From Mission Control to the moon: Fifty years later, Sequim resident to recount milestone lunar landing

It’s a simple fact retired U.S. Air Force Col. Joey Lazzaro knows well and sometimes passes along as advice to youngsters considering their future endeavors: It doesn’t hurt to be lucky.

The Sequim resident worked with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and was part of the mission control team that oversaw operations during Apollo 11’s landmark lunar landing 50 years ago this month.

Lazzaro looks to share a bit of what he experienced as part of a massive crew of scientists, engineers and others involved in this and other Apollo missions at a special presentation set for 6 p.m. Monday, July 15, at the Shipley Center, 921 E. Hammond St.

Advanced tickets are required and are $10 for general public, $5 for center members; only 120 are available. Funds raised go to the Shipley Center’s nonprofit operations. (See www.shipleycenter.org or call 360-683-6806.)

While a number of those involved in the lunar landing on July 20, 1969, are giving perspective on their respective roles on this milestone anniversary, Lazzarro said he aims to “talk about what happens on the ground” during his Shipley Center event. A question-and-answer session follows.

Background in missile tech

Lazzaro was working on a U.S. Air Force missile crew in Montana when he was first contacted to work in conjunction with NASA efforts in the mid-1960s; they wanted someone with experience in missile communications, he recalled. Lazarro’s particular program got canceled, however, and while a number of his fellow Air Force cohorts went to serve in the Vietnam War, he stayed stateside.

About 20 months later he was contacted again to work with NASA, which led to a four-year stint working with NASA from 1968 to 1971.

Lazzaro said he got to work on numerous key missions, from Apollo 7 to Apollo 15.

“There was no question: we were in a space race,” Lazaro recalled. “Every time we did something in space it was for the first time.”

For much of his time in NASA’s Mission Operations Control Room Lazzaro worked as a procedures officer making sure operations were followed properly.

Within the Control Room there were three shifts of about 30 or more at a time, he recalled. It surprised him that so many there were relatively young; most were in their 30s, Lazzaro said, and he was 34 at the time of the moon landing.

In addition, there were about 400 to 450 support staff just outside the control room and countless others involved in missions at various locations, he said.

Lazzaro was instrumental in helping the constant recording of data as astronauts on various missions orbited the Earth — which meant he gave orders to move a ship or airplane from one location to the other on his order.

He said while the Apollo I incident — the first crewed mission of the United States Apollo mission never flew after a cabin fire killed three crew members — changed the program significantly.

“It was preventable … but we learned a lot,” Lazzaro said. “Everything (following) was triple redundant.”

As for the lunar landing? “There was no doubt we would get it done,” he said.

Losing orbit

The fervor for space exploration dwindled after the moon landing, Lazzaro said, as thanks to funding cuts NASA completed just 17 of the 20 promised space flights.

“People were asking, ‘Why are we spending money to go to space?’” he said. The cost of the program was relatively little compared to what the government was spending money on, he said.

That continued for years, Lazzaro noted — something that disappointed him and might have been helped if NASA had been able to better promote what they were doing and all of the ancillary technology that came out of the space program.

While most involved in the space program left for various promising careers with entities such as the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Lazzaro continued his US. Air Force career, overseeing lunching and testing of various missile programs such as the Minuteman III.

He worked in Washington D.C. for a number of years and ended his 26-year military stint once again working with NASA. He spent 1982-86 during the administration’s shuttle program, helping coordinate efforts and resources between the military and the administration.

“I got to wear civilian clothes for eight years,” Lazzaro joked.

Lazzaro went on to work for the Boeing Company for a dozen years, the last two years in Seattle. He and his wife Mahina, who leads and teaches Hawaiian dance classes, began spending more time on the peninsula.

As Lazzaro puts it, the couple “slowly drifted up here.”

Music fans may recognize him from his trumpet playing with the Olympic Express Big Band and Cat’s Meow, a five-piece jazz band.

The retired Air Force colonel said he’s planning on joining a number of his fellow Apollo 11 crew members back in Houston for the 50th anniversary. A $5 million historic preservation project has restored the iconic control room used in the moon landing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and it reopened to visitors on July 1.

‘Apollo 11’ documentary to screen at library

As part of the Summer Reading Program, “A Universe of Stories,” the North Olympic Library System is presenting screenings of the new documentary film, “Apollo 11.” Screenings are set for 6 p.m. Thursday, July 18, at the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave., and 1 p.m. Saturday, July 20, at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.

Directed by Todd Douglas Miller, Apollo 11 celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing and contains new interviews and footage from NASA. Rated G, the film is an inside look at the day leading up to the launch and the entire mission. Run time is 93 minutes.

For more information, visit www.nols.org/srp, call 360-417-8500 or email to discover@nols.org.