On February 20, 1959, the Canadian government shut down the CF-105 Avro Arrow jet interceptor program, putting thousands of workers and the cream of Canada's aerospace engineering talent out of work. Avro Canada had over 200 engineers employed, working on several projects. These engineers immediately sought new employment. Some remained in Canada, moving out of the aviation field, some traveled to Great Britain and found employ working on the design of the Concorde SST. Most went to the United States. South of the border, a brand new organization called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was charged with putting U.S. astronauts into space, and it desperately needed engineers. Within 10 weeks of the demise of the Arrow, 25 Avro engineers were working for NASA, and another six would join them later. Other Avro engineers found work with the aerospace contractors that worked with NASA.

A little more than 10 years later, US astronauts would stand on the surface of the Moon in what became one of the greatest stories of technology and exploration in human history.

James Arthur Chamberlin, 1915-1981. The former designer of the Arrow who went on to design the Gemini spacecraft and help NASA decide how to go to the Moon. Project Manager Mercury, Designer and Project Manager Gemini Technical Advisor and Troubleshooter for Bob Gilruth, MSC Director (Apollo). Shuttle concepts.

James Arthur Chamberlin was one of the major figures in aircraft design in Canada, and one of the handful of people who have designed a successful manned spacecraft. Born in Kamloops, B.C., on May 23, 1915.

In February, 1946, Chamberlin joined the engineering staff at Avro Aircraft Ltd., of Toronto. He was one of the top people at Avro Canada, working as chief aerodynamicist on the Avro C-102 Jetliner and the CF-100 Canuck jet interceptor. Both of these aircraft broke new ground for the Canadian aircraft industry.

By the time Avro moved into design and construction of the CF-105 Avro Arrow in the mid 1950s, Chamberlin was Avro's chief of technical design. The story of the Avro Arrow is well known. The twin-engined delta-winged supersonic jet interceptor is considered the most advanced aircraft of its time. Even without the engines that were designed for it, the Arrow could fly near Mach 2.

In April, 1959, Chamberlin and two dozen other engineers from Avro were recruited by the fledgling National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States. The Avro group, which eventually included 32 engineers, joined NASA's Space Task Group at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The group later moved to Houston, Texas, to become the core of what is today the Johnson Space Center. Chamberlin soon became head of engineering for Project Mercury, the first U.S. manned spacecraft. In that role, he became the de facto project manager for Mercury and saw the spacecraft through their manufacturing processes. He was also responsible for troubleshooting problems that cropped up during the early Mercury flights.

After he left Gemini in 1963, Chamberlin became one of NASA's top troubleshooters in Apollo. He helped solve problems with the Apollo command and service modules, the lunar module, the mobility unit used by astronauts to walk on the moon, and the Saturn rockets. Before he left NASA in 1970, Chamberlin was involved in drawing up early design concepts for the space shuttle.

Owen Eugene Maynard, 1924-2000. The engineer from Sarnia, Ont., who quickly rose through the ranks to give life to the Apollo Lunar Module and later oversee the engineering effort on Apollo.

NASA Space Task Force, Chief Engineering Designer of the Lunar Landing Module.

More information to come.

John Hodge, 1925--. began a distinguished career at NASA in 1959. He worked in the area of flight control at Langley Research Center and the Johnson Space Center until 1970. In 1982 he became Director of the Space Station Task Force at NASA Headquarters. He then took on a series of increasingly responsible positions dealing with the Space Station, culminating with him being named Associate Administrator for Operations, Space Station, in 1986, and was also the Flight Director for the Gemini and Apollo Programs.

Rod Rose. The British engineer who helped plan the Apollo missions and picked out the first prayer to be broadcast from space.

NASA responsibilities: Rockets, Mission Operations assistant to Chris Kraft. Apollo and Shuttle mission planning

More information to come.