This is an extended excerpt from a letter from my late father, David Ten Eyck Appleton to the TRWArchives. It was written in 2017, when he conveyed his personal documentation to the them.
Carolyn
M. Appleton November 7, 2025
“February 18, 2017
To: Robert Doll, TRW
From: DavidAppleton
Subject: Materials for the TRWArchives
I have generally bundled each major subject into 3-ring binders that cover projects which I feel would be of interest to someone researching into some of the very diverse subjects that TRW was once interested in and involved with.
As the Minuteman 1 program became fielded, Management of TRW in San Bernardino decided to enter the world of “Civil Systems. Don Swanke, past manager of the TRWAtlas Program, was given charge by Dr. Richard DeLauer. I was part of the first endeavor to use “System engineering” to solve all the world’s problems. My first one was working with UCLAon a project for theAmerican Association of Medical Colleges to investigate the “Medical Systems in SubSaharaAfrica.”After about 6 months, UCLAdecided to go-it alone.
The next Civil Systems effort was to assist State Medical Schools design and manage their parts of the “Regional Medical Program” which was instigated by a new law (89-239) instituted by President Johnson. The objective of this program was to provide government funding to provide regional focus on the three main killer diseases, heart, cancer and stroke. I was one of several engineers assigned to regions and spent about 6 months with the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver. I organized their program and proposal. After this was done, the school decided that they could now go it alone and offered me a job, which I declined.
As a marketing aid for explaining “systems engineering” to potential customers, I published a booklet “The What’s of Systems”. Three copies are included.
About this time, TRW had started a program office in Houston in support of the Apollo program. This was partially the result of the new NASAmanager General Sam Phillips, who ran the Minuteman Program. Friends from Minuteman days recruited me and I moved to Houston. [1967]
My first task was to help develop testing procedures for theApollo systems. Shortly after, in late 1968, The President decided that the U.S. needed to perform a “space spectacular” as the result of Russian advances in the field. This is when the Apollo 8 mission was conceived and conducted. I was fortunate to have been assigned the job (with a small group of experts) of preparing the on-board data package for the astronauts to use on the flight. This was the mission flown by Frank Borman, with astronauts Lovell andAnders, which went into orbit around the moon that December and in which the first photos of the Earth were taken.
The next January 1969, NASArealized that they were planning to land on the moon that July and that they had purchased 10 sets ofApollo systems, but that they had no plans for the missions that would come afterApollo 11.Aspecial task group was formed to work on this problem, under NASAManager, Joe Loftess. He hired TRW to provide technical details and documentation work. I was tasked, together with 9 experts, to provide this support. The result of this effort became the “top document” of the overallApollo program as it provided the overviews to allow detailed planning of each succeeding mission – it was titled: “TheApollo Missions Program Plan.” This was an ongoing project from mission to mission because of scientific needs to significantly increase equipment capabilities for longer stays on the moon and for more and more difficult missions. This effort included working with NASA, Grumman (Builder of the Lunar Excursion Module), the makers of the space suits and their life support systems, and the many space scientists who wanted specific results from the stays on the moon.
As theApollo program was proceeding, President Nixon formed the “Space Task Group,” under NASAManager George Mueller, to come up with a plan for the post-Apollo space program. Their recommendation included space stations and a manned mission to Mars. The Johnson Space Center in Houston was tasked to work out the details of such a program. This became the “Advanced Space Program Plan Study.” NASAmanager Dennis Fielder in theAdvanced Programs Office was placed in charge and I (with 9 experts) was tasked to provide the overall support. This included working with a number of NASAtechnical groups and pulling together the top program documentation.
The results of this study were presented to the Congress, during which Senator Proxmire came “unglued” at the “billion-dollar cost.” Needless to say, the plan was scrapped, but the Johnson Space Center managed to hang onto the Space Shuttle in order to “stay alive.” It was said that from that time on, nobody in NASAcould even think about “Mars!”
AfterApollo 17, the lunar landings were discontinued and the Skylab and joint U.S.–Soviet Docking Missions brought theApollo program to an end.
NASAin Houston began work in earnest to develop the Space Shuttle. As a result, TRW in Houston shifted focus to Shuttle Payloads and whatever Shuttle support might be required. I joined with General Maurice Cristadoro (past Air Force manager of theAtlas ICBM Program) to develop our new shuttle-related business. I had a number of the formal documents that we (TRW) prepared for NASA, but sad to tell, I donated them all to the Planetary Society, whose files all now reside in the Huntington Library in Pasadena.
My materials from this era are in the three large notebooks, file folders plus a stack of Houston newspapers and Time magazines. Also, there is an envelope ofApollo memorabilia.Another file covers the rollout of the first Shuttle, Enterprise, which I attended at EdwardsAFB. The futuristic NASApictures came from my visit to NASAHQ. with Jesco Von Puttcamer in his advanced studies office. Some of the futuristic slides were prepared for Dr. Burnett. Several other publications describe the “language” (e.g. acronyms) that was used on space programs. Soon after the Shuttle program began, the NASAbudget was cut, and the TRW Houston Operations had to compete for the follow-on business. TRW competed and lost to McDonnell-Douglas, which came in at a much lower price.
My next job was that of Manager of Planning &Analysis in Bob Burnett’s New Business shop at Space Park. Part of the job was to provide guidance to the divisions on how to organize and develop their strategic plans. Several of the guidance documents and one of my files are included for the ’82-85 time period.
As a part of Dan Goldin’s (DPD) last TRW program, building M-7 was designed and built and I became its first Facilities Manager. This design required special earthquake strengthening. This evolved into the Sector-wide “TRW Earthquake Risk Reduction Program,” which I developed and managed. Building R-3 was the first building to be strengthened because it housed Sector computing facilities. The structures of all other TRW facilities in the L.A. area were analyzed for possible strengthening. Also, an “Earthquake Design Criteria” was prepared by earthquake design experts, to be used to guide contractors in any strengthening work. Acopy
of this document and its facilities guidance are included. This program was then folded into the Facilities Department for further implementation.
The next Program was the “Sector Emergency Preparedness Program” started in 1987, from which some material is enclosed. This was managed by Col. Valentine Carrasco (past Business Manager of the TDRSS) and I was hisAPM. It was fully implemented by 1991, with an Emergency Operations Center in R-3, emergency and ham radio communications systems, storage containers for emergency supplies, (assuming that many employees would be unable to go home after a major earthquake) situated throughout Space Park, and training of Building Emergency Managers from each facility. In a 1991 reorganization and reduction in personnel, Tim Hanneman decided that the sector could get along without this program, so this is when I retired.
I hope that the material will be a useful addition to the archives.
Regards,
DaveAppleton”