Sy Liebergot

Author of: Apollo EECOM

Sy began his engineering career with North American Aviation, in Downey, CA, before graduating from California State University-Los Angeles with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1963. His space career began at North American at the very inception of the Apollo lunar program when he joined a newly formed Flight Operations Group. In 1964, he transferred to Houston, Texas as a member of the Flight Operations Group in support of NASA Mission Operations at the Manned Spacecraft Center, which had just opened.

Sy switched over to NASA after about a year to qualify for a “front room” flight controller position in the mission control center in order to “get in on the action.” He became a veteran flight controller of many flights serving as Operations and Procedures Officer on AS-202, as Assistant Flight Director On AS-501 (the first Saturn V launch), and as EECOM (Electrical, Environmental, Consumables) Flight Controller on Apollo missions 8 - 15.

Sy was the Lead EECOM Flight Controller for Apollo missions 12 - 15 and an EGIL (Skylab EECOM) for all of the Skylab program missions. On the international scene, Sy was the Lead EECOM for the American-Russian Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) mission. He contributed his experience to early shuttle missions and to the space station design.

As EECOM in Mission Control on Apollo 13, Sy was at the focal point of the crisis when the spacecraft oxygen tank exploded. He has advised and contributed to several books concerning Apollo 13 including the movie, Apollo 13; and was the technical adviser for an archival multi-media CD-ROM entitled Apollo 13, A Race Against Time, which is devoted to the Apollo 13 mission. He has appeared in the PBS NOVA series, the History Channel Modern Marvels, and the acclaimed Public Broadcast System documentary Apollo 13, To The Edge and Back. He served as the on-camera host for a space documentary entitled In the Shadow of the Moon, produced by the CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas. He recently has published his autobiography entitled Apollo EECOM: Journey Of A Lifetime.

As part of the Apollo 13 Operations Team, Sy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also received the NASA Commendation Award for his leadership role in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project international space mission. He has also been honored as Distinguished Alumnus of his alma mater’s School of Engineering and Technology.

Sy, as a Senior Project Engineer, directed the design and fabrication of the astronaut neutral buoyancy trainers for the International Space Station (ISS) and is presently a Boeing ISS Lead Flight Operations Engineer. He remains an active booster and international public speaker of NASA's space accomplishments and the importance of a good education. He lives in Pearland, Texas with his wife, Craig.