![[Pietrzycki picture]](PatelskiKJ1.JPG)
![[Pietrzycki picture]](PatelskiKJ2.JPG)
Kazimir J. Patelski ( Jan. 1, 1928 - )
Astronautical Engineer, Manager.
A Tribute to Kazimir J. Patelski, Jr. "Mr. Skylab"
A Retired Aeronautical Engineer and Manager
Early Life
On New Years Day 1928, the stork made a special delivery to a Chicago household. On this cold Sunday, Kazimir Patelski, Jr. was born on the northwest side of the city. His new parents had both been born in the United States, but the baby's grandparents all emigrated from Poland. Kazimir's paternal grandparents, Stanislaus Patelski and Victoria Domogala came from Sarbia, Poland. His mother's parents. Frank Kaminski and Mary Polek, came from the village of Lipnica Murowana, which is close to Krakow.
The Patelski family continued to grow. Kazimir was later joined by two sisters, Sylvia and Genevieve, and brother John.
Kaz spent his childhood days on the northwest side of Chicago. He received his first Holy Communion at St. John Bosco and was confirmed at Our Lady of Victory. Both of these parishes remain active and alive. He attended Chicago public grammar schools at Mary Lyon and Mayfair.
In the late 193O's and early 1940's, Chicago's main airport was located on the south-west side of the city. The Chicago Municipal Airport, today known as Midway Airport, was approximately 15 miles from the Patelski home. During this time, Kazimir Sr. would drive his son to the Chicago Municipal Airport to watch the planes takeoff and land. These were the days when Charles Lindbergh was a hero to more than one young boy.
It was during one of these visits to the Municipal Airport that Kazimir's father took his son for a ride in a cabin biplane. This exciting experience sparked Kazimir Jr.'s interest in flying. In fact, he wanted to become a pilot like Lindbergh.
Each day, he made believe that he was Lindbergh by wearing a pilot's helmet and goggles to school. In his spare time, he would sketch airplanes. One day, when he was in the fifth grade, Kaz's teacher, Mrs. Ryan, asked what each student would like to do when they grew up. Kaz answered that he would like to become a pilot. Mrs. Ryan responded that while this was a good plan, almost anyone could become a pilot. There was, perhaps, a more exciting possibility. She was really indicating that since Kaz was a good student she thought that he could design the planes as well as fly them. This suggestion from his teacher ignited an interest in Kaz that later led him into becoming an aeronautical engineer.
Three years later, after graduating from grade school, Kazimir, Jr. entered Lane Technical High School on the northwest side of Chicago. In the early 1940 's Lane Technical was arguably the best technical high school in Chicago.
At Lane, in addition to taking the usual college preparatory courses, Kazimir took technical courses such as foundry, forge, machine shop, electrical shop, automotive and airplane shop. These hands-on courses would help him in his future engineering career. He was a good student and made the National Honor Society in all four years. In addition, he was the president of the Aviation Club, leader of the Civil Air Patrol Auxiliary, and the second highest-ranking officer in the ROTC.
To help support the family. Kaz worked in a small factory and repaired electrical motors after school. On weekends, he played drums in a Polish Polka band. Although most of the money from each paycheck went to help his family. Kaz managed to save some money to pay for flying lessons. By the time he completed his flying lessons, winter had set in and snow was on the ground. Kaz had the distinction to be the first student pilot at the age of 16 to solo on snow skis.
Six weeks before his 18th birthday and his graduation from Lane Technical High School in 1946, Kazimir was stricken with spinal polio. This disease, the former scourge of summer, left him paralyzed from the neck down. After a combination of the painful Sister Kenny treatments (a regimen that included heat and massage therapy), experimental procedures from North-western Medical School, and a year's treatment at Wesley Memorial Hospital, Kazimir went home. With more daily therapy, he learned to walk with a leg brace and cane.
Higher Education and Determination
After two years of convalescence, Kazimir enrolled in the Aeronautical Engineering program at the University of lllinois Extension at Navy Pier in Chicago. Since at that time the University program at Navy Pier covered only the first two years, all students commuted from home. Chicago winters compounded the problem of getting around on streetcars with a brace and cane, as well as carrying a load of books. In 1948, facilities for the handicapped at either the University or on public transportation did not exist.
