Friday, January 7, 2022

Harlan Stewart Neuville - Obituary


Harlan Stewart Neuville, Oxford Michigan, died quietly at his home in Oxford, Michigan on Wednesday, January 5th, 2022, at 7:41 AM. His daughter, Margaret Evans, and son, Mark Neuville, were caring for him.

  How does one capture the meaning and stories of a man who has lived so well, experienced so much, and accomplished so profoundly? How, especially, does one tell the true stories of his childhood that developed the man that did so much? Harlan Neuville outlived many family members and friends that knew him in his formative years and the details are lost to the past. What remains are the family stories and the myths passed from generation to generation. The meaning found in those tales are more the essence of what was then the facts would ever show. Harlan was born November 7, 1930, to a newly married young couple. His mother (Rosemary Agnes Pecore Neuville) was 19 years old and always said that she and Harlan grew up together. His father (Stewart Monroe Neuville) was twenty-three and finding his way as both a pipefitter and father. Harlan was born in Bosacki's Boathouse, in Minocqua, Wisconsin. In addition to a boathouse, Bosacki’s was a bar and restaurant owned by Harlan Bosacki. Our father’s name is the result of the boathouse birth and the owner’s name. Harlan and his younger brother, Robert, spent the early years on Circle Street in Appleton, Wisconsin and played with their parents as friends. One day while playing Hide ‘N Seek in Erb Park, Harlan & Robert could not find their parents. They panicked and went to the local police station to report that their parents had ran away! Harlan was an observant young man and when learning to ice skate, he watched as his brother and peers try and fail before rising and skating across the pond like a seasoned skater. His early teens, Harlan lived in Niagara, Wisconsin then moved with the family to Terrace Bay, Ontario. As he entered Junior High and High School the family moved to a farm in Neenah, Wisconsin. The farm was a source of growth, development, and responsibilities for the entire family. During this time Harlan attended St Mary High School and graduated in 1948. Harlan followed in his father’s footsteps and attended Marquette University to receive his engineer degree. Education: Harlan went to Marquette University on a music scholarship. While he had a passion for music, he ended up receiving a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. Harlan later attended and received his master’s at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Draper Laboratory. He was Senior project engineer assigned to the design and integration of an electro-optical space sextant for application to the guidance and control function of the APOLLO Command Module. He participated in the configuration, programming, and control of the Apollo navigation and guidance computer for both the Lunar Excursion Module and the Command Module. Harlan married Elizabeth Islinger on July 12, 1952, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Harlan and Elizabeth were married for 55 years and had ten children. Harlan and Elizabeth raised their children in the catholic faith and taught them to be independent, strong, self-reliant, loyal, and caring people. Harlan enjoyed many activities with his children. He took his children to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Sierra Nevada Mountain Range in California for hiking and camping trips. He also enjoyed golfing, skeet shooting, building, and flying R/C airplanes, and fishing with his children. Harlan taught everyone how to play poker, he coached children’s baseball teams, and his grandchildren’s robotics team. Harlan enjoyed keeping busy with his hobbies, thus his children grew up watching him build model R/C airplanes. He would “borrow” his daughter’s Barbie doll heads, for the pilots head, in his airplanes. Harlan had a unique way of singing the Happy Birthday song, which was known as “The Neuville Way.” At Christmas, making popcorn balls and putting up the partially glued Christmas tree was the highlight of the holiday! Harlan’s professional journey started at Allis Chalmers Power Systems Stability Special Applications Group, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He moved onto Delco Electronics in both Wisconsin and Massachusetts. His responsibilities: Titan ICBM Systems, Apollo Scanning Telescope, NASA Mission Support on the Guidance and Control Center. Harlan also worked at the Mission Control Center in Huston and received The Outstanding Personal Contribution to the Success of the Apollo Program Award. His work resulted in the successfully crewed exploration of the moon by the United States from 1968-1972! Harlan’s NASA journey ended with, Mission Support Skylab in Santa Barbara, California. He then began his career at the GM Technical Center Transportation System in Warren, Michigan. Over the years, Harlan’s responsibilities were: Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Engineering, Advanced Manufacturing Engineering, Information Security, Machine Intelligence and Controls, Machine Vision Systems, and Transposition Systems. Harlan was also a Special Lecturer at Oakland University for Introduction to Computers and Applied Digital Logic/Microprocessors. He enjoyed being a guest speaker at local community centers, libraries, and schools about his work with NASA and the Apollo Missions. Harlan was also the President and founder of the Romeo “Skyhawks” model airplane R/C Club and President of Sky Master R/C model airplane club.
Published Works: An Introduction to Personal Computing, Apollo Mission Navigation Principles for Translunar Flight, and Analog Computer Simulation of Variable Speed, Three Phase AC Drives.
Harlan S. Neuville is, proceeded by his wife, Elizabeth, and his eldest daughter, Theresa Neuville of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He is survived by Melissa Neuville, Goodrich, Michigan, Peter and his wife Mary Neuville, Hutchinson, Kansas, Paul and his wife Joan Neuville, Lake Orion, Michigan, John and his wife Amy Neuville (who passed in 2010), Royal Oak, Michigan, Elizabeth and her husband Greg Swett, James Neuville, Warren, Michigan, Patricia and her husband Dan Mitzel, Oxford, Michigan, Margaret and her husband Robert Evans Jr. Oxford, Michigan, Mark and his wife Karmen Neuville, Sterling Heights. 

