Show your Americana / Non-Sports Memorabilia

[canjond]

I feel like this thread needs a come-back, so I'll see if I can get the ball rolling again...

Every once in a while, you come across an item that just calls to you, and this is one such item. Honestly, this has got to be one of the most interesting things I've ever seen for sale, and I'm happy to own it. This is the original Titan II GLV launch panel from mission control that was used to launch the Gemini missions. The panel was owned by Colin Harrison, who recently passed away. Colin was a man who we all have a lot to thank for the technological advances we made during the golden age of exploration.

Colin finished a degree as mechanical engineer with major studies in thermodynamics and electronics at the University of Virginia. He joined
the American Bosh Arma in Long Island in New York doing electro-mechanical design for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) guidance systems. Colin later worked for Aerojet General in Sacramento, CA, designing and supervising assembly and test firing rocket engines for the Titan ICBM’s. He joined the Martin Marietta Company in Denver, CO after working the engine integration office there for Aerojet. Colin then became test stand manager, chief of test, project manager for the integration of the Titan ICBM into the Strategic Air
Command inventory.

In 1961 he was transferred to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, to be the company project manager for the Gemini Program. At program completion Colin returned to Denver to be the Director of Manned Systems Design. Next, he became Project Manager for the Apollo Telescope Mount which was the center for the electronic brains for the Skylab Space Mission. After launch and completion of mission control activities he was assigned to the Space Shuttle Program where he was project engineer responsible for building the first External Tank and taking it through propulsion tests. In 1980 he became responsible for the external tank at Vandenberg Air Force base where the plan was for the Air Force to fly their shuttle missions. He eventually became operations director for the shuttle launch pad. At the termination of the Air Force shuttle program he became Director of International Spaceports in Denver, Colorado, a position he held at his retirement.

I'm now in the process of trying to track down a few original photos of the piece, so I can have "dummy" lights reinstalled that will work when plugged in, so the panel can cycle through a red/green indicator pattern. If anyone knows a good custom electrical person, please let me know!