SPACE AGE
RENAISSANCE MAN
MILITARY SPY MISSIONS
On October 4, 1957, the world changed. The Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite into orbit. America was caught lagging far behind. Despite that this was called “the Space Race,” the US kept finishing second. The Soviets put the first man into space and they were first to orbit the Earth. They were also the first to send an uncrewed rocket to the moon. The rocket power it took to do those things was immense. More than just space concerns, the “Sputnik Crisis” caused America to view the Soviets’ superior rockets as an existential threat in the age of nukes. In response, US rocketry research was ramped up and NASA was created.
In 1959, there was a temporary thaw in Cold War tensions and the Soviets sent traveling exhibits of their rockets and engines to display halls around the world, including New York City. But surely they had sent models – not the real thing, right? Wrong. They had arrogantly sent the real deals under heavy guard. But if the American intelligence community played its cards right, it had a golden opportunity to gain the information it needed to take a huge leap forward in its understanding of Soviet rocketry. A handful of men were selected to do some daring things that others have since said was the collective turning point that allowed America to catch up – and eventually surpass the Soviets.
Air Force Lieutenant Harold L. Finch was hand-selected to be among a small group of aeronautical engineers to participate in those daring operations. They were from a generation of men who took – and kept – their vows! They didn’t give info from “undisclosed sources” or cash in by writing tell-all books. Even though their missions were largely declassified in the 1990s, Finch still believed he couldn’t divulge everything he knew. But he did admit that he had been part of the team. Click here to read a story that will give you a sense of the intrigue he was part of.
100% of the book's profits will support educational scholarships for young people.
NASA PROJECT DIRECTOR:
HIS SYSTEM STOPPED SATELLITE FAILURES
Harold L. Finch
There will only be one first generation of space scientists to figure out the solutions to the complex and challenging problems presented by the Space Age. Adaptations of those solutions are still in play today and will be used as long into the future as anyone can dare to imagine.
On the very night of the day that Sputnik I was launched in 1957, Finch was on base at Wright Patterson taking part-time classes for his master’s program. Right on the spot, he saw it as his patriotic duty to change the emphasis of his thesis to thermodynamics with the aim of learning to predict satellite temperatures. The Air Force was more than happy to accommodate his request to use their sophisticated Readix Computer to perform his mind-numbing calculations.
In late 1959, Finch was given an early out from the active duty Air Force in exchange for a highly technical job in civil service. He received an honorable discharge, kept his intelligence clearance, and moved to the other side of the base to now begin working on the nation's top secret aerospace research that was under development. His master’s thesis was completed in 1961 and he was encouraged to submit a version of it to an Air Force-wide contest. At age 27, his paper was selected to receive recognition called the Air Force Special Act Award. Finch was further selected for the great honor of presenting his research in San Francisco before an audience of generals and top space scientists. Click here to read archived news stories. His groundbreaking research would evolve into a proposal to NASA to stop the commonplace problem of satellites overheating in orbit.
Finch left civil service when his contract ended, December 31, 1961. He and his family moved back home to Kansas City where he was hired to be a junior engineer for Midwest Research Institute (MRI now MRIGlobal). On behalf of MRI, Finch submitted his Air Force research to NASA in the form of an unsolicited proposal. NASA was impressed. His proposal earned him the right to be named NASA's thermodynamics project director for predicting the radical temperature extremes that satellites (both crewed and uncrewed) would encounter while flying through space. At age 29, MRI promoted him to become their youngest-ever project director and senior engineer. To read more about this, read more about this from archived news stories.
​
At the conclusion of Finch’s trailblazing work, he received a letter on NASA letterhead congratulating him. Finch said, “On April 6, 1964, I was surprised and excited when I received a letter containing high praise from a NASA legend. Maxime “Max” Faget was the engineer who had designed the X-15 hypersonic rocket plane that set all sorts of altitude and speed records in 1959 when it became the first crewed craft to climb to the edge of space. Faget had also designed America’s first orbital spacecrafts, including the Project Mercury space capsule. Finch said, “It was absolutely mind-blowing to get a personal note from Faget, a pioneering aerospace superstar, praising my work as having 'advanced [spacecraft knowledge] most substantially.' NASA’s ability to win their epic battle against the radical temperature extremes of space, was as thrilling as it was humbling.” To see the letter, click here.
On the heels of such high praise, Finch was invited to speak at the 15th annual meeting of the International Astronautical Federation to be held in Warsaw, Poland. He was the only American speaker from the Midwest. Astronauts, cosmonauts, and the world's leading rocket scientists were in attendance. It was the first time anyone from the West had been invited by the Soviet Union to go behind the Iron Curtain. Finch's research stood out as unique and made him a favored speaker at the conference. The most important outcome of his overall work was the way satellites stopped failing from temperature-related problems. Read the story in the Kansas City Star, September 23, 1964.
NASA PROJECT DIRECTOR:
HIS INVENTION KEPT THE ASTRONAUTS SAFE
​In 1965, Finch (still working at KC's Midwest Research Institute) received an RFP (Request for Proposal) from NASA to submit a plan for how to keep the astronauts and their sensitive instruments from either freezing or melting in the crazy extremes of open space. He did and his at-first unpopular (because it wasn't yet well understood) plan beat out those of the teams representing Martin-Marietta, Boeing, and all the other huge aerospace firms.
Read the archived newspaper anouncement.
Finch's idea was to slowly spin the spacecraft like a chicken on a spit. It was an idea he'd gotten while eating in a Kansas City barbecue restaurant. The maneuver was at first alternately called "barbecue roll," barbecue mode," and/or "rotisserie effect". After Finch's finished work was passed on to MIT (which was tasked with piecing together the actual Apollo control systems), the name barbecue roll became the one most commonly used. This article from the Kansas City Star (December 23, 1968). reveals some of the obstacles that had to be overcome along the way.
​
This article in the Kansas City Times (July 21, 1969) was published the day after Apollo 11's successful moon landing. It captures Finch's immediate response to the mission's safe flight through translunar outer space as well as its presence on the moon.​ On the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's moon walk, the Kansas City Star ran the following story, celebrating Finch's legacy. Click here for an excerpt from: “The End of Big Ideas?” ​
​​​​
"UH, HOUSTON WE HAVE A HERO!"​​
The barbecue roll's legacy is the stuff of NASA legend. The attached stories chronicle some of its lesser known successes, including NASA's ordering of a manual version of the roll to help rescue Apollo 13. The barbecue roll was hailed as the necessary first step that had to be taken if the astronauts inside the disabled spacecraft were going to have any chance at all of safely returning to the earth. Additionally, the roll was used at various times to help keep the Space Shuttle fleet within safe temperature ranges.​​
