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NASA Mourns Loss of Kennedy Test Director Norm Carlson

Norman “Norm” Carlson, a former chief NASA test director for space shuttle launches at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida died March 1, 2015. He was 81. A resident of Titusville, Florida, Carlson’s career with NASA spanned 35 years.

“Norm Carlson was a NASA test director for the first space shuttle flight and many that followed,” said Kennedy Director, Bob Cabana. “He became the chief test director and was the consummate professional, working tirelessly to ensure the success of the missions and the safety of all of the astronauts.”

Carlson may be best known for the “launch beans and cornbread” provided to the team as a payoff for a successful launch. As the tradition grew in popularity, hundreds of launch team members, managers and dignitaries would swarm the Launch Control Center lobby after each shuttle liftoff, dipping into twelve 18-quart cookers brimming with beans.

Former NASA Test Director Norm Carlson holds a "Beans are Go" sign in the Launch Control Center.
Former NASA Chief Test Director Norm Carlson holds a “Beans are Go” sign in the Launch Control Center, signifying a successful launch.
NASA

“He also started the tradition of cooking beans for the team in the Launch Control Center, which grew from a single crock pot at the beginning, to a spread we all grew accustomed to partaking in,” Cabana said. “His legacy of professionalism lives on at Kennedy Space Center. Norm also left us his recipe (see below). I hope it’s a tradition we continue, and we all enjoy Norm’s beans again next time we launch astronauts from U.S. soil.”

Carlson was born Feb. 12, 1934, in Enid, Oklahoma. Following service in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956, he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1960.

That same year he began working for NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and helped develop the Saturn launch vehicles that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon. His involvement with development and test of the Saturn rockets brought him to Kennedy in July 1964, and for the next twelve years he served as a launch vehicle test conductor in the Apollo program.

Carlson was lead launch vehicle test conductor for numerous other missions, among them Apollo 11 – the first lunar landing flight in 1969, the first flights of America’s prototype space station, Skylab in 1973, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

From March 1976 through December 1977, Carlson was stationed in California, serving first as NASA test director for Kennedy on the shuttle Columbia, the first orbiter, during factory checkout at Palmdale. He then held the same position on the orbiter Enterprise’s Approach and Landing Tests at the Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Carlson returned to Kennedy in January 1978 as NASA test director for Space Shuttle Integrated Test Operations, including the first five launches. From October 1982 until March 1991, he was chief of the Vehicle Processing Division, overseeing all aspects of the shuttle test operations at the Florida spaceport.

Former NASA Chief Test Director Norm Carlson
Former NASA Chief Test Director Norm Carlson, a 35-year agency veteran who died March 1 at the age of 81.
NASA

Following the loss of the shuttle Challenger in 1986, Carlson was appointed as a charter member to the Space Flight Panel, overseeing all flight safety issues for Return to Flight. Beginning in March 1991, he served as deputy director of Shuttle Operations and continued as chief NASA test director.

Carlson retired from NASA in March 1995.

During his career, Carlson received numerous awards, including the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1971, 1981 and 1989; the Superior Achievement Award in 1981; Manned Flight Awareness Honoree in 1983; the Astronauts Personal Achievement Award, better known as the Silver Snoopy, in 1989; and the Center Director’s Award in 1990.

In 1999, Carlson was presented the National Space Club Florida Committee’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing contributions to the U.S. space program.

In tribute to the 25th anniversary of the first space shuttle flight, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center has honored the crew of STS-1, Commander John Young and Pilot Robert Crippen, by dedicating the firing room that launched the historic flight as the “Young -•Crippen Firing Room.” Making the dedication on March 31, 2006 were, from the left, the project flight engineer for Space Shuttle Columbia, Bob Sieck; the NASA test director for STS-1, Norm Carlson, and Center Director Jim Kennedy.
NASA/Kim Shiflett

Carlson and his wife, the former Bobbie Ewing of Aline, Oklahoma, lived in Titusville, Florida, where they raised three children.

Recipe for Successful Launch Beans

Courtesy of Norm Carlson

  • Put 6 pounds of dried great northern beans in an 18-quart electric cooker.
  • Cut 10 pounds of smoked ham into cubes.
  • Add ham and ham bones to beans.
  • Add 1/2 shaker of lemon pepper.
  • Add 3 pounds chopped onions.
  • Add 2 stalks chopped celery.
  • Add 1 tablespoon of liquid smoke.
  • Cover with water and cook for at least 8 hours.