Grandchildren: Rachel Barr Yoon and her husband, Henry Hyunkoo Yoon, Minnetonka, Minnesota, Rebecca Bar, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Genevieve Kohlhardt and her husband, Torin Jensen, Denver, Colorado, Stephanie and her husband Michael Rabbitt, Steamboat, Colorado, Annessa Kohlhardt and her fiancé, Carmine Hernandez, Charlie Swett, Madison Heights, Michigan, Michael Neuville, Lapeer, Michigan, Victoria and her husband, Thomas Zepp, Frederick, Maryland, Ryan Neuville and his fiancée Kourtney Rogus, Shelby Township, Sarah Mitzel, Chicago Illinois, Thomas Mitzel, Jonathan Mitzel, and Aidan Mifsud, all from Oxford, Michigan, Emma and Irelyn Neuville, Madison Heights, Michigan.
Great Grandchildren: Yuna and Nina Yoon, Minnetonka, Minnesota, Hugo Jenhardt, Denver, Colorado, Harlyn Rabbitt and baby Rabbitt, Steamboat, Colorado, Baby Zepp, Fredrick, Maryland. Harlan’s siblings: proceeded by Robert Neuville, Norfolk, Virginia, survived by Thomas and his wife Betsy Neuville, New Holland, Pennsylvania, Stewart and his wife Leslie Myers, Westchester, California, Melissa Ann Neuville-Geib, Norfolk, Virginia, as well as many, many nieces, and nephews. In Lieu of flowers please donate to either: Higher Orbits, a nonprofit with a mission of promoting Science Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM); along with leadership, teamwork, and communication through the use of spaceflight. (www.HigherOrbits.org) or Pan Equus Animal Sanctuary-PEAS (www.peasbarn.org).

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Mich. engineer recalls key role in helping to put a man on the moon

Mich. engineer recalls key role in helping to put a man on the moon
Joe St. Henry, Special to The Detroit NewsPublished 10:30 p.m. ET July 19, 2019 | Updated 9:54 a.m. ET July 20, 2019
For Harlan Neuville, Saturday’s golden anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing brings back vivid memories as a senior engineer in Mission Control at the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston. His work played a key role in putting man on the moon.
The 88-year-old Lake Orion resident worked for Delco Electronics, where he built guidance and navigation systems for airplanes and Titan nuclear missiles. The technology to steer a ship through space was similar, so in 1965 he was asked to manage the development of navigation systems on Apollo spacecraft.
As the Apollo 11 moon lander approached the surface on July 20, 1969, there was plenty of tension and concern in the air inside Mission Control, Neuville remembers. 

