JPL. Here are extracts from the interview, the full version
of which can be found on the RocketSTEM website,
together with references for finding out more about
his work, science, art, the environment and his world.
KOHLHASE: “I studied at Georgia Tech as a Naval
Reserve Officer Training Candidate (NROTC) and
earned my degree while also receiving a commission.
When I graduated I had a commitment to put in
time as an Ensign in the Navy and did my two years
RocketSTEM: What motivated you to
of service, starting in June 1957. However, after
wo rk in the space programme?
that, I knew I didn’t want a career in the Navy.
“JPL excited me
Charley KOHLHASE:
because I knew
”When I was young
they were going
my grandmother
to get into space
used to tell me
exploration. I had a
adventure stories.
telephone interview
Later I got into
with Vic Clarke, the
science fiction
supervisor of the
adventures too.
lunar and planetary
Sometimes, I found
trajectory group. Not
myself wishing
long after that I got
to escape from
an offer to go and
regimented family
work there in May
life and the private
1959 when I finished
military academy to
with the Navy.
which I had been
“JPL had been
sent by my father, a
established in 1936. It
strict disciplinarian.
had done early work
School friends said
for the Army, above
they would see me
all the Corporal
lying on the lawn
and Sergeant
at night looking up
missile programmes,
at the stars. I also
which had started
had an inspirational
in the mid-1940s,
teacher at school
as well as other
who taught me
Charley at work in his home in 2010, designing a futuristic space scene.
classified rocket
to enjoy math
projects. NASA as
and to reason. I
the civilian space
was a dreamer,
agency was created in 1958, the year before
but I was also curious, and must have had an
I started at JPL, so for me the timing was just
internal desire to know what was out there.
right, at the dawn of the space age.”
“My father did not encourage me in that direction,
paying for my studies at Georgia Tech as long as I
studied in the mechanical engineering department.
At the end of my sophomore year, the call to science
was very strong, so I changed to physics. My father cut
off all support to me from that point on, so for the last
two years I paid my own college expenses. I did well in
physics and math, and I followed that pathway, even
at the expense of being rejected by my father. I’m
happy that I found the courage to follow this dream.”
RS: Were you reconciled with your father afterwards?
KOHLHASE: “Being a heavy smoker, he died of
lung cancer, aged 59. When I was working at JPL,
I flew back to see him in Georgia shortly before his
death in 1969. Surprisingly he said ‘Son, I’m proud
of what you’ve done.’ He had followed my work in
newspapers and must have felt he knew enough
about it then to say he was proud of me.”
RS: You started at JPL when you were 24.
How did you come to work there?
12
12
RS: These must have been very exciting times!
KOHLHASE: “They were! It was a unique experience,
getting in on the early stages. We lived and breathed
each mission, were self-motivated and highly
responsible. I think we were a breed apart. We were
dreamers and always excited about what we were
doing. The years flew by. We were having fun.”
RS: What was your first role when you began at JPL?
KOHLHASE: “I was only an associate engineer then in
Vic Clarke’s group, but it gave me the first opportunity
to do something meaningful. Someone would say
‘We want a trajectory from the Earth to the Moon
that gets there efficiently and doesn’t exceed the
capability of our launch vehicle,’ so I could apply the
academic principles which I’d learned to do that job.”
RS: I understand that you were thrown in at the
deep end at one early morning meeting when you
encountered two legends of spaceflight at the time.
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