CARNARVON SHOW SATURDAY MAY 19
THE EPIC FILM SCREENING OF ‘MISSION CONTROL THE UNSUNG HEROES OF APOLLO’FEATURINGAPOLLO MISSION CONTROL FLIGHT DIRECTOR
‘GERRY GRIFFIN’
LIVE ON STAGE
CARNARVON SPACE and TECHNOLOGY MUSEUMin association with Haviland Digital present the Carnarvon Screening of the epic film, ‘Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo’, featuringan exclusive Q&A with Apollo Mission Control Flight Director ‘GERRY GRIFFIN’whostars in the film, LIVE ON STAGE!
Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo
At the heart of the Apollo space program was the team who worked in Mission Control. Some came from a rural lifestyle unchanged since the 19th century. Others grew up in a blue-collar America of mines and smoke stacks.
They ranged from students straight out of college, to soldiers hardened by military service. Yet, from such ordinary beginnings, an extraordinary team was born. They set out on what JFK called “the most hazardous, dangerous, and greatest adventure upon which mankind has ever embarked.”
Through the team’s testimony and the supporting voices of Apollo astronauts and modern NASA flight directors, the movie explores their journey from the faltering start of the program to the glories of the Moon landings, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
GERRY GRIFFIN
Upon graduation from Texas A&M Gerry was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force. He served four years on active duty, first in flight training, then flying as a weapon systems officer in jet fighter-interceptors. In 1960 Gerry left active duty and began his space career as a systems engineer/flight controller at the USAF Satellite Test Center in Sunnyvale, California.
In 1964 Gerry joined NASA in Houston as a flight controller in Mission Control, specializing in guidance, navigation and control systems during Project Gemini. In 1968 he was named a Mission Control flight director and served in that role for all of the Apollo Program manned missions, including all nine manned missions out to the moon, six of which included lunar landings. Gerry’s “Gold” team conducted half of the lunar landings made during Apollo: Apollo’s 14, 16, & 17. His team was scheduled to conduct the landing of Apollo 13, but when the landing was cancelled as a result of the oxygen tank explosion, his team played a key role in the safe return of the astronauts.
Because of his real life role as a flight director during the troubled flight of Apollo 13 Gerry was a technical advisor for the movie Apollo 13. Later he was a technical advisor for and an actor in the movies Contact, Deep Impact and Apollo 18 to name a few and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
After the Apollo Program was completed Gerry served in other roles at NASA, first in multiple positions at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC, then as the deputy director of the Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center in California, then as deputy director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In 1982 he returned to Houston as director of the Johnson Space Center.
Gerry received numerous awards during his years with NASA including the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and two NASA Exceptional Service Medals.
General Admission Tickets are available by contacting the Carnarvon Visitor Centre – (08) 9941 1146 or email –