The U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville announced that retired NASA Apollo engineer Craig Sumner has died. The veteran of the Apollo moon landings, the retired space shuttle program, and the first two launches of the new Alabama built “Space Launch System” rockets for Artemis, was recovering from surgery this week when he died, the Center said.
Sumner was central to part one of Alabama Public Radio’s coverage of the space mission of Artemis-2, which sent astronauts around the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA called on Sumner to work with the agency’s next generation of rocket engineers. His experience ranged from building the lunar rover “dune buggies” astronauts used during Apollo 15, 16, and 17, as well as propulsion for the space shuttle. His job on Artemis was to consult on the central “core” stage of the "SLS" rocket that gave the vehicle its distinctive orange color.
“I was brought on board as a ‘SME,” a subject matter expert, to work on the thermal protection system and go test what we were going to go fly and make sure it performed and exceeded our expectations," he said.
Sumner saw other moments of NASA history during his time with the space agency. One example was an early plan to use the space shuttle to rescue the Skylab space station. planned Apollo 18, 19, and 20 moon landings were NASA launched the three person space station instead. Three crew would occupy the outpost before it was left in Earth orbit in 1974. The reported rescue plan was to launch the shuttle mission of STS-3 to rendezvous with Skylab and attached a booster rocket to raise its orbit. The trick was the space station was wobbling, and NASA astronauts were used to docking with a target that was holding steady.
“So, Skylab was a lot of fun,” Sumner recalled. “Learning to dock to a moving vehicle in space to get opportunities to try to perfect a technique that would work for me. I mean, I'd fly this thing (simulator) as many hours a day as I'd wanted to. And, when our Director of Engineering went up to Washington to talk to a Senate subcommittee, the astronauts would come up and tell us that Skylab was impossible to dock to, and it was only because they didn't have the time in the simulator that I did.”
NASA eventually abandoned the rescue plan, and Skylab was allowed to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in 1979. A hydrogen tank that survived the fiery re-entry is on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, where Sumner and other retired Apollo rocket engineers greet visitors, share stories, and hand out trading cards featuring their pictures as well as notable exhibits at the center like the Apollo 16 Command Module capsule “Casper."
Click below to listen again to APR’s coverage of the Artemis-2 mission.
