The Black Hills Astronomical Society is pleased to present an unforgettable evening with Jerry Elliott - J.C. High Eagle, the first Native American to work at NASA, who also received a Presidential Medal of Freedom Award (nation’s highest civilian honor) for his heroic efforts in bringing the Apollo 13 spacecraft and crew back safely to Earth.

He never wavered in knowing that the crew of this troubled flight would return unharmed and the number 13 would not be their undoing. Mr. J.C. High Eagle, was a veteran flight controller at NASA for 41 years as a physicist. He was instrumental on the successful Apollo 11 first moon landing, and when Apollo 13 had an explosion during its flight.  He had been with the agency since their Gemini program and a member of mission control for Apollo 11 when he helped land the first men on the moon in 1969, something he had known he would do since the age of 5, some twenty-six years before there was such a thing as a space program.

Mr. High Eagle will share with us a little of his extraordinary life story, and emphasis on Apollo 11 first moon landing, the Apollo 13 rescue and his role in bringing it back to earth, plus some words about Neil Armstrong, and glimpses into untold stories about NASA as one of the nation’s early space pioneers.

Come join us as he shares some little known facts and the highlights of his rewarding and illustrious career!

Monday, October 15, 2012 - 7 PM at the Journey Museum, Rapid City, SD.

Shown below is BHAS President Frank Belinskey introducing J.C. High Eagle at the October 15 meeting (the slide shown in this picture has the month wrong):