Bob Jacobs
Headquarters, Washington, DC          August 17, 2000
(Phone: 202/358-1600)

Ed Campion
Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

MEDIA ADVISORY: m00-159

DR. ROBERT GILRUTH, AN ARCHITECT OF MANNED SPACE FLIGHT, DIES

     Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, an aerospace scientist, engineer, and 
one of the pioneers of human space flight, died early today. He 
was 86.

     Dr. Gilruth is best known as the first director of what would 
become the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. With the beginning 
of the space age and the creation of NASA, Dr. Gilruth was given 
the task of putting a man in orbit with project Mercury.

     While at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Dr. Gilruth 
conceived and directed the Gemini program, which tested man's 
ability to control, rendezvous, and dock spacecraft in Earth 
orbit. 

     "His courage to explore the unknown, his insistence on 
following strict scientific procedures, and his technical 
expertise directly contributed to the ultimate success of the 
Apollo program and the landing of a man on the moon," said NASA 
Administrator Daniel S. Goldin.


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