G. Merritt Preston
From The Space Library
G. Merritt Preston, was Director of Design Engineering, Kennedy Space Center, he was responsible for design of ground support equipment, structures and facilities for launch operations and support elements at the nation’s Spaceport. Born in Athens, Ohio, in 1916, he graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York with a degree in aeronautical engineering In 1939. He then joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at Langley Research Center, Virginia, and was transferred in 1942 to the Lewis Flight Propulsion Center at Cleveland, Ohio, where he became chief of flight research engineering in 1945. NACA’s responsibilities were later absorbed by NASA and Preston played a major role in Project Mercury and Gemini manned space flights before being advanced to his post at KSC in 1967.
