When Neil Armstrong made his giant step, if it hadn’t been for a University of Southampton graduate working as an engineer, billions of viewers hooked to their TVs may not have ever seen him do it.
For the first time, Tecwyn Roberts’ story has been told in a new documentary presented by comedian and BBC Radio Cymru presenter, Tudur Owen.
The film, entitled: Rocket Man: NASA’s Welsh Hero is part of the BBC’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landings and sees Tudur reveal all about the shy boy from Anglesey who helped astronauts walk on the moon.
Tecwyn Roberts pictured at NASA.
After receiving his degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1948 from the University of Southampton (then known as University College of Southampton), Tecwyn later became a spaceflight engineer at NASA. During the 1960s and 1970s, he played important roles in designing the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and creating NASA’s worldwide tracking and communications network.
He’s also credited with coining the phrase ‘A-OK’, making those three letters the universal symbol for ‘in perfect working order’.
George Abbey, Former Director of the Johnson Space Centre, commented:
“We couldn’t have done the landing without him. He was responsible for all the communications that we had, the television we saw, the data that came in and he had to make sure it happened and happened the right way. I’m very proud of him.”
The documentary Rocket Man: NASA’s Welsh Hero is broadcast this evening – Thursday 18 July 2019 – on BBC One Wales at 22:35. The programme will be available on the BBC iplayer.
