As a boy growing up in Hudson, retired USAF Col. Charlie Precourt launched Estes model rockets on the fields of the Sukis farm, on the outskirts of town.
NASA selected Precourt as an astronaut in 1990. He flew on the space shuttle four times—once as a mission specialist, once as a pilot and twice as a shuttle commander—before he retired from the space agency in 2005.
Today, Precourt, 55, serves as the general manager for the NASA Space Launch Systems branch of ATK in northern Utah. The division is responsible for the space shuttle’s solid rocket motors, the first stage of the Ares launch vehicle and the launch abort system on the Orion spacecraft.
In other words, Precourt still plays with rockets.
A rocketeer’s biggest fear? The permanent scrub of a flight. NASA is mandated to retire the space shuttle fleet next year, and Congress is still debating the new direction outlined for NASA by President Obama in February. The President called for scrapping NASA’s Constellation program, the parent of the Orion crew vehicle and Ares booster rocket.
“The Ares I-X flight was largely my guys’ project,” explained Precourt.
As part of his ATK duties, Precourt attends all of NASA’s shuttle launches in Florida as his company’s representative. “I give a ‘go’ at the Flight Readiness Review,” he said.
The former astronaut will have a vested interest in STS-134, currently NASA’s last scheduled shuttle flight, targeted for launch next February. Aboard Endeavour will be the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer that flew on STS-91, Precourt’s last shuttle mission, in 1998. The magnet is slated to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) to detect and catalog different types of high-energy particles in space.
With all the uncertainty at NASA, are kids still interesting in becoming astronauts?
“Kids,” echoes Precourt. “Therein lies the key. Fresh kids from college looking for work with us. They want to be part of a new program, from its beginning.”
Precourt’s last visit to his own hometown, in April, also featured an appearance in Leominster. He flew his Turbo Mooney into the Fitchburg airport and spoke at the Family Day sponsored by the Boys and Girls Clubs of North Central Massachusetts. He stayed overnight in Hudson with his parents, Charlie Sr. and Helen.
“He was not initially fascinated by aircraft,” said Charlie Sr. regarding the oldest of his three sons. “When he was 12 years old, he flew with me on a business trip to Pennsylvania.
“Over an uninhabited lake, I showed him why an airplane can fly—the dynamics of flight.”
After Charlie Sr. taught his son the basics, Charlie earned his private pilot license from Charlie Sr.’s best friend, Myron “Mike” Goulian, the founder of Executive Flyers Aviation at Hanscom Field.
“Charlie was 8th in his class” at the Air Force Academy, revealed Charlie Sr. “And he was the top stick in his flight training nationwide.”
During his 15-year stint at NASA, Precourt served as the chief astronaut in Houston between 1998 and 2002—in the middle of NASA’s spaceflight transition from the Russian space station Mir to the ISS.
“I was the lead negotiator (with Russia),” he said. “We discussed sharing of assets and the schedule.”
The Russian counterpart of Precourt was cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliev—likewise a former fighter pilot.
“During the Cold War,” Precourt said, “we were serving in East and West Germany. We would fly to the border and wag wings at each other before turning back.”
Ironically, Tsibliev was the commander of Mir during Precourt’s third shuttle flight, STS-84, in the summer of 1997. In his first role as shuttle commander, Precourt greeted Tsibliev on orbit during the traditional skippers’ handshake at hatch opening.
“We became good friends,” said Precourt. Considering their military backgrounds, “it was very rewarding.”
When the space shuttle fleet is retired (after the launches of STS-133 and STS-134), NASA astronauts will travel to and from the ISS via Russian Soyuz spacecraft launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
And the status of the next U.S. manned spacecraft?
“The biggest issue is what will we make of the President’s proposal, how you line things up,” Precourt said.
“I look forward to seeing the details, and Congress is supporting finding the right formula.”