Former NASA leader to sign books at Air Force Museum

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

An author who previously served as a flight dynamics officer for NASA’s Apollo program will visit the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force this week.

David Reed, co-author of the book “From the Trench of Mission Control to the Craters of the Moon, will sign copies of his book from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at the museum’s gift shop.

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Reed’s book examines the “early years of America’s human space program” and tells “stories from the men of NASA’s Mission Control Flight Dynamics group: The Trench,” according to the Air Force Museum Foundation.

Copies of the book will be available for $20 a copy. The Air Force Museum Store is located directly inside to the right of the museum’s main entrance.

Reed graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1964 and started working at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, according to the foundation.

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In Houston, he was a mission controller in the Apollo Space Program. Reed was instrumental in the development of the pinpoint landing techniques that were used during lunar landings, according to the foundation.

Reed is a joint recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts in the safe return of the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft. In appreciation of his contributions to the Manned Space Flight Program, the Apollo 14 astronauts named a crater on the moon after him.

Reed went on to work for the U. S. Department of Transportation and developed a world-wide satellite based communication and tracking system, according to the foundation. Reed retired in 2000.

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