Biographies
Bill Widnall
Bill Widnall was born in 1937 and has lived in the United States his entire life. He was 19 years old when the Space Race began when the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957. He studied engineering at MIT and worked in the MIT Instrumentation Lab as a grad student. He had an inside view of the Space Race as he continued working at the MIT Instrumentation Lab, now known as Draper Laboratories. Draper Labs was working in association with NASA in developing launch and navigation systems. He is now retired and lives in Lexington, MA.
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Dave Reed
Dave Reed grew up in Montana, dreaming of working for NASA. At the age of 11, he was building rockets in his yard and setting them off. He studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Wyoming, and was hired by NASA soon after (Stevens). Reed worked on trajectories in mission control on the Apollo missions, and was an instrumental member of the Apollo 11-14 missions. He earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom and there is a crater on the moon named in his honor. Reed is now retired and living in Carlisle, MA.
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Ilkka Suvanto
Ilkka Suvanto was born in 1943 in Helsinki, Finland. He grew up in Finland until he moved to California with his family when he was 11 years old. He experienced the average American's view of the Space Race as well as the views of other countries as he traveled abroad. He traveled back to Finland several times throughout the Cold War. He also swam for Finland in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He is now a swim coach and lives in Concord, MA.
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