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1 CommentNASA Administrator Statement on the Death of Robert Seamans, NASA
The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Michael Griffin regarding the death Dr. Robert C. Seamans, Jr., NASA deputy administrator from 1965 to 1968:
"Robert Seamans was one of the early leaders in launching NASA's efforts to explore the new frontier of space. As NASA's associate administrator and then deputy administrator, Bob, as a top manager and consummate engineer, was instrumental in the decision making, planning and program execution that enabled the United States to meet President Kennedy's goal of landing men on the moon. He will be remembered as one of the great pioneers and leaders of America's space program."
In 1991 I, along with 7 other members of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville had a private audience with Robert Seamans in the office of the president of the University (Dr. Louis Padulo our president was his son in law).
We had about 3 hours of time with him to ask him questions about the Apollo program and his role in those historical events. Before he was at NASA he was the secretary of the Air Force. He told us a very interesting story about Kennedy's decision to go to the Moon.
During the runup to Kennedy's famous speech calling for man to land on the Moon "by the end of the decade" there was a huge disagreement over the exact timing. Kennedy, being the politician that he was, wanted to call for the Moon landing by the end of 1968, before the end of his presumed second term. Seamans and others argued vociferously against this as they did not think it possible. Kennedy relented and that is where the "end of this decade" part of the great space speech came from.
He was an incredibly nice and forthright man. We need more like him.