator from the state of Florida and a member of the Democratic Party. He is a former U.S. Representative and former Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida...
(D-FL) as a member of the crew. In his book about the mission, Nelson characterized Greene as a "no-nonsense type of man," "underpaid and overworked," yet dedicated to his job. His tenth and final mission as lead Flight Director was on STS-51-L
STS-51-L
STS-51-L was the twenty-fifth flight of the American Space Shuttle program, which marked the first time an ordinary civilian, schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, had flown aboard the Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Challenger, which lifted off from the Launch Complex 39-B on 28 January...
.http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/GreeneJH/GreeneJH_Bio.pdf
Challenger accident
Greene was not originally assigned to work the STS-51-L mission, which was scheduled to launch a mere ten days after the landing of STS-61-C. Due to staffing issues, he was pulled from STS-61-C and reassigned as ascent flight director for STS-51-L. As flight director, Greene was involved in discussion (although by his own recollection, "not a lot") about concerns with the cold weather and ice on the morning of the launch. These concerns had been worked primarily during the shift preceding his, and their conclusion had been that the freezing weather was not a reason to call off the launch as far as the orbiter was concerned. While he did have the authority to halt the countdown, he chose to report 'GO' to the KSC Launch Director.NASA adopted a policy of minimum engagement with the press in the immediate aftermath of the accident. On the following day, the New York Times noted that "neither Jay Greene, flight director for the ascent, nor any other person in the control room, was made available to the press by the space agency". He did, however, appear at a press conference later that day, where he answered questions about the accident. All the data received at Mission Control up to the time of Challengers disintegration appeared normal, he reported, and he was not able to shed light on the accident's cause.
Managerial positions
In the following years, among other positions, he worked as Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC from 1991 through 1993. In 1995 he became Manager of the Space Shuttle Engineering Office, a technically challenging job that he enjoyed greatly. "That was an amazingly good feeling," he later said, "owning four Shuttles. Going down to the Cape and visiting them and actually feeling ownership and responsibility for them." However, his opposition to the creation of the United Space Alliance
United Space Alliance
United Space Alliance is a spaceflight operations company. USA is a joint venture which was established in August 1995 as a Limited Liability Company , equally owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas and, employed approximately 8,800 people in Texas,...
was controversial, and he spent less than two years in the position.
From 1996 to 2000, Greene was Deputy Manager for Technical Development on the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
. He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal
NASA Distinguished Service Medal
The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award which may be bestowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States...
, the Rotary Stellar Award, and a Silver Snoopy award for his work on the station. Finally, between 2000 and 2004, he served as Chief Engineer at Johnson Space Center, where his role consisted primarily of advising the Center Director.
Retirement
After retiring from NASA in 2004, Greene worked as a part-time consultant on the Exploration Systems Architecture StudyExploration Systems Architecture Study
The Exploration Systems Architecture Study is the official title of a large-scale, system level study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in November 2005 in response to American president George W...
, which aimed to provide a blueprint for America's return to the Moon and Mars. "We put together a greybeard review team," explained NASA Associate Administrator Rex Geveden
Rex Geveden
Rex Geveden is the president of Teledyne Brown Engineering in Huntsville, Alabama. Previously he was the Associate Administrator of NASA. He was selected for that position by NASA chief Michael Griffin on August 17, 2005, after having served in an acting capacity since June of that year. Griffin...
, describing Greene as "a famous technical curmudgeon in the Agency."