“To say we were holding our breaths is an understatement,” he said. “We just didn’t want anything to go wrong. Fortunately, everything went as planned. We were very happy they landed safely with no damage to the spacecraft.”
The ambitious plan to put American astronauts into orbit and then take them to the moon and back was born from a public directive from President John F. Kennedy in 1961 in response to the Soviet Union putting a man in space first.
Neuville said the U.S. government engaged the scientific community to reach the moon much like it did to build the atomic bomb. Hundreds of thousands of engineers and support staff mobilized across the country to develop the spaceship, Saturn V booster rocket, command center and launch tower.
“I definitely thought it was possible to send a man to the moon,” Neuville said. “We had a three-year jump since we’d already developed a navigation system like this for airplanes and the missile program.
“The systems would have to be adapted to Apollo, but we were working with the latest technology available anywhere.”
Apollo 11 engineer Harlan Neuville on the future of space travel Daniel Mears, The Detroit News
As the Apollo program progressed and the moon shot grew closer, everyone questioned if the Saturn V rocket would work, Neuville said. Smaller booster rockets had put one- and two-man space capsules into space, but going to the moon would require a three-man orbiter, plus landing module and other heavy equipment. The 364-foot tall rocket weighed 525,500 pounds loaded.
After the successful launch, Neuville and his team were relieved four days later when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to successfully land on the moon, but the stress did not end there.
“We got them to the moon, but now we had to get them home,” he said. “We weren’t sure if they could actually get off the moon’s surface. It had never been done before. Nobody celebrated until they splashed down in the ocean.”
There were plenty of other nervous moments for the Apollo program engineers, none more unsettling than during the Apollo 13 mission, Neuville said. An explosion onboard the space capsule on the way to the moon severely damaged the ship, endangering the crew. The spacecraft’s navigation and guidance systems had to be shut down to conserve power.
“There were very delicate components, designed to stay on the whole time,” he said. “Once we shut them down, we had to sweat it out because we weren’t sure if they would turn on again. We took a big chance but there really wasn’t an alternative.”
Their gamble paid off, with the ship making it back to Earth five days later with barely any oxygen left but the astronauts home safe.
Neuville supported a total of six lunar landings, the last of which took place in 1972. He then worked on navigation and guidance systems for Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz space mission with the Soviet Union. 
Surprisingly, Neuville said he never wanted to step in the shoes of the astronauts he worked with during the Apollo program. 
“I couldn’t tolerate the training,” he said. “Those astronauts were very motivated people. They were fighter pilots and had that mentality. You put me in 10gs (ten times gravity) and I would die.”
Delco Electronics did not win the contract to help build the space shuttle, so Neuville was assigned to parent company GM’s technical center in Warren in the late 1970s, where he worked on non-automotive transportation systems. He retired from GM in 2002.
Neuville and his family returned to Houston last year for a special visit to the Johnson Control Center. There, he had a chance to tour the current Mission Control facility. The original control center where he worked was being restored for a public celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing this week. 
“It’s a different room, but the new control center features much of the same types of equipment that we had and it works the same way,” he said. “It was exciting to see.”
With the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 here, he knows today that he was part of something special in the history of mankind. 
“We were the first country to go to the moon, and nobody has done it since,” Neuville said. “It’s something to be very proud of all these years.” 
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence recently said America will return to the moon in the not-too-distant future, with man’s first trip to Mars next. Neuville is optimistic. 
“We have the technology and volunteers to do it,” he said. “We just need the money and desire to make it a priority to get it done.”
Electrical engineer Harlan Neuville, bottom center with glasses, and other Mission Control workers celebrate the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon on July 20, 1969. (Photo courtesy of Harlan Neuville)

Friday, December 14, 2018

Harlan Returns to JSC

On December 7th, 2018 Harlan returned with his family to Johnson Space Center. His tour included returning to Mission Control, the Vehicle Mock Up Facility, and a meeting with the current Space Sextant Navigation team.

