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Kelly, Thomas (1930-2002)
An American engineer with Grumman Aircraft (now Northrop Grumman) who led the team that designed and built the Apollo Lunar Module (LM). Kelly helped developed the lunar-orbit rendezvous concept used by Apollo, then spearheaded Grumman's effort at Bethpage, New York, to realize the vehicle that would land a dozen astronauts on the Moon and, in the case of Apollo 13, serve as a lifeboat for the safe return of the stricken crew. A native of Brooklyn, Kelly earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Cornell University (1951) and a M.S. in the same field from Columbia University (1956). After graduating from Cornell, he joined Grumman as a propulsion engineer and later did the same job at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, when he was called up for military service. He worked as a space propulsion engineer for Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Space Division in 1958-59, then returned to Grumman, where he stayed until his retirement in 1992. His experiences in building the LM are recounted in his book, Moon Lander: How We Developed the Apollo Lander Module (2001).
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