Sad news:
Richard (Dick) Hoover Sr. lost his battle with cancer on Jan 21, 2017. A
memorial service will be held this Sunday, Jan 29th Carnes Funeral Home, 3100
Gulf Freeway, Texas City, TX 77591. Visitation begins at 1pm with the
memorial service at 2pm.
After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from
the University of Maryland in 1955, Dick Hoover entered the United States Air
Force (USAF) and began his aerospace career when he was loaned out to the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) soon thereafter. He
transitioned from the Air Force to work as a civil servant for NASA at Langley.
Dick contributed to the Mercury Program by working on Flight Control
simulations as part of the Simulation Task Group formed under Jack Cohen in
1959. NASA sent him to one of the Australian ground stations where he assisted
with communications during Mercury orbital missions. With the announcement in
1961 to expand NASA in order to meet the growing needs of the US human
spaceflight program, Dick relocated to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) as head
of the requirements group for the Mission Control Center. During the Gemini
and Apollo Programs his contributions included MCC requirements development
and integration of facility networks.
During the Skylab program, Dick worked on the modification and integration of
flight operation requirements and remote stations across the globe. He helped
bring in the digital age by introducing computers to handle mission data
streams received in real-time and relaying it to the MCC at JSC. During the
Shuttle Program, Dick supported multiple mission efforts, but was proudest of
his work on Extravehicular Activity (EVA) projects such as the Manned
Maneuvering Unit (MMU). Another achievement he made in concert with astronaut
Joseph P. Kerwin, M.D. was the change in astronaut pre-breathing protocol that
only required 40 minutes of in-suit pre-breathe versus the 4 hours previously
required. Richard Alan Hoover retired from NASA in 1995.
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