MAXIME FAGET 1921-2004

Another great from NASA's Mercury program has passed.

Space capsule designer dies at 83
Area engineer was in at the start of the space race
By MARK CARREAU
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

"Maxime "Max" Faget, an intuitive engineer who became the chief architect of NASA's Mercury capsule and a key contributor to the design of three other manned spacecraft, has died. He was 83.

Faget died Saturday at his Clear Lake-area home after a lengthy struggle with bladder cancer.

One of Faget's accomplishments was the design of the Mercury capsule that carried Alan Shepard into space.

"There is no one in space flight history in this or any other country who has had a larger impact on man's quest in space exploration," said Christopher Kraft, the former director of the Johnson Space Center. "History will remember him as one of the really great scientists of the 20th century."

The son of a Public Health Service physician, Faget was born Aug. 26, 1921, in Stann Creek, British Honduras, and studied engineering at Louisiana State University.

After serving in the U.S. Navy as a submarine officer, he rose to legendary status in the earliest days of America's space program."

Another thank you is owed...

--WP