Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
STEWART, Homer J.
HOMER, Homer J. (Elba, MI, Aug. 15, 1915--Aldena, CA, May 26, 2007). In October 1957, the Soviet Union launched its experimental satellite, Sputnik, a technological triumph that ushered in the Space Race, the cold war rivalry for the first small steps into space. (1)
In 1958, Dr. Homer J. Stewart, a graduate of DUBUQUE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL and recipient of a doctorate at Caltech, took a leave of absence from the California Institute of Technology to advise on the preparation of Explorer. Soon after, he was named director of planning and evaluation for the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in charge of analyzing research and calculating rocket exhaust velocities needed to keep spacecraft aloft and on track. (2)
In 1959, he accompanied Wernher von Braun, the German rocket pioneer, in testifying before a Senate panel about the slow performance of the United States in aerospace and missile development. Dr. Stewart told the panel’s chairman, Lyndon B. Johnson, then a senator and later President of the United States, that Russian missile guidance systems had become accurate enough to hit an American city from 5,000 miles away. (3)
In 1960 NASA was involved in the Mercury program designed to place a man into orbit and bring him back. Stewart, the director of the office for program planning and evaluation, predicted in August of that year that by 1961 a man would be sent into space on a Redstone missile and returned to Earth. This was the flight of John Glenn. (4) Stewart also recommended Cape Canaveral, Fla., as a launching site for long-range rockets and, eventually, for putting rockets into orbit. (5)
In November, 1960 Dr. Stewart returned to the California Institute of Technology where he had been working on jet rocket programs since 1936. He would also return to his work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). (6) His positions included chief of the advanced studies office at JPL from 1963 to 1967 and professor of aeronautics at Caltech. (7)
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Source:
1. "Homer J. Stewart, 91, Aerospace Engineer, Dies," New York Times. Online: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/science/space/11stewart.html
2. "Spaceman Forecast for 1961," Telegraph-Herald, August 21, 1960, p. 9
3. "Homer J. Stewart..."
4. "Spaceman..."
5. "Stewart, Homer J." Online: http://www.astronautix.com/s/stewarthomer.html
6. "Spaceman..."
7. "Stewart, Homer J...."