Nicholas Markeloff was one of the engineers who directly contributed to the first successful manned landing on the moon in July 1969 (Apollo 11). Nick was a structural engineer at Grumman Aerospace Corporation from 1958 to 1986. One of the highlights of his distinguished career was his extensive and detailed analysis for the Lunar Module (LM) descent stage, the part of the spacecraft that stayed on the moon. He was also responsible for the LM's maneuvering thrusters' plume deflectors.
After the success of Apollo 11, Nick continued to work on the design of the LM for the other moon missions, including the five more successful moon landings: Apollo 12 in 1969, Apollo 14 and 15 in 1971, and Apollo 16 and 17 in 1972. In 1970, his work played a crucial role in the safe return to earth of the astronauts on Apollo 13, the moon landing mission that was aborted after an explosion and fire resulted in the loss of oxygen and electric power in the command module. The Apollo 13's LM descent engine was fired to put the spacecraft on a return to earth trajectory, and for the trip home, the crew relied on the oxygen from the LM to survive. Afterwards, the Apollo 13 astronauts visited Grumman to thank Nick and other engineers for their superior design work on the LM that saved their lives.
While at Grumman, Nick also worked on the space shuttle. He was one of the structural engineers responsible for the shuttle's wing design, making an important contribution to the shuttle's first manned orbital flight. Nick also worked on Grumman's C-2A cargo plane.
Prior to joining Grumman, Nick was an engineer at Fairchild Corporation. He was a U.S. Army veteran and a 1949 graduate of Columbia University School of Engineering. The son of Russian immigrants, Nick was a native New Yorker and lived in Little Neck, New York until his death in 1987 at age 60. His wife Lotte, and their four children, Robert, Linda, Sandra and Richard, are all very proud of his accomplishments as a true pioneer in space engineering, and as a husband and a father.