About SpaceAgeChronicle.com

Welcome to SpaceAgeChronicle.com. This website presents stories about space exploration that you may have never read or heard. Articles will feature the people and events that played key roles in historic Space Age achievements throughout the years.

I am Bob Granath, retired from 35 years working at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. My interest in space exploration began when I was five years old. In 1955, Dr. Wernher von Braun appeared on Walt Disney’s television program, Disneyland, explaining what we could do with rockets sending something called “satellites” to Earth orbit.

I was fascinated.

While in elementary school, high school and college, I spoke about space-related topics every time I could, fulfilling class assignments. Once I graduated from college, I began speaking to school and civic groups on space-related topics.

In 1983, I was given the opportunity to join Dr. John Williams’ Public Affairs staff with Lockheed Space Operations Company as part of the Shuttle Processing Contract Team at Kennedy. Under Williams’ leadership, he taught me more about our profession than any other individual.

With Lockheed and USA I had the opportunity to write about the people, events and missions of the Space Shuttle Program. I began meeting the key players in America’s efforts to explore and utilize space, including many of the well-known individuals as well as those who worked behind the scenes.

In 1996, those of us with Lockheed transitioned to United Space Alliance (USA), a limited liability company owned equally by Lockheed Martin and Boeing to operate the Shuttle Program for NASA at Kennedy, the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

At the end of the Shuttle Program, I moved to the Abacus Technology writers group at Kennedy’s NASA News Center. I specialized in writing about the agency’s history and the challenges NASA overcame to achieve the historic milestones leading  to where we are today.

During my time working at Kennedy, I was fortunate to be recognized with many awards including the Florida Public Relations Association’s 2005 PR Professional of the Year. In 2017, I was recipient of the NASA Communications Contractor Employee of the Quarter. In writing the nomination, NASA Public Affairs officer Amanda Griffin wrote:

“Bob’s extensive knowledge of the space program spans decades. His wisdom shines through in flawlessly written stories that marry our past accomplishments with our future endeavors. Bob has a gift of taking the first-hand knowledge he has accumulated over the years and weaving it into stories that not only inform, but also inspire. Our team would be seriously lacking without the expertise and excitement Bob humbly brings to the table each and every day.”

SpaceAgeChronicle.com plans to continue that effort.

We’d like to hear from you if you have comments, questions or suggestions for future articles.

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