Current Sextant Team w/Harlan

Meeting the Flight Director in MCC

On the Floor of MCC

Harlan and (some!) of his family

Harlan and family outside of MCC

Apollo Control Center Lobby

Harlan with the Current Space Sextant

Return to Building 30

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Podcast Interview

Space Race, Apollo Moon Program, & R/C Aircraft

Have you ever been curious what it might have been like to work behind the scenes during America’s Space Race? Today’s show brings you an inside look from the perspective of an aerospace engineer on designing and building the very systems that put our countrymen into outer space, including his participation in saving the lives of those aboard Apollo 13. Join us as we interview Harlan Neuville about working under NASA contract and much more!
NOTE: Be sure to subscribe to our ENHANCED PODCAST feed to enjoy the interactive photo slideshow that accompanies this episode :-)

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Cruise Flight

Engineer steered Americans to the moon


October 26, 2011

By Joe St. Henry

Review Editor

Each January, Lake Orion resident Harlan Neuville, 80, and his family clear snow on the frozen lake where one of his ten children lives and enjoy a day of firing model rockets high into the sky.

Watching the streaking toys undoubtedly brings back memories of Neuville’s days working on NASA’s Apollo space program. He played an important role in launching America’s astronauts into orbit and then taking them to the moon and back.

“President Kennedy had no choice but to say we’re going to the moon (in 1961), since the Russians had already beat us to Earth’s orbit,” he said. “This would take entirely new technologies and systems. He said we would accomplish it within ten years and we made it.”

Neuville was an electrical engineer at the time, working for Delco Electronics in Milwaukee. He was building guidance and navigation systems for the Titan ICBM nuclear missiles. The navigation technology employed to navigate a ship through space was similar, so he started working on these systems for the Apollo program.

“I definitely thought it was possible to send a man to the moon,” he said, noting that the many engineers on the Apollo project regularly worked 60-70 hour work weeks. “We had a three year jump, since we’d already developed a system like this for the Titan program. It would have to be adapted for the Apollo program, but we were always working with the latest technology available.”

Neuville said hundreds of thousands of engineers and support staff mobilized across the country – most of who worked for private companies and universities – to develop the space ship, booster rocket, command center and launch tower. The U.S. government engaged the scientific community to reach the moon much like it did to build the atomic bomb, Neuville said.

The question on everyone’s minds, Neuville added, was would the Saturn V rocket work? Smaller booster rockets had put one- and two-man space capsules into space, but a moon shot would require a three-man orbiter, plus landing module and other equipment.

During the Apollo program, Neuville was in Mission Control to manage the space ship’s navigation and guidance systems. His team helped astronauts orbit the moon for the first time. In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on its surface.

“We were just relieved that the technology worked,” he said. “It got them there, but now we had to get them home. We weren’t sure if they could actually get off the moon.

“Nobody celebrated until they splashed down in the ocean,” he admitted.

There were plenty of nervous moments for the engineers, none more unsettling than during the Apollo 13 mission, where an explosion onboard the space capsule on the way to the moon severely damaged the ship and endangered the crew.

“We had to shut the navigation and guidance systems down to conserve power,” he said. “These were very delicate components and were designed to stay on the whole time. Once we shut them off, we had to sweat it out because we weren’t sure if they would turn on again.

“We took a big chance, but there really wasn’t an alternative.”

Fortunately, the engineers’ gamble paid off. The ship eventually returned home five-days later with the astronauts’ oxygen supply virtually exhausted.

Neuville supported a total of six lunar landings, the last of which took place in 1972. After that, he worked on navigation and guidance system-support for Skylab and the Apollo-Soyuz space mission with the Soviet Union.

Delco Electronics did not win the contract to help build the space shuttle, so Neuville was assigned to parent company General Motors Corporation’s technical center in Warren, Mich., in the late 1970s. He worked on various transportation systems, as a director.

He watched the shuttle program, which ended this year, from a distance.

“I thought the space shuttle was really cool,”Neuville said. “We took people other than test pilots into space. They were scientists with a different outlook on why we should be there.

“We’ve learned more from the Hubble telescope (put in orbit by the shuttle) than anything else,” he added.

Neuville retired from the automotive industry in 1995. In addition to teaching computer science in the past at Oakland University, his love of flying and space has never waned. He likes to fly radio-controlled airplanes – some with wingspans as big as 12 feet – as well as launch his model rockets.

