A Kansan Conquers the Cosmos
or, “Spaced Out All My Life!”
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Resounding applause at a movie in LA? Yes. It’s happening wherever this Sundance Award winner is playing. Ron Howard’s In the Shadow of the Moon is the new insider’s riveting story of Apollo in perspective. As one of the original men of Mission Control the story of Apollo is my story: A Kansan Conquers the Cosmos. From a newly degreed engineer on Gemini 8 I arose to key ‘front room’ positions in Mission Control for all missions: Apollo, SKYLAB and the first Shuttle landings. My career continues to inspire today as a design team member for the NASA craft destined for the Moon and Mars. America’s Baby Boomers make up the early audiences of this inspiring movie reliving America’s past in the 60’s. And they need this reminder. My book fills this need but does not stop at Apollo. It rockets forward 28 years to today; years replete with material for my insider stories and anecdotes. Also covered is my aerospace and teaching efforts, past and present, right up to the current planned Lunar and Mars spacecraft. My Presidential Medal of Freedom (Apollo 13), Masters degree from USC, multiple Who’s Who listings and other national awards attest to my credentials for this inspiring story. Anecdotes abound from times when my acting hobby crashed into my spaceflight career. For example, a TV spot of mine where I play a graduate of an A/C service school was running when, one day I got a call on my Mission Control voice loop: “Hey Glines, after this lunar simulation ends, can you stop by the house and have a look at my A/C?” The book follows this Kansas nerd from science fiction dreaming to Apollo Mission Control and beyond. From Deputy Flight Director in Mission Control on Apollo Soyuz to the CA aerospace industry for Shuttle and Station contracts and teaching at TRW and USC, I moved to Europe as consultant to the 14-nation European Space Agency (ESA). My exciting life in Germany and Holland told me I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. (Sorry) Boomers born after 1 Jan. 1946 define my book’s primary market. They number 80 million in need of an inspiring Apollo reminder. They’re just starting Social Security with an average savings of $140,000. My secondary market is made up of any age American needing college/career inspiration. This NASA Mission Controller genre has three books.
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About the Book
A Kansan Conquers the Cosmos presents the story of Alan Glines, who began working with NASA in 1966 and was part of Mission Control during the height of the space program. Full of fun and excitement, Glines’s autobiography offers a first-person glimpse into four decades of the field of aerospace.
He traces his own history from the beginning of his career through to the present and shares interesting anecdotes and histories of NASA and the American space program. From his days a science fiction–obsessed youth who ran a theater as if it were mission control to his various experiences in NASA, Glines attained the Mission Control spirit and dedication that he has lived for decades—that is, being on the playing field and being all you can be, all the time. Over four decades, he has acquired an extraordinarily rich tapestry of experience in the aerospace worlds of research and development, and command and control, exploring no fewer than seven geographical and intellectual career paths over the years.
As a man whose career, teaching, and speaking efforts continue to inspire others today, Glines’s story is a detailed and unique and the aerospace industry in America from the inside.
About the Author
Alan Glines grew up in Kansas in the fifties and sixties. After receiving a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Kansas University and a master of science in systems management from USC, he began work at NASA-Johnson Space center, where he was part of both the Gemini and Apollo programs. He still works in the aerospace industry today.