Finding Aid for the Donald R. Puddy Papers, 1966-2003 (#2016-0011)

Donald R. Puddy was born in Oklahoma on May 31, 1937. Puddy’s career with NASA began at the Manned Spacecraft Center, now known as Johnson Space Center (JSC) in 1964 during the Apollo years. As an engineer on the Apollo 13 flight in 1970, he proposed the solution of using the lunar module, Aquarius, as a lifeboat that saved the lives of the three Apollo 13 astronauts. As a result, Donald Puddy’s career with NASA began to blossom as he was promoted in 1972 to Flight Director, where he commanded NASA’s final mission to the moon, Apollo 17 and the missions to the United States’ first space station, Skylab. Most importantly, Donald Puddy presided over the NASA program during the crucial Cold War period known as détente. The relaxation of tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was personified by joint mission programs such as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 and Shuttle Transportation System (STS) missions to the Russian Space Station Mir in the late 1980s as the first phase of establishing an International Space Station (ISS), which was completed in the late 1990s. Throughout his lengthy career with NASA, Donald Puddy won numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts on the Apollo 13 rescue, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and was inducted into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame in 2002. Donald Puddy passed away on November 22, 2004 in Houston, Texas. This collection contains the work papers of Donald R. Puddy, Johnson Space Center (JSC) engineer, flight director and manager from 1964 until 2004. Content includes documentation from Apollo, Skylab, Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), Approach and Landing Test (ALT), Shuttle Transportation System (STS), the Shuttle-Mir Program and JSC operating papers.