During college, Kaz took a summer job as a mechanic helper at a local airport. His first job was repairing a broken tail wheel of a Piper Cub. He had to disconnect the tail wheel, rudder and control cables to fix this. The halfday job took him over a day to complete. When Kaz told his boss, who was overseeing his work, that he was finished. Kaz was asked if the plane was ready to be turned over to its owner. He replied affirmatively, and the boss said, "OK, you get in and you fly it." Kaz wanted to go back and check the rudder and cables first, but his boss wouldn't allow this. The flight went well, and Kaz learned a lesson he never forgot: Always do a job correctly: a life may depend upon it!
After completing the two-year program at the Navy Pier Extension, Kazimir transferred to the main campus of the University of lllinois in Champaign-Urbana. With financial assistance received from the March of Dimes and the State of Illinois Disability Program, Kazimir received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1952. As with many Americans of Polish descent at that time, he was the first in his family to graduate from college.
A Distinguished Career
After reviewing 17 job offers, Kazimir Patelski, Jr. accepted a position at the Douglas Aircraft Company in southern California. This position at Douglas was the beginning of a distinguished twenty-eight year aeronautical engineering career.
During his first five years with Douglas Aircraft, Kazimir worked in the propulsion design section. The propulsion systems for the airplanes that he worked on have familiar names such as: DC-8, DC-9, B-66, C-124, and C-133.
By 1957, the Cold War was reaching the point where it might become a "hot war." In that year, Kazimir was promoted to Group Design Leader for the Thor rocket propellant loading system. The following year, he was assigned to install the Thor rocket launch systems at Royal Air Force bases in England.
After two years in England, Kaz returned to Douglas Aircraft headquarters in Santa Monica, California. His next assignment was with the Delta rocket team. As Project Engineer, he coordinated the Delta rocket's role in the launch of a number of communication, scientific, and weather satellites.
By 1965, the project to land men on the moon promised by the late President Kennedy was well under way. Kazimir was transferred to the McDonnell-Douglas Saturn Apollo program as the Deputy Manager of Systems Engineering. In this position (from 1965 through 1968), he established the requirements for the design of various Saturn systems and the use of the S-IVB Rocket Tank as an orbital workshop.
In 1968, McDonnell-Douglas won the contract to design and staff the Mission Control Center for the Saturn V moon rocket. To be chosen as lead engineer for this project, an elite group of engineers was considered. The stringent requirements included the following: one must have a degree in engineering, five years experience in rocketry, pass a rigorous Air Force physical, be in the top 10 percent of the McDonnell-Douglas engineering department and relocate to Houston. Kazimir Patelski, Jr. was chosen as the lead engineer for this prestigious position.
Kaz, now commonly known as Casey, as the new McDonnell Douglas Managing Director of Rocket Flight Control Operations in Mission Control, had to get organized quickly. He needed to get his engineering staff on line, rent office space near the Manned Spacecraft Center, order desks, typewriters and other office furniture.
Although Mission Control had a 1960's state-of-the-art main frame computer, PC's were not even a faint glimmer on the horizon. Casey ordered the best mechanical calculators; these were the large Merchant calculators that occupied a volume of 12" x 15" x 8". These mechanical calculators as well as the usual engineering slide rules were used for all calculations.
The capability of the Mission Control main frame computer was less than most of today's desktop computers. While it is difficult to believe, these mechanical calculators and slide rules were what they used to design the rocket, manage Mission Control, send men to the moon and to get them safely home.
When Casey arrived at Houston, the Mission Control Facility was being phased over from the Gemini Program. His group had to design the consoles as well as identify the information that would be required to assess flight performance for all three stages of the Saturn rocket. At this point, Casey noted that during the Gemini Program, each console operator had developed his own procedures on a set of 3" x 5" file cards.
While the Gemini Program was complex, the Saturn program was at least several orders of magnitude more complex. Therefore, the 3" x 5" file card system would not work. After informing the Flight Director, Casey and his crew developed a rocket system control manual for each console position. Each manual was coordinated with all of the other control console positions. With this coordination system, if any crew member became incapacitated, he could be replaced and not disrupt the operation.
