About this item
The names of the astronauts will forever be inscribed in our history books, but the names of the entire Apollo launch support team at the Kennedy Space Center and the thousands who supported Apollo elsewhere will only be known to a few. It is the technical team, the engineers, analysts, programmers, and yes, even the secretaries and typists who kept the administrative side moving, who are portrayed in this book. This combined team, after achieving an unbelievable goal of putting men on the moon within the 10-year limit set by Kennedy, performed in an exemplary manner. Some believe they were the greatest technological team ever assembled, achieving the most difficult challenge of all mankind to date.The Apollo team faced challenges and temptations like anyone else in the 60's: divorce, affairs, deaths, three shifts of work schedules, as well as women's issues, but they also knew how to have fun along the way. Choruses were formed, humorous skits brought laughs to facility dinners, and tennis bets of a lifetime played out on an Apollo stage with human lives on the line, etched with historic backdrops.What was it like to be a part of this history-making event of launching our astronauts to the moon? Fasten your seat belts and journey back to the 60's for a front-row seat by someone who experienced it all.
About the Author
Martha Lemasters is a Floridian, reared in Ft. Lauderdale and currently residing in Vero Beach, Florida. During the late 50's, she attended the University of Florida majoring in Journalism.
She began work for IBM on the Apollo Program at Cape Kennedy in the late 60's as a typist, then secretary and finally PR writer after years of proving herself for advancement. Kennedy Space Center during this time was a man's world, made up of engineers, scientists, analysts, programmers and technicians with men outnumbering women 200 to 1. Women were deemed 'safety hazards' if dresses were worn on the launch platforms; catcalls and disrespect welcomed the women who traversed the bays of the VAB.
As a marketing communications writer, Lemasters wrote about the people who made up one of the greatest technical teams ever assembled in American history. Included in those stories are the heartaches, failures, losses, and challenges to the individuals who made up the Apollo launch support team at the Cape.
Following the end of the Apollo program, she continued into the Skylab and Soyuz programs. After these programs ended she joined Harris Corporation in Melbourne, also as a writer.
Following remarriage in the late 70's to a top executive, she became fully involved as a corporate wife, traveling the world with her husband's ventures into technology, first for Harris Corporation, then later as president and CEO of CONTEL, which was eventually bought out by Verizon.
Since retiring, she has volunteered for the State Attorney's Office as a victim advocate for six years. During this time, she hosted several concerts for victims entitled Vero Sings for the Victims.
She is a member of Impact 100, a women's collective giving group who each donate $1000 a year and award grants to nonprofits in her community, where she served on the Board as vice president of Communications for five years.
She writes a bi-weekly inspirational article for the Newsweekly section of the Vero Beach Press Journal (tcpalm.com) on behalf of the Christian Science church, where she also serves as a substitute Reader. She also facilitates a seminar entitled, Better Thinking for Better Living.
She has been a member of the John's Island Club for the past 15 years where she currently serves on the Board of Directors.
She spends her summers at her home in Highlands, North Carolina, where her three daughters, Curran, Cathy, and Cindy, love to visit.
Three of her closest friends who are depicted in the book, (but with different names ) Joanne Miller, Marylou Duffy and Sharon Witt continue to keep in touch throughout the year.
