Jerry Clubb Honored for Contributions to Space Exploration

    MADISON, AL, August 18, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Jerry J. Clubb has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.

Mr. Clubb was born to Willard and Eva Clubb on a farm near Zalma, Missouri. Notably, his parents only had an 8th-grade education. Mr. Clubb's senior high school class had 15 members. In his formative years, he pursued an education at the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy in Rolla, which is now known as the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Mr. Clubb eventually graduated in 1959 from the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and was drafted into the U.S. Army shortly thereafter.

Mr. Clubb was offered a position with a defense contractor that included a draft deferment, but he rejected the offer since his family had a history of serving in the military. He felt that every man should serve in the military as a service to the country and have the experience of being subjected to military discipline. During WWII, he had two brothers who served in the military. One was killed on patrol behind enemy lines in France, the other, a marine, participated in the second wave of attack boats at the invasion of Iwo Jima. Upon Jerry being drafted, he was sent to Redstone Arsenal, a U.S. Army post located in Madison County Alabama, that largely operates as a garrison for research and development divisions of the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA. Mr. Clubb eventually completed his military service between 1959 and 1961. He was then hired by the U.S. Army. One of his first jobs was to provide instrumentation services for a task to determine how to provide armament for helicopters. After this successful project, he discovered NASA was in need of full-time engineers and immediately began his 48-year career with that organization.

Mr. Clubb was hired and assigned to the Avionics Integration Division of NASA in 1963, and was tasked with working on the Saturn family of launch vehicles including the Saturn V. As a member of the Dr. Wernher von Braun team and the Apollo program to send a man to The Moon. Among his initial responsibilities on the Saturn V project, he notably worked on a single sideband telemetry system, which measured the vibration produced by the engines to determine the structural requirements of the vehicle. During this time, Mr. Clubb learned from the Von Braun team, that Dr Von Braun was determined to ensure there was sufficient engineering and testing so all failures occurred on the ground before launch. A philosophy that Mr. Clubb followed for his entire career.

In the early years of his career, Mr. Clubb recalls the extraordinary pressure on their schedule and individual workload, as the avionics division knew their efforts were essential to the quest to land a man on The Moon and return him safely before the end of the decade. However, his team remained dedicated to their assignment and kept up their morale by simply never considering any other outcome except success. Furthermore, Mr. Clubb believes he was fortunate to have arrived at the frontier stage of space activities and that he had the "dream" job of young engineers, in contributing to going to the moon. He believes these times were unique since the project received such unilateral support, as he cites "everybody in America, from the janitor to the President of the United States of America was trying to help get a man to the moon."

Over the course of his nearly 50-year tenure with NASA, Mr. Clubb held a number of critical positions, including Division Chief of the Astrionics Laboratory, the avionics architect for the International Space Station and an international partner for avionics integration. He is particularly proud to be involved with NASA during the nascent and integral years of space exploration, having always followed the "failure is not an option" mantra that became especially prevalent within the organization following the Apollo 13 mission. Mr. Clubb also notes his experiences working alongside the Russians on the International Space Station for over a decade as a memorable experience in his industry, as the Russian attitude and approach to their assignments was philosophically different from that of NASA and Dr. von Braun.

Mr. Clubb's lauded endeavors with NASA prior to his retirement in 2008 were punctuated by his multiple achievements, including his efforts in helping to develop a unique coding system for the Hubble Space Telescope that ensured the scientific data was received error-free. He additionally aided in the design of flight hardware and software for launch vehicles, satellites and the International Space Station. Mr. Clubb spent the last 14 years of his career as a member of the Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas. His responsibility was to ensure the major space station modules produced by different international partners and phased such that integration before launch was not possible would function properly once integrated together on orbit. Due to his contributions to NASA's myriad of major projects, Mr. Clubb received a personal letter from the NASA administrator thanking and congratulating him on his decades of invaluable service.

Following his retirement from NASA, Mr. Clubb worked for ATK Space Systems for five years before providing occasional consulting services for his previous employer. In his spare time, he dedicated his attention to restoring a classic automobile, a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 Convertible that he special ordered with a four-speed transmission and a highway patrol engine that he now only drives to regional auto shows. Having completely restored the car over four years after more than four decades of storage, Mr. Clubb was incredibly grateful to learn that a senior judge at an auto show had said they had "never seen an original restoration that had been done better than [his automobile]."

As a testament to his long and exceptional career, Mr. Clubb has been presented with a number of impressive accolades, including three NASA Exceptional Service Medals, the NASA Outstanding Manager Medal, a cost-saving award and the Russian Gargarin Medal, which he cites high among his professional highlights. He was further recognized with the Silver Snoopy Medal, awarded by astronauts, for contributions to their personal safety. Likewise, he has been recognized with an award from the International Telemetering Conference and the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement, Stellar Award in 2010. In the coming years, Mr. Clubb hopes to cement his legacy as an integral figure in helping the United States rise to the forefront of space exploration.

About Marquis Who's Who®:
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Marquis celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2023, and Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.

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