Ed Smylie
Robert Edwin Smylie was an American engineer and NASA official. In 1970, he oversaw NASA's Crew Systems Division and led the team of engineers that saved the crew of Apollo 13. In 2014, Time magazine called Smylie "an improvisational genius".
Early life
Ed Smylie was born on his grandfather’s farm in Lincoln County, Mississippi. He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, served in the Navy, and then returned to the university for a master’s degree in the same field. He worked for Douglas Aircraft on the DC-8 before joining NASA in 1962.NASA and Apollo 13
In April 1970, during the infamous Apollo 13 mission, when an oxygen tank exploded and disabled the main module, he and a team of engineers used duct tape as the solution to the lunar module’s scrubbing system, which was starting to lose capacity to provide breathable air for the astronauts.The mission operations team was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon, who named Smylie and his deputy, James Correale, in his remarks.
Smylie later worked at NASA headquarters in Washington and served as the deputy director of the Goddard Space Centre in Maryland.