University of Alabama in Huntsville Archives and Special Collections, Huntsville, Alabama
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Carl grew up in Hartsville, SC, and in 1957 recieved a BS in chemistry. He briefly worked in his hometown and was in the ROTC before joining the military, where he served as an ordnance officer in various nations. He retired from the military in 1977, and worked on refurbishing SRBs for several years before joining Thiokol, where he was to develop an companywide inegrated management system. He was also responsible for familiarizing management with computer literacy (especially the IBM COPICS system). He left the company due to a personal dispute, returned to a previous role, and retired in 1991 (although he continued to work for several years). After retiring, he wrote two books. He extolls the experience of working at Thiokol, in spite of some personality conflicts. He closes by discussing his family, and advising young people to select a job where they can meaningfully contribute.
Carl was born in Manchester, New Hampshire around 1927, and was locally schooled. He went to the University of New Hampshire (around September 1945), graduating for electrical engineering in 1949. He would be drafted in late 1950, becoming part of the SMP program in July '51 and reporting to Redstone Arsenal. He would begin work under Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger and Dr. Menteufel; after his drafted tenure ended, he continued his work at the GS9 level. He would be reorganized into the Senior Branch of the Astrionics lab, and around 1971, he would move to the Space Sciences lab, working on various managerial projects into 1973, eventually becoming a deputy division chief. He juggled his work with earning a master's and PhD, completing the latter in 1977. After gaining his PhD, Carl would be moved to work on the Space Telescope and its instrumentation (which he estimated as a 7 to 8 year process). After this, he would move on to the AC SAF program, later known as Chandra (again being involved with instrumentation). He would retire in 1997, having been in some capacity employed for 55 years at his own estimate. Since retiring, Carl spent time with his grandchildren, and had spent time learning about U.S. presidents. He emphasizes the importance of computer literacy and Spanish.
Carl Winkler (Space History Interviews).mp4
Carolyn was born to an Air Force family, and frequently moved in her youth, spending some time near Cape Canaveral. Inspired by her upbringing, Carolyn went to FSU and studied astronautical engineering, doing a co-op at MSFC in the Materials division (beginning in 1964). She participated in early Saturn V testing, and in 1967 graduated and became a full-time employee in the same lab. She would be partially involved with research, such as analyzing metals in weightlessness. However, she found more interest in creating experimental hardware, and also applied to the astronaut corps, to which she became a finalist (the experience of which revealed the complexitudes of the different groups involved in NASA). She would be tranferred into the chief engineers' office, and enjoyed the process of reconciling the many different systems, especially while working on Spacelab. Carolyn also attended UAH in the late 70s for industrial & systems engineering. Following her work as a chief engineer, she would become the payload operations director for Skylab, and eventually progressed to working at NASA headquarters as a division director, although she quickly returned to MSFC, working as a laboratory director, and in various other positions, including deputy and acting center director. Carolyn would retire from NASA in January 2001, but would continue working with SpaceHab. She closes by emphasizing the importance of continued learning through experience.
Carolyn Griner (Space History Interviews).mp4
Extensive material on British sources of technical intelligence on the German rockets during WW II.
Cecil was born in Anniston, AL, and his family moved frequently in his youth. He went to Auburn and graduated with a mechanical engineering degree in 1958. In interviewing, he found Thiokol very appealing for the passion of its employees. He provides a brief overview of Thiokol's contributions as excerpted from a formal paper. He began working at the division's Rocket Engineering department, starting as part of the Pershing team. Cecil would go on to serve in a support role for various projects, and served under various different groups for short periods, eventually landing in the Stress Nozzles group, then the Components Development group. He also worked on solving high-priority issues for the company. In addition to other various projects, he contributed to a techology transfer contract to Nissan in Japan. After conflicts with management, he recieved trained to become a chief of quality management at Thiokol's production plant, then worked on implementing the COPICS program which Carl Powe began. He continued to encounter various corporate management-level issues along his tenure. He stayed in proposal management for several years more than average, seeing a high success rate. Cecil also speaks on the continuation of the company's management club (in the for of the Huntsville Division Alumni Association), and the employees' involvement with the city at large.