Meet Three Hall of Famers With Out-of-This-World NASA Connections

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, aims to innovate for the benefit of humanity – a goal shared by our own Hall of Famers. It’s no surprise that we have honored many innovators with connections to this organization who are making life on Earth and beyond a bit brighter. Keep reading to discover three of these out-of-this-world inventors.

Maxime Faget

Making great strides in the establishment and growth of the American space program, Maxime Faget conceived and designed the very first space capsule – Mercury. These designs also led to the Gemini capsule, Apollo command and service modules, and even parts of the space shuttle. His design allowed for a space capsule to slow down in the upper atmosphere, reducing the amount of friction and g-force that the capsule faces. Faget continued as the director of engineering at NASA until 1981 and was even awarded the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership.

Yvonne Brill

Most famous for her innovations in rocket propulsion, Yvonne Brill spent time with NASA and the International Maritime Satellite Organization during her impressive career. Early in the communications satellite industry, Brill invented the electrothermal hydrazine resistojet propulsion system, or electrothermal hydrazine thruster (EHT), for geosynchronous communications satellites. Her innovation that electrically heats the rocket fuel hydrazine increased both performance and efficiency of the system. EHT is now an industry standard with several major companies having used EHTs on their communications satellites since 1983.

Lonnie Johnson

Innovator and entrepreneur Lonnie Johnson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame^® for his creation of a bestselling toy, the Super Soaker^®, but did you know he was also a systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory? It’s true! Johnson worked on the Galileo mission in 1979 before returning to the Air Force in 1982. In 1987, he went back to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to work on the Mars Observer and Saturn Cassini projects. Johnson now holds over 100 U.S. patents, has worked on many impactful projects and has received multiple awards for his time at NASA.

Keep Exploring

To meet other NASA innovators and Hall of Famers from diverse backgrounds, we encourage you to visit our website and browse our list of Inductees.