https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/a14fa108-e05e-4e6e-9d8b-d57e908f62a2 Isom "Ike" Rigell: This interview focuses on Ike's very significant role in the space program. However, as an 18-year-old Marine, he also played a part in the historic World War II battles of Midway, Iwo Jima and Saipan. Of special note, while operating a combat telephone switchboard on Midway Island, he put the call through to his commanding officer that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. After the war, Ike went on to earn a degree from one of the top engineering schools in the country, Georgia Tech. After graduation, he went to work for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), which was later transferred to NASA in 1960. At NASA, Ike was an original member of the launch team at Cape Canaveral, FL. He was a member of the launch team for the Free World's first satellite, Explorer I (1958), the Free World's first man in space (1961), Chief Engineer and Deputy Director for all Apollo Space Program launches (12 men walked on the surface of the moon), Skylab, the United States first laboratory in space, and Director of Launch Operations for the Apollo-Soyuz launch in 1975 (a joint U.S. and Russian rendezvous in space). After his time at NASA, he worked for ten more years in the space program for United Technologies and retired as the Vice President of USBI, Florida Operations. Ike and his wife, Kathryn, live in Titusville, FL. (UPDATE: Ike passed away on Feb 24, 2022 at the age of 99.) Ike's BOOK: He’s written a memoir that is filled with personal stories and observations about his life and his experiences in ways that make it easy to relate. Ike is a great story teller with a good memory and a kind heart. You can purchase the book at Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/y3lq24qvand Barnes and Noble at https://tinyurl.com/y3nh34zd. Look for his book signings. Proceeds go to the NASA Alumni League Scholarship Fund; American Space Museum, and similar charitable groups in the Titusville area. ORIGIN: An ORIGINAL production of The American Space Museum, Titusville, FL. Part of our "Space Workers Oral History" Project. INTERVIEWD by Dr. Lori Walters on 12/7/2001 EDITED by Bruce Landon Jacobs COPYRIGHT: 2001, 2020 American Space Museum and U.S. Space Walk of Fame Foundation Mirrored from YouTube: https://youtu.be/1TYW6AKg-P4 Original channel: American Space Museum Wed, 15 Jul 2026 06:32:53 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/ec5edb1e-3795-4978-be4f-c67e98fbc992.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/a14fa108-e05e-4e6e-9d8b-d57e908f62a2 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.