Our American Stories

A Life at NASA From the Lunar Rover to the Space Shuttle

October 6, 2026·27 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Apollo astronauts drove across the Moon, Craig Sumner had already spent years helping make that possible. As a young engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, he worked on the Lunar Roving Vehicle, solving the kinds of problems that come with designing a car for a place where no one had ever driven before. He later left NASA to become a military pilot, then returned for Skylab and the Space Shuttle program, eventually serving as deputy project manager for the Shuttle's External Tank.Sumner shares his personal story of what it was like to build America's space program alongside astronauts such as John Young, Fred Haise, and Alan Shepard. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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