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© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. von Ehrenfried, Stratospheric Balloons, Springer Praxis Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68130-2
About the Author
Manfred “Dutch” von Ehrenfried had the very good fortune to have interviewed
with the NASA Space Task Group the day before Alan Shepard was launched on the
MR-3 mission in 1961. He had very little knowledge of Project Mercury and thought
that because his degree was in physics, he would be assigned to work in that field.
As fate would have it, he was assigned to the Flight Control Operations Section
under Gene Kranz, who became his supervisor and mentor. Most of his work for
Project Mercury would be in the areas of mission rules, countdowns, operational
procedures, and coordination with the remote tracking station flight controllers. He
spent his first six months in training to be a flight controller and was at the Goddard
Space Flight Center through the MA-4 and MA-5 missions, learning all about communications between the Mercury Control Center and the Manned Space Flight
Network. His first mission as a flight controller was in the Mercury Control Center
for MA-6, John Glenn’s historic orbital flight, learning the Operations and Procedures
flight control position under Kranz. He supported the remaining Mercury flights by
Carpenter, Schirra and Cooper in the Mercury Control Center.
After the Space Task Group relocated from Langley, VA to Houston, TX, Dutch
supported the Gemini missions and was Assistant Flight Director for Gemini 4-7
which including the first EVA by Ed White on GT-4 and the first rendezvous in
space by GT-6/7. In 1966, he became a Guidance Officer on Apollo 1 and after the
accident and subsequent stand-down became the Mission Staff Engineer on Apollo
7 and backup on Apollo 8. During this period Dutch was also an Apollo Pressure
Suit Test Subject, affording him the opportunity to test pressure suits in the vacuum chamber to over 400,000 ft, including one test of Neil Armstrong’s suit. He
also experienced 9 g’s in the centrifuge and flew in the zero-g aircraft. Later, he
had his own Apollo A7LB Skylab suit.
These experiences afforded him the opportunity to join the Earth Resources
Aircraft Program. He was the first Sensor Equipment Operator and Mission Manager
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
M. von Ehrenfried, Stratospheric Balloons, Springer Praxis Books,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68130-2
About the Author
Manfred “Dutch” von Ehrenfried had the very good fortune to have interviewed
with the NASA Space Task Group the day before Alan Shepard was launched on the
MR-3 mission in 1961. He had very little knowledge of Project Mercury and thought
that because his degree was in physics, he would be assigned to work in that field.
As fate would have it, he was assigned to the Flight Control Operations Section
under Gene Kranz, who became his supervisor and mentor. Most of his work for
Project Mercury would be in the areas of mission rules, countdowns, operational
procedures, and coordination with the remote tracking station flight controllers. He
spent his first six months in training to be a flight controller and was at the Goddard
Space Flight Center through the MA-4 and MA-5 missions, learning all about communications between the Mercury Control Center and the Manned Space Flight
Network. His first mission as a flight controller was in the Mercury Control Center
for MA-6, John Glenn’s historic orbital flight, learning the Operations and Procedures
flight control position under Kranz. He supported the remaining Mercury flights by
Carpenter, Schirra and Cooper in the Mercury Control Center.
After the Space Task Group relocated from Langley, VA to Houston, TX, Dutch
supported the Gemini missions and was Assistant Flight Director for Gemini 4-7
which including the first EVA by Ed White on GT-4 and the first rendezvous in
space by GT-6/7. In 1966, he became a Guidance Officer on Apollo 1 and after the
accident and subsequent stand-down became the Mission Staff Engineer on Apollo
7 and backup on Apollo 8. During this period Dutch was also an Apollo Pressure
Suit Test Subject, affording him the opportunity to test pressure suits in the vacuum chamber to over 400,000 ft, including one test of Neil Armstrong’s suit. He
also experienced 9 g’s in the centrifuge and flew in the zero-g aircraft. Later, he
had his own Apollo A7LB Skylab suit.
These experiences afforded him the opportunity to join the Earth Resources
Aircraft Program. He was the first Sensor Equipment Operator and Mission Manager