Jack Kinzler

Jack Kinzler (January 9, 1920 – March 4, 2014) was a NASA engineer, the former chief of the Technical Services Center at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, known within the agency as Mr. Fix It. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for creating the solar shield that saved Skylab after the original micrometeoroid shield was lost during launch of the station. His other contributions included the flagstaff and plaques used on the Moon for all six of the Apollo program Moon landings and the special six iron golf club head with which Apollo 14 astronaut Alan Shepard made his two famous golf drives on the Moon.

Early life and NASA career

Kinzler was born in Pittsburgh, the son of a photoengraver and inventor who patented several photoengraving devices.

As a young man, Kinzler built model planes and flew them in competitions, turning down a scholarship at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University to pursue his interest in aeronautics. He parlayed his model-building skills into a job with National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics building models for wind tunnel testing. When the committee became the core of the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958, Kinzler stayed on. Kinzler led the Division from 1961 until his retirement in 1977.

Kinzler sought a solution that did not require a dangerous spacewalk by the Skylab crew. His solution was to develop a parasol-like arrangement that could be deployed through an 8-inch (20 cm) square sally port through the hull of the station at the point of the damage. He built a prototype using four telescoping fiberglass fishing rods and parachute silk. Kinzler's design allowed the device to be pushed through the port from the inside of the station and then deployed by activating springs and telescoping tubes. His model convinced the NASA higher-ups, which ordered the plan put into action. On May 26 the Skylab crew entered the station and deployed the aluminized Inconel parasol, which successfully shielded the station from solar heating, enabling it to maintain a temperature of .

Kinzler's greatest source of pride was that the parasol was conceived and executed almost entirely by government employees. "We stayed awake and worked for six solid days, around the clock," he said. "We had a hundred employees working on this thing, and we did everything. We made all the parts. We demonstrated how it's to be done. And we completely pulled that thing off without any outside help."

For his contribution that saved Skylab, Kinzler was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1973.