Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Foreword
Introduction
1. New Beginnings
2. A Man in Space, Soonest
3. Toward a Worthy Goal
4. The Longest Days
5. Post-Apollo
6. Giving Back to the Future
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Promotional Information

• first biography on Low, a little known but important and fascinating personality who played a key role in the golden age of U.S. manned spaceflight, not unlike Gene Kranz
• Low's life is a fascinating window into the inner workings of NASA in a time of rapid advancement along with enormous challenges
• author curates the online Jefferson Space Museum
• author is a frequent contributor to Smithsonian Air & Space magazine and a marketing executive whose first book was widely reviewed in prominent spaceflight history publications and other major media outlets

About the Author

Richard Jurek is a contributor to the Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine and website and is the coauthor of Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program with David Meerman Scott. Gerald D. Griffin is a former director of the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston and also served as the deputy director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center and the Hugh F. Dryden Flight Research Center.
 
 

Reviews

"The result of Jurek's extensive research and careful use of detail is a comprehensive portrait of a figure vastly greater in significance than in name recognition."—Publishers Weekly

“The Ultimate Engineer should be required reading for all students in engineering cohorts, as it shows how a student with modest, some might say even turbulent, beginnings became one of the key figures in getting humanity off the planet, into Earth orbit, and far beyond.”—Emily Carney, AdAstra Magazine

"The book blossoms. The risky decision to fly Apollo 8 to the moon ahead of schedule? Largely down to George Low. How the fallout from the Apollo 15 covers scandal may have scuttled Low’s chances at steering NASA into a glorious future? Original, and intriguing. Preparations for the first joint flight by America and the Soviet Union? Fascinating. Best of all, Jurek expertly leads the reader through the strange paradox of NASA’s decline . . . . NASA’s years under President Nixon, Ford, and Carter, and its much-delayed space shuttle development are not often chronicled in books. This is probably because much of it is a sad tale of decline, of NASA’s wilderness years. For this reason, the book fills an important gap."—Francis French, author and space historian

"This well-researched book is as much a history of NASA as a biography of George Low, and as such is an important contribution to the history of the agency. Jurek's detailed book will appeal to both fans and scholars of NASA and of the engineers like Low who make the agency's spaceflights work."—Sara R. Tompson, Library Journal

"In his engaging biography, The Ultimate Engineer: The Remarkable Life of NASA’s Visionary Leader George M. Low, Richard Jurek follows Low’s life from his early years in Austria as Europe slid toward World War II, through his family’s move to the United States and his military service at the end of the war, followed by his education and long service at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and NASA. . . . The Ultimate Engineer is an important introduction to life and work of George Low."—Christopher Gainor, Quest

"We have been fortunate to have had many outstanding individuals move through the space program over the years—being key players in the numerous manned and unmanned systems. George M. Low was one that I was aware of (based on some of his specific actions), such as the Apollo 8 decision. But without an in-depth biography, many of us don’t know the true significance of an individual. This book by author Richard Jurek provides an excellent survey of Low’s life work and is filled with quotes that bring the personal perspective."—Ted Spitzmiller, National Space Society

“It took four hundred thousand people for NASA to reach the moon, but one was absolutely essential: a soft-spoken, brilliant engineer named George Low. As this detailed, well-written account reveals, from Apollo’s very conception to its recovery from tragedy to its historic triumphs, Low was Apollo’s essential man.”—Andrew Chaikin, author of A Man on the Moon

“George Low is one of the unsung heroes of spaceflight, but there’s never been a thorough examination of his life and the important contributions he made to Apollo and other NASA programs. The Ultimate Engineer finally fills this huge gap in human spaceflight history!”—Peter King, correspondent for CBS News Radio

“The real book about NASA and human spaceflight should be about George Low.”—George W. S. Abbey, former director of the Johnson Space Center

“This Austrian immigrant, a specialist in aerodynamics, proved to be the perfect leader of the Apollo spacecraft engineering team—as well as a key political operator in America’s human space programs from Mercury to the space shuttle. In The Ultimate Engineer Richard Jurek tells Low’s unique and inspiring story, filling a huge hole in the history.”—Michael Cassutt, novelist, screenwriter, and coauthor of Deke! and We Have Capture