Finding Aid for the Francis Johnson Jr. Papers
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Abstract
The Francis Johnson Jr. Papers is composed of handwritten scientific and mathematical calculations, handwritten notes, memorandums, technical reports, internal NASA notes, and miscellaneous papers, authored, created, or kept by Francis Johnson Jr. between 1962 and 1970 while working at NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. He would work during this period as an aerospace engineer in trajectory analysis in the Mission Analysis Branch (MAB) during the Apollo Program, where he calculated trajectories to and from the Moon for space travel. The collection includes a large number of published internal Manned Spacecraft Center notes authored or co-authored by Johnson, featuring his technical calculations and review of project work for the Apollo Program. There are original copies of memos written by or to Johnson, mainly dealing with lunar trajectory calculations. There are also Johnson’s handwritten research papers and calculation notes that he originally stored in binders, containing mathematical workings, graphed trajectory calculations, scientific equation workings, and other notes, used to calculate lunar trajectories for the Apollo Program missions. The collection is significant for demonstrating the process by which engineers worked through the problem of space travel and lunar trajectories for spacecraft at NASA during the 1960s.