![]() ![]() To prepare for the launch, Harris attended dozens of practice countdowns conducted by the shuttle launch control team. “Since I had been doing unmanned launches and was in the position of the people who normally had done commentary on human space flight before that, it just sort of fell into my lap as something that naturally I would be doing.” “It’s not a too mysterious process,” he said. For this first launch, Harris was the logical choice for launch commentary. He was edged out by Chuck Hollinshead, who in turn offered him the position of chief of public information at KSC.Īs the chief of public information, Harris oversaw KSC’s press site, an area next to the center’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) where news media set up equipment and report launch progress.Īs part of Harris’ new job, he eventually would conduct launch commentary for a new era of American space missions: the Space Shuttle Program.Īpril 1981 saw the first launch of the space shuttle.Ĭolumbia, the inaugural space-worthy shuttle orbiter, would rocket from KSC with a crew of two on an unprecedented test flight. In 1975, Harris applied to be director of public affairs at KSC. So, I did dozens of rocket launches out there.” See Also “Since we were responsible for a number of rockets that launch both at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and at Vandenberg, and the KSC people didn’t go out to Vandenberg, I just started doing the commentary. ![]() “It wasn’t very clear in those days as to who was responsible for what as far as public affairs was concerned,” he noted. The emphasis that Lewis placed on those particular rockets led to Harris’ first work in launch commentaries, which occurred in California at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB). ![]() Harris’ NASA duties included handling press relations as well as preparing news releases and writing articles.Īt the time, Lewis Research Center efforts focused on propulsion and power generation as well as the Atlas-Centaur, Atlas-Agena and Thor-Agena rockets. “When I went to work at NASA, I was thinking along the lines of maybe working there for a year and then, having become an expert in everything, go back to the media and do stories for whoever I was working for,” Harris said. “Within a relatively short period after I started working, I realized that what NASA was doing was probably one of the most important things being done in the country and for the world.” Federal Reserve and NASA, Harris opted for space. Previously, as a reporter, Harris covered Reaction Motors, a New Jersey company that manufactured the engine for the X-15 spaceplane. When he received simultaneous job offers from the U.S. Harris began working in NASA public affairs in February 1963 at the agency’s Lewis Research Center, later renamed Glenn Research Center. Hugh Harris’ NASA career lasted 34 years longer than he expected. Harris confirmed liftoff to audiences worldwide for the victorious debut launch of Columbia, the tragic loss of Challenger and the fightback of Discovery’s first Return To Flight mission. The voice of Hugh Harris provided countdown commentary for the brave new era of the Space Shuttle Program during his illustrious NASA career. ![]()
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