T.J. O'Malley

Thomas Joseph O'Malley (October 15, 1915 – November 6, 2009) was an Irish-American aerospace engineer who, as chief test conductor for the Convair division of General Dynamics, was responsible for pushing the button on February 20, 1962, launching the Mercury-Atlas 6 space flight carrying astronaut John Glenn, the first American in orbit. Five years later, NASA asked North American Aviation to hire him as director of launch operations to help get the Apollo program back on track after the Apollo 1 command module fire on the launch pad killed three astronauts. In 1961, the Atlas was the only rocket in the United States' inventory with sufficient thrust to launch a crewed Mercury space capsule into orbit, In response, his boss, astronautics base manager Byron MacNabb, seated in Mercury Control, said, "May the wee ones be with you, Thomas", a good luck reference to the leprechauns of Irish mythology. As the countdown clock reached zero, the Mercury-Atlas rocket lifted off at 9:47 a.m. EST, carrying the first American astronaut into orbit.

During the Gemini program, O'Malley remained with General Dynamics working on the Atlas-Agena. O'Malley often went to work at Launch Complex 14 while it was still dark. The road along the launch pads had no street lights so O'Malley complained that it was hard to find the turn to Pad 14 in the dark. A streetlight was installed for him at the entrance to Pad 14, which illuminated continually until his death. It was named "O'Malley's Guiding Light".

A promotion to senior manager in the Electric Boat division took him away from the space program in 1966. On January 27, 1967, the Apollo 1 command module fire at Launch Complex 34 killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee. North American Aviation built the command module, and had to make organizational changes as well as design modifications as a result of the fatal accident. By May 1967, a new management team was taking shape, and Bastian "Buzz" Hello, who took over operations at then-Cape Kennedy for North American, hired O'Malley as director of command module launch operations.

O'Malley died of pneumonia in a Cocoa Beach, Florida, hospital on November 6, 2009, at the age of 94.

Awards

NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award, 1973

In popular culture The tape recording of O'Malley and Scott Carpenter from the John Glenn launch was used on "My Star", a track by British rock singer Ian Brown. The record made the UK Top 5 Singles Chart in January 1998.