“I don’t build rockets now,” he said. “I just like to fly the plastic, assembled ones. Those are a lot easier.”

Neuville hopes the United States returns to space someday. “Man is curious,” he said. “We gotta go.”

Surprisingly, he said he never wanted to step foot in the shoes of the astronauts he worked with during the Apollo program.

“No, I couldn’t tolerate the training,” he said. Those astronauts were very motivated people. Heck, they were fighter pilots and had that mentality. You put me in 10gs (ten times gravity) and I would die.”

Today, Neuville speaks in front of groups about the Apollo space program, his small role and the technology involved in putting people on the moon 50 years ago. His next presentation is on Oct. 27, at the Orion Township Public Library.

“People are just awed by my stories,” he said. “It’s hard to explain. We were just ordinary people doing our jobs. But, given the right organization, we did an extraordinary thing. We sent man to the moon.”

Born to Fly - Excerpt

Born to Fly

I don’t believe I had a choice but to love airplanes as a child, it was either that or to attempt to block out all of the animated aviation talk around me.  The most important men in my life are aviators.  I’m glad the passion for flight is in my blood; it has brought me so many places, connected me with unforgettable people and has taught me life lessons that are simply irreplaceable.

On my father’s side is my grandfather, Harlan.  When he was “young and daring” he flew a Piper Cub under a fellow engineer’s instruction regularly between Madison, WI and Milwaukee, WI while working on an advanced servo project.  He recalls, “I landed several times without breaking a thing!”  He later joined a flying club to keep the passion going, training in a stripped down T-6.  He ended up only logging around eight hours, “I was lucky I didn’t kill myself,” he remembers.  Harlan gave up flying when his career “became more interesting.”

Harlan: Center bottom
When I was a child, my room had two unique decorations hanging from the ceiling.  One was an airplane and when you turned it on it will fly around in circles, I believe that to be my father’s influence.  On the opposite end of the room was an inflatable astronaut, where that ‘becoming an astronaut’ dream was brought on completely by my grandfather.  Harlan’s work became more interesting because it brought him straight to the ultimate flying machines at NASA.  He headed the engineering group in mission control for all of the Apollo missions as well as Skylab, the first manned space station launched by the United States.

“We had designed and manufactured G&C equipment in partnership with M.I.T Cambridge Mass. We were responsible for the guidance and navigation equipment (GNC) on both the LEM and the Command module,” my grandfather tells me, “whenever we heard G & C from mission control; my group had better get it right!”


Harlan
His most tense moments in the program were when trouble began on the Apollo 13 mission. “We had to shut off the power because the explosion wiped out the fuel cell. By shutting this elegant guidance system off, we weren’t certain what it would do because they required such a delicate balance.  However, we didn’t have a choice but to shut it off because they were running out of power. We were worried about what would happen with trying to turn back on these systems.  All our science told us it was unlikely. 

What we didn’t know was that the spacecraft was kept in a BBQ mode; it rotated really slowly, exposing its surfaces to the sun. It turned out there was enough heat convection from having done these rotations that this compartment the gyros and accelerometers were in was kept warm enough to get started again. 

As we approached the earth we had one shot at turning everything on and finding out that the instruments would reactivate and work properly.  When they fired it all up it again, everything came up right on the money.  Upon reentry the spacecraft was surrounded by a plume of fire from the disintegrating heat shield that disrupted communication entirely.  So for ten minutes we didn’t hear anything and then eleven and twelve and it finally came on.  There were several moments there that we were all pretty shook up. That took all the luck I ever had,” he retold me emotionally.

Harlan now enjoys visiting local schools and flying clubs to share his exciting experiences during such a historical time for NASA. He continues to indulge in aviation through building and flying the R/C aircraft I remember filling his entire basement when I was younger.  He is very involved in a local R/C flying club and has served as the president.

The stories my flying relatives have told me make me smile tremendously, for I have been touched by that joy of flight myself.  I thank these excellent role models for getting me where I am today.  Here is the proof that flying is in my blood. Even if I didn’t have this excellent and inspiring background, I know deep within my heart that I would have found my path to aviation some other way.