Although these console manuals were complicated to set up, once in place, a problem solving system existed to assure having a successful mission and not jeopardize the lives of the astronauts. In later engineering terminology, these console control manuals were in reality fault-tree structures of the Saturn moon rocket system.
For each mission, Casey and his crew would practice over 200 mission simulations using the Rocket System Control Manuals. Each simulation assumed multiple component failures in the various stages of the rocket. The goal was to eliminate the problem, save the astronauts and, if possible, still have a successful mission.
Once in a while, after an especially long, hard day of practice with flight simulations, Casey would invite the astronauts and the Rocket Flight Controllers to his office for a drink and "attitude adjustment!" They looked forward to this occasional opportunity to relax and tell "tall stories" about their flying and rocket launching escapades.
On all Apollo Moon Missions, Apollo 7 through 17, once the Saturn V lifted off from Cape Kennedy, Casey and his team were responsible for the rocket systems. It is interesting to note that if it were not for the console control manuals developed by Casey and his team, the Lunar Rover developed by Mieczyslaw G. Bekker, 1990 APEA Tribute award recipient, might never have been used.
There were several lighter moments that occurred during Casey's tenure at Mission Control. One recurring moment occurred whenever Mr. McDonnell would visit Houston. Although he was in his seventies, and needed a nap after lunch even though he would not admit it, Casey arranged to have his office sofa available. He would excuse himself for a "meeting" and told the secretaries to cut off the phones and not to disturb Mr. McDonnell. When Casey returned from the "meeting" he made some noise and arranged for his office phone to ring. These actions provided Mr. McDonnell the opportunity to wake up gracefully and then go about his business.
One of the "Space Tales" that was probably not widely reported in the open press dealt with the "Yellow Firefly Problem." This problem arose in 1962 when John Glenn, Jr., was orbiting the earth. Shortly after achieving orbit, Glenn notified Mission Control that he noticed yellow fire flies buzzing around his space capsule and that he could not lose them. Mission Control could not explain the problem until it was discovered that the astronaut had just urinated. In those early days, when pilots relieved themselves in airplanes, the urine drained outside the aircraft and gravity helped to dissipate the waste. In the space capsule, since there is no gravity in space and due to the Iow temperatures, the urine crystallized when vented into space. When the sun's rays hit the frozen crystals, they turned into the dancing yellow fireflies that Glenn had reported. In later spacecraft design, this problem was alleviated by storing waste for return to earth.
Perhaps the most difficult moments during the Apollo Program occurred when the following message was received at Mission Control, "Houston, we have a problem" during the Apollo 13 mission. The usual questions of what went wrong and why did something happen were asked. Initially, the Mission Control Flight Director was convinced that the booster rocket, designed by Casey and his team, had hit the Apollo capsule. Casey's team checked their consoles and data and could confidently state that a crash between the booster rocket and the Apollo capsule had not occurred. A short time later, data received from the rocket system confirmed that the problem had occurred when one of the oxygen tanks supplying the fuel cells had blown up.
On the Apollo 13 mission, Casey's team helped develop the "fix" that made it possible to join the square command module carbon dioxide filter to the circular Iunar module filter. Although this solution was shown in the movie "Apollo 13," unfortunately, Casey and his crew were not mentioned.
One additional part of the Apollo 13 mission that was not reported was an attempt to test the seismic monitoring devices left on the moon by the Apollo 11 and 12 missions. The test was accomplished by impacting the third stage of the rocket into the moon. When the third stage of the Apollo 13 mission successfully hit the moon, Casey Patelski and his crew gave a big cheer. The Rocket Crew described the task in this way: "It's like hitting something the size of a BB shot from 240,000 miles away with a 22 caliber rifle bullet." While Apollo 13 did not meet all of its mission goals, Mr. Kazimir Patelski's goals and responsibilities for the Apollo 13 mission were met and satisfied, including the safe return of the crew.
For all of their accomplishments on the Apollo 13 mission, Kazimir Patelski, Jr., along with the other Mission Control engineers, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Richard Nixon on April 18, 1970.
Following completion of the Apollo moon missions, it was time to close down Houston Mission Control and return to California. Because of Casey's work in Mission Control, he was asked to head up the crew systems design for the Skylab project, the first space station.
Once again, despite his physical disability from polio, Casey's positive attitude and outgoing personality made it possible for him to accomplish even more!
