Processed in April of 2016
This collection was donated to USU Special Collections and Archives by R. Gilbert Moore in 2013.
No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.
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R. Gilbert (Gil) Moore began his 60 year career as a rocket propulsion engineer in 1947 working as a student assistant at New Mexico State University's Physical Science Laboratory. As a student he performed radio telemetry data reduction and installed upper atmospheric and solar research instrumentation in captured German V-2 rockets. In 1949 after graduating with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering, he became professional staff at the Laboratory. During the next thirteen years he supervised teams of students and professionals in instrumenting and launching hundreds of flight test and upper atmospheric research sounding rockets from the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico as well as from locations in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Moore moved to Ogden, Utah, in 1962 to become the founding general manager of the Astromet Division of Thiokol Corporation. During the next twenty years, this organization built and launched several hundred sounding rockets and six satellite experiments from sites around the world to measure various characteristics of the earth's ionosphere, thermosphere and magnetosphere. The Division also manufactured, installed and operated radio telemetry systems for monitoring meteorological and hydrologic variables in the mountains of the Western United States and Canada. In 1981, Mr. Moore transferred to Thiokol's Wasatch Division, where he served as special projects manager for the Space Shuttle solid rocket motor program and as principal investigator for gossamer space structures. He became the Thiokol Wasatch Division's director of external affairs in 1985 and represented the corporation to the press and public during the Space Shuttle Challenger accident investigation. He retired in 1987.
Moore spent the next two years with Globesat, Inc., a small spacecraft manufacturer in Logan, Utah, as vice-president for advanced programs. In July of 1989 he joined Utah State University's Space Dynamics Laboratory as a senior research scientist. In 1994, he retired from SDL and moved to Monument, Colorado, to join the Astronautics Department of the United States Air Force Academy as the first occupant of the General Bernard A. Schriever Chair in Space Systems Engineering. During the next two years, he led an initiative to teach upper-division cadets to design and build small spacecraft for flight on military launch vehicles. After setting up an extremely successful program, he retired from the Air Force in 1996.
After retiring from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Moore established Project Starshine, a volunteer student satellite project designed to measure the response of Earth's atmosphere to storms on the Sun, during an eleven-year solar cycle. Some 25,030 children in 660 schools in 18 countries worked in teams to polish 878 mirrors that covered the outside of the satellite and reflected flashes of sunlight to ground-based observers during twilight passes of the satellite over their locations. Between 2000 and 2002 two more Starshine Satellites were launched into orbit. In addition to introducing students to space research, important data was gathered for the science community on the effects of solar extreme ultraviolet radiation on satellite orbital decay.
Gil Moore has a long history with Utah State University. In 1976 he and his wife, Phyllis, purchased and donated to Utah State University the first Space Shuttle "Get Away Special" (GAS) experiment that NASA made available to the general public. The Moores assisted students over the next six years to build micro-gravity experiments that flew in space in the GAS-001 canister mounted in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The Moores also purchased four additional GAS flight slots and donated them to Utah State University and Weber State University. Even as late as 2013 he funded three USU GAS satellites on a Space X Falcon 9 Rocket. In 1987 Moore co-founded the highly successful Small Satellite Conference. In 2014 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Physics from USU. Mr. Moore has been an adjunct instructor in the physics department at USU starting in 1976.
Gil Moore has been active with numerous organizations such as the American Rocket Society and its successor the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Utah's Advisory Council on Science and Technology, the Hansen Planetarium, the Utah Science Center Authority, and the Utah State University Research Foundation board of trustees. He is a life member of the Air Force Association and has been a member of the American Meteorological Society, the Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society of the Sigma Xi, the U.S. Space Foundation, the National Space Foundation, the Aerospace States Association, and the Space Business Roundtable. Additionally, he has served as an unofficial advisor on space issues for two U.S. Congressman, two U.S. senators, and three state governors.
Mr. Moore has received the NASA Public Service Medal, the AIAA Distinguished Service Award, Utah State University's Distinguished Service Award, the Utah Council's Professional Engineer of the Year Award, the Utah Education Association's Teacher of the Year Award, a Doctor of Humanities Degree from Weber State University, the Governor of Utah's Medal for Science and Technology, an Aviation Week and Space Technology Laurel Award, the Ogden/Weber Chamber of Commerce's Order of the Big Hat Award, the OgdenExchange Club's Book of Golden Deeds, Ogden City's Honorary Citizen Award, and most recently, he and his wife jointly received a Stellar Award from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation in Houston, Texas.
The first series is called “New Mexico State University,” and it contains reports and class project materials from the 1950s and 1960s written by both Gil Moore and other authors from Mexico State University. Some reports are not necessarily affiliated with Mexico State University, however, they contain information that is pertinent to some of the reports that are affiliated. These projects deal with primarily astrophysics and the development of rocket technologies.
