A Little About Ed Buckbee
Ed Buckbee, an author, lecturer, space advocate and director emeritus,
has been associated with the U.S. space program for four decades.
Buckbee began his space career in 1959 when America’s first Mercury
astronauts were selected. He attended the launches of Alan Shepard and
John Glenn and was present when the Apollo astronauts lifted-off for the
moon landings. He continues to be associated with America’s space
program as an senior advisor to NASA.
A journalism-business management major, Buckbee is a
distinguished graduate of the P.I. Reed School of Journalism, West Virginia
University, Morgantown, WV. He was commissioned as an U.S. Army officer in
1958. He served at the U. S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, AL and U.
S. Special Forces, Ft. Bragg, NC. In 1961 he transferred to the newly formed
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center where he worked for rocket scientist Wernher
von Braun. As a NASA public affairs officer, he worked with all the Mercury,
Gemini and Apollo astronauts.
In 1970, he was selected by Von Braun to be the first
director of the Alabama Space & Rocket Center. Buckbee is the visionary who
assembled and managed the world’s largest space and rocket exhibition and
founder of the highly successful U.S. Space Camp and Aviation Challenge
programs. Under Buckbee’s management, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and U.S.
Space Camp programs grew to a $25 million business. Over 500,000 students and
teachers from seventy countries have been inspired and motivated by attending
programs Buckbee developed.
Working with Mercury Seven astronauts, Alan Shepard, Wally
Schirra, John Glenn, Deke Slayton, Gordon Cooper and Scott Carpenter, Buckbee
conceived and developed the first exhibit telling the story of America’s
astronauts at the U.S. Astronaut Hall Fame and Space Camp near NASA’s Kennedy
Space Center, Florida. He started International Space Camp to promote
international cooperation in space and successfully opened Space Camps in Japan,
Belgium, Italy and Canada.
Retiring from the U.S. Space & Rocker Center in 1994, Buckbee
has produced and hosted numerous space anniversary events acknowledging famous
firsts in human space flight, honoring astronaut John Glenn and moon walkers
Alan Shepard, Alan Bean and Gene Cernan. He organized and hosted the 30th
anniversary celebration of the astronauts who flew on America's first space
station, Skylab and served as the 2006 moderator of the Wernher Von Braun Forum
at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and the Flight Jacket Forum at the National
Air and Space Museum.
Buckbee, past president of the NASA Alumni-Huntsville, is
the recipient of several national awards including the NASA Distinguished Public
Service Medal, Department of Army Distinguished Civilian Service Award, Yuri
Gagarin Cosmonaut Medal, National Space Club Media Award and Jimmy Doolittle
Award. He has contributed to several publications, including, “50 Years of
Rockets and Spacecraft in the Rocket City.” He collaborated with his long time
friend, Wally Schirra, on a new book entitled, “The REAL Space Cowboys,” a
tribute to the Mercury astronauts. Buckbee served as technical advisor on “Space
Camp”, an ABC produced motion picture released internationally in theaters and
on video. A sought after spokesman and advocate for NASA and the exploration of
space, Buckbee has appeared on CNN, Late Night with David Letterman, Regis and
Kathy Lee, Good Morning America, Today, Discovery, History Channel, and BBC- TV.
As president of Ed Buckbee & Associates, he continues to develop, promote and
present programs to increase the public’s understanding of the U.S. role in
technology programs. He strives to increase public awareness of the need to
educationally prepare our nations’ youth to enter fields of emerging technology;
thus ensuring the U.S. will maintain its leadership in human exploration of
space and global technology.
Ed Buckbee was the Editor of the publication: 50 Years of Rockets & Spacecraft in the Rocket City. Description: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, this complete and concise history gives the readers a rare glimpse into the world of space travel. With a hundred of never before seen photographs, the story
of the space program comes to life. This book is 176 pages, 9" x 12", hardbound and is available through Turner Publishing Company.
The cost is $44.95 USA, ISBN: 1-56311-844-0.
