Dean Grimm

• Retired Assistant Director Engineering and Development Directorate, NASA
• Retired Program Engineering Manager, Lockheed Missiles and Space

Grimm spent nearly 20 years with NASA, guiding several key projects, including ones that helped meet President Kennedy’s challenge to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, and others that advanced the U.S. in the space race through the 1970s and early 1980s.

Grimm started at NASA’s Manned Space Center – later Johnson Space Center – in 1963 and oversaw the development of a lunar landing training vehicle until June 1969 when astronaut Neil Armstrong had gained enough experience to feel ready for the first lunar landing mission.

Other significant NASA assignments for Dean were developing procedures for systems failures, docking aids, lighting systems and training flight crews for the first space rendezvous on Gemini 6 and 7 in 1965, an essential task for future Apollo missions.

Grimm retired from NASA in 1982 and became an engineering and management consultant supporting design and development of the International Space Station.  He retired again in 1993 and now lives in Colorado with his wife, Eunice.