National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo Program Letter Myers

This collection consists of a letter, dated March 17, 1965, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to Dale Eugene Myers on behalf of the Apollo astronauts thanking Myers for his contribution to the space program.

The Apollo program began as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) ten-year plan from 1959, which planned for lunar exploration sometime in the 1970s. Following President Kennedy's speech of 25 May 1961, which called for a lunar landing by the end of 1969, NASA accelerated its development scheme accordingly. Flights began in November 1967 with the uncrewed launches of Apollos 4, 5, and 6. The first crewed launch occurred in October 1968 with Apollo 7, followed by Apollos 8, 9, and 10. Apollo 11 (16 July - 24 July 1969) was the first crewed craft to land on the moon. The Apollo missions continued with Apollos 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and the last Apollo mission, Apollo 17, in December 1972. In all, twelve men landed on the moon and carried out numerous scientific experiments and returned more than 837 pounds of lunar soil for analysis. Dale Eugene Myers served in the US Army from 1953 to 1955 after graduating from Chanute Junior College in Kansas in 1952. Myers went on to obtain a degree from Kansas State University in Electrical Engineering in 1959 and a master's degree in Mathematics from the University of Tulsa in 1967. Myers then went to work for American Airlines as a design engineer responsible for equipment testing. In June 1962, Myers went to work for North American Rockwell on various projects relating to the Apollo program including developing design requirements for launch equipment and working on the design of fuel-handling and fuel flow measuring equipment. Myers also provided electrical support for North American Rockwell equipment at Kennedy Space Center until the launch of the Apollo 8 flight, for which he also served as backup test conductor. Myers later worked on projects relating to the Minuteman Missile. In 1969, Myers returned to work at American Airlines holding the position of Manager of Test Equipment Engineering. Myers retired in 1990.