Arthur Schwaniger

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Arthur John "A.J." Schwaniger Jr. (October 13, 1933- August 27, 2011) was an American aerospace engineer who worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)^[1]. He is best known for his work on free-return trajectory, which was used for the first Apollo missions to the Moon. In addition to his work on free-return trajectory, Schwaniger also made contributions to the development of other space flight technologies, such as the Space Shuttle^[2]. He was a pioneer in the use of metric units in space flight^[3], and he was one of the first NASA scientists to use computers to simulate space flight trajectories^[4]. Schwaniger continued to work at NASA until he retired in 1993^[5].

Biography[edit]

Life and Work[edit]

Arthur J. Schwaniger Jr. was born in the city of Louisville, Kentucky in the Germantown area of the city. He was the second of five children of Arthur John Schwaniger Sr. and Catherine Bernadine Frank.

He attended Theodore Ahrens Trade High School in Louisville, Kentucky^[1] and the University of Louisville, where he earned a degree in physics. After graduating, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in the Korean War. While in the army, he worked with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA).After his military service, Schwaniger joined the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He worked on a variety of projects related to space flight, including the development of the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo spacecraft^{[6][7][8][2][9][10]}

In 1963, he published a technical report on free-return trajectory, which showed how a spacecraft could travel to the Moon and back without using any propulsion. This work was instrumental in the planning of the Apollo missions.

Schwaniger was a dedicated public servant. His work on free-return trajectory helped to make the Apollo missions possible.^[11] He made significant contributions to the field of space flight which are still being referenced today ^[12].

He retired from the Marshall Space Flight Center in 1988 as a navigation, guidance and control systems aerospace engineer.^[5]

After retiring, Schwaniger volunteeed to speak with school children regularly at the Louisville Museum of History and Science^[13]

Death[edit]

Arthur John Schwaniger Jr. died in Louisville, Kentucky in 2011 at the age of 77, and is Buried in Saint Michael Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky^[14].

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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