15 Facts About Jay Greene

Jay Greene worked as a FIDO flight controller during the Apollo Program and a flight director from 1982 to 1986, and as ascent flight director during the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Jay Greene grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.

In 1969, Jay Greene was chosen to work the descent shift for Apollo 11, the first lunar landing.

Jay Greene was a FIDO on Apollo 6 through 17, excluding Apollo 9.

Jay Greene fought to keep the Shuttle from being fitted with a range safety destruct system, which would allow it to be destroyed remotely from the ground.

Jay Greene remained in the flight dynamics branch until 1982, spending 1976 through 1979 as section head and 1980 through 1982 as branch chief.

Jay Greene was a FIDO on STS-1 and worked his last mission as FIDO in 1981 on STS-2, the second Shuttle launch.

Jay Greene worked STS-3 and STS-4 as a backup flight director, learning the job by being paired with the experienced flight director Tommy Holloway and observing him at work.

Jay Greene worked on ten flights between 1983 and 1986, including STS-61-C, which was notable for having included Rep.

Jay Greene was not originally assigned to work the STS-51-L mission, which was scheduled to launch a mere ten days after the landing of STS-61-C.

Jay Greene did appear at a press conference later that day, where he answered questions about the accident.

However, Jay Greene feared that too much introspection by NASA engineers could lead to a damaging loss of confidence.

From 1996 to 2000, Jay Greene was Deputy Manager for Technical Development on the International Space Station.

Jay Greene received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the Rotary Stellar Award, and a Silver Snoopy award for his work on the station.

Jay Greene was interviewed extensively for two History Channel documentaries about Mission Control, Failure Is Not an Option and Beyond the Moon: Failure Is Not an Option 2.