The “Thiokol” Series is divided into four subcategories. The “Projects” category consists of reports about the development of rockets and projects in which Thiokol has participated. In addition to projects dealing with the development of rockets, there are also files concerning the development of Heart Sound Screening equipment and participation in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, with which Thiokol sent an experiment. The next category, “Solid Rocket Motor for the Space Shuttle Program,” contains reports and correspondence concerning the development and experimentation with solid rocket motors. This section also contains documents pertaining to the aftermath of the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster. “Bubbles for Structural Elements in Outer Space” deals with an engineering project for which Thiokol and Utah State University collaborated to investigate new ways to construct rockets. Finally, “Thiokol Newsletters, History, and Files” consists mostly of papers dealing with Thiokol’s corporate side and history, as well as newsletters and magazines that Thiokol published. Additionally, this section has correspondence and company memoranda dealing with various topics throughout the 1960s and 1980s.
“Ogden Chamber of Commerce” contains memoranda, correspondence and newsletters produced by the Ogden City Chamber of Commerce. Specifically, there is information from the Education Committee.
The “Society of Persons Born in Space,” was an organization for anyone born in the Santa Rita Hospital in New Mexico. The Society was formed by Gil Moore and the Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot, Jack Schmitt, in the 1970s. This series contains mostly letters to potential members of the society.
The “Rotary Club,” series documents the activities of the Ogden Rotary Club in the 1970s. It contains various correspondence and administrative documents regarding the projects undertaken by the Rotary Club including their Student Exchange Project and Greenbelt Project, which aimed at creating a parkway on the Ogden River.
The “Get Away Special” series houses materials from various GAS projects from the 1980s to the 1990s. It contains reports and plans from the NASA and USU sponsored GAS programs over the years. Within this series there is also a section about the Northern Utah Satellite (NUSAT) containing blueprints, reports, and plans for this project which was a part of GAS.
The “Ballooning” Series consists of papers pertaining to scientific high altitude balloon launches. The balloons carried equipment for studying the composition and pressure of the stratosphere. Gil Moore was involved in many such projects while at Utah State University and the United States Air Force Academy and often involved his students in the research. The first section of this series, “Miscellaneous Balloon Research and News” contains various research articles and other papers related to research using high altitude balloons. The “USU Ballooning Projects” section contains papers from various research projects undertaken by Utah State University, often in collaboration with the Bridgerland Amateur Radio Club. One of these projects was the Superpressure Balloon Launch which tested ozone concentrations and global wind patterns. Finally “Project Glacier” contains launch reports, blueprints, and correspondence related to Project Glacier. Glacier was undertaken by Gil Moore’s students at the United States Air Force Academy.
The “Utah State University” series contains course materials and administrative files from the USU physics department, of which Gil Moore was a part. Within this section there are also class materials, reports, and details of experiments and projects undertaken by the physics department.
The “United States Air Force Academy” Series contains administrative as well as educational papers from when Gil Moore taught there. Course materials used by Gil Moore as well as staff meeting records from the Academy are included in this section. There are also papers related to some projects that Moore’s classes undertook such as the Blue Moon Project. The objective of Blue Moon was to send a microsatellite into the Lunar Orbit.
“The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)” Section contains correspondence, event newsletters, and conference papers produced by AIAA. This series also contains many files from the Utah Section of AIAA.
“Starshine” has files relating to Project Starshine (Student Tracked Atmosphere Research Satellite for Heuristic International Networking Experiment). Half of this section is comprised of correspondence relating to Starshine, such as letters to the schools receiving mirrors for polishing and letters relating to the administrative side of Starshine. Other documents in this section are files about Starshine’s construction, launches, and results.
“NASA,” consists of reports, pamphlets, and other materials published or sponsored by NASA.
The “Reports and Publications” series contains any reports or materials that do not fit into the previous categories. Within this series there is a section of newsletters and publications from various organizations. Most of the reports have to do with Astrophysics and space technologies.
The “Events and Projects” series holds documents from conferences, exhibits, meetings, symposiums, and workshops hosted by various organizations.
“Company Information,” consists of files, reports, and pamphlets with information about various companies that Gil Moore was involved with or had interest in.
“People and Correspondence” contains letters to or from Gil Moore. It is organized alphabetically by the last name of the person writing to Moore or receiving correspondence from Gil Moore.
“Personal Materials,” contains materials pertaining to the Moore family including Gil Moore’s awards and certificates, his resume, and other materials related to his private, rather than professional, life.
The series called “Oversized” is composed of materials that were too large to fit in standard sized boxes. The materials from this series could pertain to some of the previous series and consist of posters, certificates, and awards. Box 2 of this series contains the Getaway Special capsule that carried the G-001 experiment and orbited the earth in the cargo hold of Space Shuttle Orbiter OV-102, Columbia from June 27th to July 4th 1982.
This collection is broadly organized by the employer, project, or organization to which the papers relate.
Gil Moore photograph collection (
The photographs and books were transferred to the appropriate curators.
This capsule, carrying the G-001 Getaway Special experiments, orbited the earth in the cargo of Space Shuttle Orbiter OV-102, Columbia from June 27th to July 4th 1982.