Gordon Wagner (1915–1987) was an American artist. He was born and raised in Redondo Beach, California.
Wagner became an orphan at a young age. He received a degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He worked in the Aerospace industry as a mechanical engineer.
Abraham "Abe" Silverstein (September 15, 1908 – June 1, 2001) was an American engineer who played an important part in the United States space program. He was a longtime manager at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). He was instrumental in the planning of the Apollo, Ranger, Mariner, Surveyor, and Voyager missions, and named the Apollo program after the Greek and Roman God.
Joseph Frederick Cotton (January 21, 1922 – May 5, 2016) was an American military test pilot.
Captain Robert C. Truax (USN) (September 3, 1917 – September 17, 2010) was an American rocket engineer in the United States Navy, and companies such as Aerojet and Truax Engineering, which he founded. Truax was a proponent of low-cost rocket engine and vehicle designs.
Gaetano Arturo Crocco (26 October 1877 – 19 January 1968) was an Italian scientist and aeronautics pioneer, the founder of the Italian Rocket Society, and went on to become Italy's leading space scientist. He was born in Naples.
In 1927, Crocco began working with solid-propellant rockets and, in 1929, designed and built the first liquid-propellant rocket motors in Italy. He began work with monopropellants (fuel and oxidizer combined in one chemical liquid) in 1932, making him one of the first researchers in this field.
As head of the School of Aeronautics of the University of Rome, he performed research on flight mechanics, structural design, and high-altitude flight in addition to his work in rocket propulsion.
Because of his early efforts in aeronautics, Italian satellites were launched starting in the 1960s.
The San Marco programme was a cooperative effort of NASA and the Italian Space Commission, with NASA providing launch vehicles, use of its facilities, and training of Italian personnel.
Giulio Cesare Costanzi (25 April 1875 in Contigliano, Italy – 28 August 1965 in Rome, Italy), was an officer of the ITAF Engineers Corps and a pioneer of space studies in Italy. In 1914, he wrote a paper on space navigation that is regarded as the first Italian contribution to space flights on record.
Erik Tandberg (October 19, 1932 – May 2, 2020) was a Norwegian engineer, author, television personality and space educator. He was born in Oslo, Norway. He was a master of science from Stanford University in 1959. He did his scholarship at Princeton University in the years 1964-65.
He became technical consultant on space matters at NRK from 1960.
From that time, he wrote several books and publications on space related subjects.
He was a TV commentator at NRK on all Apollo program Moon landings, 1969-1972, together with Jan P. Jansen.
In the decades thereafter, Tandberg was by far the most widely shown space expert on Norwegian television, at the same time doing a lot of public lectures on the subject.
He was connected to Norwegian Space Centre.Tandberg was a member of the City Council of Oslo for the Conservative Party from 1969-89.
He died on May 2, 2020.
Alphonse Pénaud (31 May 1850 – 22 October 1880), was a 19th-century French pioneer of aviation design and engineering. He was the originator of the use of twisted rubber to power model aircraft, and his 1871 model airplane, which he called the Planophore, was the first aerodynamically stable flying model. He went on to design a full-sized aircraft with many advanced features, but was unable to get any support for the project, and eventually committed suicide in 1880, aged 30.
William Brenton Boggs IV, (December 18, 1918 – July 7, 2011) was a pioneering Canadian leader in military and commercial aviation.
