Abe Silverstein

• 1. Introduction

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  Abe Silverstein named the Apollo program after the Greek and Roman god of light and the sun, a choice that would define one of humanity's greatest undertakings. He made that decision as part of his work at NASA headquarters in the late 1950s, and the name has endured for more than six decades. But naming Apollo was only one entry on a list of achievements that stretches from World War II combat aircraft to the outer reaches of the solar system. Who was the man behind so many of the programs that shaped the American space age, and how did a mechanical engineer from Terre Haute, Indiana end up at the center of it all? The answers run from the wind tunnels of Cleveland to the halls of Washington, through rockets, supersonic flight, and a lifelong commitment to causes beyond aerospace.

• 2. From Indiana to NACA

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  Silverstein was born on the 15th of September 1908, in Terre Haute, Indiana, into a Jewish family. His parents were Joseph and Eva Silverstein. He stayed close to home for his education, earning a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1929, and returning to the same institution for a Master of Engineering in 1934. That bachelor's degree was enough to get him hired that very year, 1929, by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, known as NACA. His first posting was at the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, where his assignment was to work as an aerodynamicist on the design of an Altitude Wind Tunnel slated for construction in Cleveland, Ohio, at what was then called the Lewis Laboratory.

• 3. Wind Tunnels and Wartime

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  At Langley, Silverstein directed aerodynamic research that fed directly into the combat aircraft flown during World War II, improving high-speed performance across most of the planes that fought in that conflict. By 1944 he had joined the High-Speed panel and was pushing hard for the construction of a supersonic wind tunnel, a project that was completed in 1949. After the war ended, he took on responsibility for the conception, design, and construction of America's first supersonic propulsion wind tunnels. The experiments run in those facilities had a direct hand in advancing supersonic aircraft. He also ran research in propulsion aerodynamics through the Altitude Wind Tunnel, work that produced meaningful improvements in both reciprocating engines and the early generation of turbojet engines. He also pioneered investigations into large-scale ramjet engines, a technology that pointed toward a faster future.

• 4. Leadership at Lewis

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  In 1949, Silverstein was placed in charge of all research at the Lewis Research Center, the very facility he had originally helped to plan. Three years later, in 1952, he was appointed its Associate Director. In 1958, Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, later absorbed into Case Western Reserve University, awarded him an honorary doctorate. When NASA was established as the successor to NACA, Silverstein moved to NASA headquarters, where he helped create and direct the efforts that led to the spaceflights of Project Mercury. He also chaired the Saturn Vehicle Evaluation Committee, a body that became so closely identified with him that it was widely known as the Silverstein Committee. Back in his role as Lewis's director, he guided a major expansion of the center and oversaw the development of the Centaur launch vehicle, a rocket stage that would go on to play a critical role in deep-space missions.

• 5. Missions and a Name

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  Silverstein was instrumental in planning five missions that rank among the most ambitious in NASA's history: Apollo, Ranger, Mariner, Surveyor, and Voyager. NASA credits him with giving both the Mercury and Apollo programs their names. The Apollo name he drew from Greek and Roman mythology, choosing a god whose reach suggested the scale of what the agency intended to attempt. Each of the other programs he helped shape carried its own ambitions, from photographing the lunar surface up close to sending probes past the outer planets. NASA also credits him with establishing the technical basis for the Apollo program itself, meaning his influence extended from the choice of a name to the engineering framework that made the mission possible.

• 6. Beyond the Agency

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  Silverstein was one of the founders of the Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism, a civil rights organization that pushed back against the persecution of Jewish people in the Soviet Union. That founding commitment pointed to a life concerned with more than rocketry. He retired from NASA in 1970 and joined Republic Steel Corporation, trading government research for private industry. In 1984, NASA recognized him with the title "Elder Statesman of Aviation." On the 14th of August 1997, he received the Guggenheim Medal for what the citation described as significant contributions to the advancement of flight. He died on the 1st of June 2001, at his home in Fairview Park, Ohio. His wife of 48 years, Marion Croster Silverstein, had died in 1998. He was survived by two sons, Joe and David, a daughter, Judy Cook, and five grandchildren. In 2015, he was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2015, alongside Robert Cardenas, Robert N. Hartzell, and Gene Kranz.