His crew, working with the astronauts to learn what they required, converted an unused rocket tank into a two story space station. There were three bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a family room on the first floor, plus a large experiment room on the second floor. Casey and the engineering team designed the first workable space toilet and shower as well as providing each astronaut with a separate bedroom. Rather than eating pureed baby food in a tube as prior astronauts had to do, Casey's engineers designed a kitchen in which the astronauts could prepare and eat normal TV dinner style food (suitable microwave ovens did not exist then). This was the first time astronaut crews could live and work for up to three months in space and zero gravity in comparative comfort. The experiences and lessons learned on the Skylab were applied to the design of the International Space Station that is currently in orbit.
At Cape Canaveral, near the completion of the Skylab Program, Casey, whose first marriage had dissolved during his Houston Mission Control days, married Bonnie, a school teacher. They successfully combined their two families: his three and her two children and returned to southern California to begin Casey's second engineering career. (Their five children went to college in southern California and are now all married.)
With the space program, moon landings and Skylab program over, NASA ended these contracts. Casey and the engineers were laid off.
With his extensive engineering experience and nuclear power plant and petroleum engineering graduate courses, Casey got a job as Project Engineer for the design of liquified petroleum gas plants. He eventually became Vice President of Engineering for Fluor Arabia and was in charge of building refineries, petrochemical plants and power stations.
Twelve years later, McDonnell Douglas again required Casey's space engineering expertise for the new Geo-Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems. He received an offer he couldn't refuse. For the last four working years of his professional life, Casey guided this program and America's first commercial satellites. At the conclusion of the program he retired.
Camaro Restoration Hobby
In 1979, Casey answered a newspaper advertisement for a 1969 Camaro convertible. The restoration and care of this vehicle would become an engrossing hobby for years to come. Casey was able to drive the car for six years with minor adjustments. The motor finally gave out and Casey decided to invest his time and effort into the Camaro's restoration. Casey tracked down the technical assembly drawings and many original parts. He had to rebuild many items, making them as good, or better, than new. He needed to disassemble the car completely, and had the engine remanufactured. This labor of love lasted 12 years.
About this time, Casey's polio returned and forced him to assign the final bodywork and assembly to a body shop. Casey's dedication to the details led him to carefully bag and label all of the remaining parts, with detailed instructions for their installation. This Camaro remains a symbol of Casey's concern with performing each job well.
Awards
Presidential Medal of Freedom - 1970
Vintage Chevrolet Club of America - Gold Award For Restoration of a 1969 Camaro
Resume
Education: Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering,
University of Illinois, 1952
Graduate work in Nuclear Engineering at UCLA.
Work History:
Douglas Aircraft Company
1952-1957 Aircraft Propulsion Design Engineer on DC-8, DC-9, B-66, C-124, C-133.
1957-1965 Group Design Leader, Thor Rocket Propellant Loading System.
1965-1968 Deputy Manager of Systems Engineering Saturn/Apollo Moon Program.Installed Thor Rocket Launch Systems at Royal Air Force Bases in England.
1968-1972 Manager at Houston Mission Control for the Rockets on all Saturn/Apollo Moon Landings.
1972-1974 Skylab Project Engineer
Fluor Arabia Engineers and Constructors Inc.
1974-1982 Project Director of Liquid Natural Gas Plants
1982-1986 Vice president of Engineering Fluor Arabia
McDonnell Douglas Company
1986-1990 Project Manager of Commercial and Military Satellite Program
1990 Retired
Acknowledgements
Contacts and Editing - Ann Fletcher
Initial Writing - Mrs. Bonnie
Patelski
Rewriting and Editing - Ronald M. Wolosewicz, Ph.D, PE; Past president Polish-American Engineers Association, Chicago
Layout and Book Production - Susan Ostrowski, PE
Proofreading - Paul Ostrowski, CCE
Photographs and Graphics - Kazimir Patelski
Proofreading and Approval - Kazimir Patelski
From: A Tribute to Kazimir J. Patelski, Jr. An outstanding Aeronautical Engineer and Manager by the American Polish Engineeing Association, Detroit, MI; presented at Gold Award Banquet of the Affiliate Council Engineerng Society of Detroit, Feb. 20, 2002.