Tecwyn Roberts

Tecwyn Roberts (10 October 1925 – 27 December 1988) was a Welsh spaceflight engineer who in the 1960s played important roles in designing the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and creating NASA's worldwide tracking and communications network.

Roberts served as NASA's first Flight Dynamics Officer with Project Mercury that put the first American into space. He later joined NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center where he served as Director and Manager of the Goddard Space Flight Center's global tracking and communications system supporting NASA's manned and unmanned low earth orbiting flight programs.

Early years Roberts, alternately nicknamed "Tec" and "Tex", was born 10 October 1925 in Liverpool to William and Grace Roberts, from Anglesey. He lost his father c. 1936 and he moved with his mother to live with her parents in Rhos-y-bol, Anglesey. His name appears in the school log-book several times during 1936 and 1937 as he and his mother moved back and forth between Rhos-y-bol and Liverpool. While at Liverpool he attended Girton House School, Shiel Rd. The family settled on Anglesey and the records show that he successfully sat his Scholarship Exam in Ysgol Parc y Bont, Llanddaniel Fab in July 1938. At the time he lived with his mother and step-father at Trefnant Bach cottage. He continued his studies at the Beaumaris Grammar School, from which he graduated in 1942. After leaving Beaumaris Grammar School, he began an engineering apprenticeship with the aero- and marine-engineering company Saunders-Roe at Fryars Bay, Llanfaes, Anglesey, some from Llanddaniel Fab. He is known to have returned to Anglesey at least once in July 1970.

Aerospace career

United Kingdom After serving briefly in the Royal Air Force (RAF), Roberts was released in 1944 and resumed work with Saunders-Roe at their Southampton works, from where he was transferred to the Isle of Wight in 1946. At that time, he also attended the University of Southampton where he obtained a degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1948 and was awarded the Institute of Mechanical Engineers Special Award. Whilst working for Saunders-Roe on the Isle of Wight, Roberts met Doris Sprake whom he later married.

Canada In December 1952, Roberts and his wife left England for Canada to take up a position with the aircraft manufacturing company Avro Canada near Toronto. From 1952 to 1959, he was a member of the engineering team that developed the CF-105 Arrow, a highly advanced delta-winged interceptor aircraft. When the Avro Arrow project was suddenly cancelled by the Canadian government on 20 February 1959, many Avro Canada engineers including Roberts followed the lead of Jim Chamberlin and moved to the United States to join NASA's Space Task Group at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

United States

Langley Research Center Created in November 1958, the Space Task Group under the leadership of Robert Gilruth was tasked with superintending America's human spaceflight program, Project Mercury, having been given the responsibility of placing a human in orbit around the Earth. Of its original 37 engineers, 27 were from Langley Research Center and 10 had been assigned from Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1959, Gilruth's group was greatly expanded by the addition of the engineers from Canada who had been left without jobs when the Avro Arrow project was cancelled.

Roberts joined NASA in April 1959, one of a group of 25 engineers and technicians hired from Avro Canada by NASA. He was involved immediately in formulating the requirements for the tracking and communications network, and the Mercury Mission Control Center to provide the flight control of the missions. Roberts became NASA's first Flight Dynamics Officer at the Mercury Control Center, where his tasks centered on controlling the trajectory of the spacecraft and planning adjustments to it. U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. John "Shorty" Powers popularised the expression while NASA's public affairs officer for Project Mercury.

In 1962, Roberts was appointed head of the Mission Control Center Requirements Branch, |group=N (left) presented a $1,000 cash award and certificate to Tecwyn Roberts (center), flanked by Roberts' wife Doris. Also in summer 1964, he was honoured by Gilruth with the NASA Special Service Award for his contribution to the manned space flight program in the area of flight operations. The award was primarily for his determining the technical requirements of the Manned Spaceflight Control Center.

Roberts became chief of the Manned Flight Support Division at the Goddard Space Flight Center during the Apollo program in 1965. To support the Apollo program, Goddard commissioned three antennas that would be equally spaced around the world. These were in Madrid (Spain), Goldstone in California (USA) and at Honeysuckle Creek in Australia. Roberts was present when the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station was opened by Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt on 17 March 1967.

Later in 1967, Roberts became Chief of the Network Engineering Division,

Retirement and death In 1979, Roberts retired as Director of Networks at Goddard and from NASA and became a consultant to the Bendix Field Engineering Corporation.

Four years later, Tecwyn Roberts died on 27 December 1988, aged 63 years. He was buried at St. Stephens Episcopal Cemetery, Crownsville, Maryland. Inscribed upon his gravestone is "Tecwyn Roberts, Husband of Doris & father of Michael".

Awards and citations 1964 NASA Exceptional Service Award 1967 NASA Outstanding Achievement Award 1969 NASA Exceptional Service Medal 1976 Fellow of the American Astronautical Society 1980 NASA Distinguished Service Award 1984 Robert H. Goddard Award of Merit