Highways Into Space: A first-hand account of the beginnings of the human space program (51 page)

Leaving operations, he moved to project management as the Cold War took a new turn in the space theater. After a decade of competition, both countries saw the value in cooperation on rendezvous and docking systems to enable the possibility of rescue of stranded space travelers. Lunney became the US Director and this concept was tested in 1975 with the success of the Apollo/Soyuz docking mission. He was also the project manager for the three transport ships, which brought astronauts up and down to repair and live in Skylab, the first US space station. He was known to refer to his work as “The Best Job in the World”!

Lunney grew up in Old Forge in North East Pennsylvania. He went to Scranton Prep, a Jesuit high school, the University of Scranton for 2 years and then the University of Detroit where he co-oped his last 3 years at the NACA Lewis Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio. After the period covered by this book, he went on to other executive positions in NASA and to a dozen years in the Aerospace industry. He is most proud of the ‘Medal of Freedom’ award to the Mission Operations team for Apollo XIII.