Thomas E. Dolan
From The Space Library
 Thomas E. Dolan ca. 1960 | |
| Birth Name | Thomas E. Dolan |
|---|---|
| Birth Date | ca. 1920s |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Nationality | United States of America |
| Notable Works | Program Costs for a Manned Space Station |
Thomas Dolan was a combat pilot in the USAF during WWII. After the war he earned a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Illinois. He joined the Chance-Vought company in 1948 as a liaison engineer. In 1951 he was promoted to liaison lead engineer. He was the lead designer on the controls of the F7U-3 and the WU-1. In May 1953 he became Assistant Project Engineer for Systems a position he held for five years. In 1958 he was transferred to the Advanced Weapons department as a development engineer. Shortly after this he took on a role as engineer in charge of space systems projects.
In March 1960 Dolan gave a presentation to NASA staff at Langley in which he outlined the Chance-Vought proposals for a modular spacecraft system capable of reaching the lunar surface, using the so-called "Lunar Orbit Rendezvous" method. This proposal was compiled by a team of engineers at Chance-Vought led by Dolan's boss Conrad Albert Lau. Lau's written proposal was sent by Chance-Vought's Astronautics division chief John Russel Clark to NASA's Abe Silverstein on January 12th 1960. The proposal also included a manned orbiting space station version for use in earth orbit which the company called Satellab. Dolan is generally credited with writing the Chance-Vought report although his name is not on the report. He spent much of the spring and summer of 1960 trying to sell the company proposal to NASA.
In January 1961 at the American Astronautical Society conference in Dallas Texas Dolan and R.H. Lundberg presented their paper outlining the costs of a manned lunar landing. When NASA put out their request for proposals for Apollo Chance-Vought teamed up with McDonnell, Lockheed and Hughes, but their proposal was beaten in October 1961 by North American Aviation primarily because the NAA version of Apollo was cheaper.
By January 1962 Dolan was Manager of Manned Spacecraft Dev. at Vought where he put together an extensive communications study for MSFC. By the summer of 1962 the structure had changed at Vought who were now doing reentry ablation studies. By November 29 1962 Dolan was appointed by Vice President Lyndon Johnson at White House to become part of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. He remained in this role for the next three or four years advising members of congress on space programs.
By 1966 he was at the Martin Marietta Company and in 1967 became manager of advanced concepts. By 1969 Dolan was chairman of the AIAA launch vehicles and missiles committee while still working at Martin Marietta. In 1975 he was at Martin in Orlando Florida
