Jerry Olivieri

A brilliant and uncompromising engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Olivieri specialized in figuring out the cost of future missions -- even when, at times, some of the technologies that would be required hadn't even been invented yet. His strength was keeping his eye on the big picture of the space program: gaining knowledge and understanding. Jerry liked telling his colleagues, "Our job is not to make the incredible possible. Our job is to make the impossible credible." He took those visions to Orbital Sciences Corp. when he left JPL, helping to focus another big picture: the privatization of space so the government doesn't have all the fun. He died October 23 from leukemia after rejecting a bone marrow transplant. He was 37. (This is True author Randy Cassingham delivered Jerry's eulogy. The full text is here.) From This is True for 24 October 1999 Suggestions for further reading: Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover)) by Brian Floca Amazon Price: $12.23 Customer Review: This book was given to my children as a gift, and as the mother of a 5 year old who is avidly interested in nasa and space, I have read many, many children's books about space. This is, without question, the most beautifully written and illustrated ...   Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce Amazon Price: $11.55 Customer Review: This book may be in the Children's Section at the bookstore but it is for everyone. You can tell that lots of stories are based off other stories. Just as an example. The Lion King (Little Golden Book) is based off of Hamlet (The New Folger Librar...   NASA Apollo 11 Owners' Workshop Manual: 1969 (including Saturn V, CM-107, SM-... by Christopher Riley, Philip Dolling Amazon Price: $21.75 Customer Review: I think this is *THE* book to have if you want the history and technology of the Apollo Space Program. It really does cover it all, from the sci-fi drawings of how a possible space mission would work, to the early planning, all of the versions of th...   Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon by Craig Nelson Amazon Price: $10.15 Customer Review: First off, I thought this was a great read in spite of the few technical and grammatical errors I did come across. If you're planning on launching a rocket to the moon from your backyard anytime soon, you probably ought not rely on this book as a how...   Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan Amazon Price: $10.88 Customer Review: I really enjoyed the beginning of this book when he talks about religions and supernatural claims and how they inhibit our species to progress. Reading Carl Sagan's books feels like coming up for air for the first time in a long time. The only issue ...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

About the HUs About This is True Subscribe Free to This is True Your e-mail: Find by name/keyword: Prev: Publicist Jim Moran Next: Psychiatrist Nise da Silveira Complete Name List

Copyright 1998-2010 ThisisTrue.Inc, all rights reserved. May not be copied or archived without express, prior, written permission. "This is True" is a registered trademark of ThisisTrue.Inc, Ridgway Colorado. 3593