The QUEST is the Great Adventure !
I grew up in Orlando, FL in the mid-1960s. My high school friends and I experienced the "great space race" in very personal
terms. We watched in awe as ever-more-powerful rockets hurled spacecraft and astronauts into the sky, sending
them into Earth orbit and eventually to the Moon.
For a few years, I was in Naval ROTC at the University of Virginia. In early 1969, I enlisted in the US Marines,
wanting to "get into the fight" in Vietnam (hey, both my parents were Marines in WWII, what else would you expect?). The Marines
taught me self-discipline and focus - two skills that are hard to come by elsewhere. Oh, and that there is nothing
worse in life than facing an angry drill instructor. My military specialty was computer science so I later entered
civilian life with a valuable skill. Semper Fi !
On July 20, 1969 I watched grainy images on a small black & white TV in the barracks as Neil
and Buzz stepped on to the Moon's surface. It was an awe inspiring moment for me, balancing out much of the national
self-doubt left over from the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK.
My civilian career began in 1972. I worked for Wells Fargo Bank, PacBell and then Bank of America in San Francisco.
I joined my first startup company - Network Equipment Technologies - as employee #29 and never looked back. Over the
next 20 years, I was an early employee or founder of 7 high-tech startup companies or divisions within companies. Each
technology we fielded was useful for both commercial and national security purposes. Luckily for me, every
company has been successful.
I was fortunate enough to semi-retire in 2000 and join the USS Hornet Museum - first as the Apollo Curator and then as
a member of the Board of Trustees. I was given a rare opportunity to meet many exceptional men who were involved
with the lunar landing recovery program, starting with RADM Carl Seiberlich. He was the Commanding Officer of the USS Hornet
and the Navy's guiding force behind the successful recoveries of Apollo 11 and Apollo 12. Over
time, I spoke with many of the key NASA, Navy and media officials involved. It dawned on me there must
be other Americans who wanted the "inside scoop" on what it took to fulfill the final part of JFK's 1961 challenge - to
land a man on the Moon and safely return him to Earth.
So I picked up a pen, er keyboard, and took the plunge. I hope you find the information as fascinating as I have.
