Mattingly remains enormously proud of the seminal work he and his company did for the manned space program more than 40 years ago. But as the businessman of the partnership, it was never easy, even after NASA turned to them to solve the Gemini spacewalk problems.
"It was a tough period," he said. "We had small loans ... everything to make payroll.... "We just battled through it," he said. "It was fun, but I wouldn't do it again."
Maryland's contributions
Maryland played a key role in the race to the moon. Among the state's contributions:
* The live voices, pictures and other data that were transmitted from Apollo 11 to Earth passed through the computers and switching gear at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
* Martin Marietta Co. in Middle River developed the rockets used in the Gemini program, and the company's engineers went on to other firms to develop the rockets used in Apollo.
* Martin Marietta also built a high-performance wind tunnel used to test spaceship components.
* Engineers at the Bendix Radio Division plant in Towson produced components known as the Apollo Range Instrumental Aircraft. They developed communication receivers, transmitters, oscilloscopes and a parabolic antenna.
* Bendix Field Engineering Corp. in Owings Mills operated the tractor that moved the Saturn V Apollo rocket to the launch site.
* Steel for the Vertical Assembly Building (now called the Vehical Assembly Building) where the Saturn V rocket was made was forged at the Bethlehem Steel plant in Sparrows Point.
* Many of the computers and programs essential to the success of the Apollo mission were developed by experts at the International Business Machines Corp. in Gaithersburg.
* The camera used to record the moon landing was built at Westinghouse Electric Corp. in Linthicum.
Readers on baltimoresun.com shared their memories of the lunar landing on July 20, 1969.
* I was in my dad's basement. I was 8 years old. My Aunt and Uncle had come up from Denver, and we had two b/w TVs running. The thing I remember most was after "Tranquility Base," my dad allowed EVERYONE, even my 7 y/o brother and me a glass of champagne. We all knew that the world had changed.
-Mike
* My parents invited neighbors over for a party. We had little TV's all over the house for easy viewing. I remember realizing how momentous an occasion it was - the first men to walk on the moon. The opening of the vast frontier of space.
-CS
* I remember the mix of reactions that followed the lunar landing and moonwalk. My roommate's parents believed the lunar landing and moonwalk was a hoax perpetrated by "the government." The idea was that it was a morale booster and a distraction from the Vietnam War [which] was in full form by then.
-Jim
* My mom and dad woke us all up to watch the historic event that night. It was the most amazing thing. I was 7 years old. I remember the 60's space firsts from Gemini 7 to Apollo. Hard to believe, there have still only been the twelve moonwalkers among the billions of us.
-Dave
