ABSTRACT
As he had taken ROTC in college and been commissioned an Air Force 2nd lieutenant, Hal then was called to active duty for his 3-year obligatory military service. As he was completing this service, the Air Force offered Hal an opportunity to obtain his master’s degree with E. J. McCormick in a new program called human factors at Purdue University, at Air Force expense. In return, he would have to serve an additional 3 years in the Air Force. Hal accepted, and in 1961 he received his MS degree in human factors, having been a straight “A” student and often first in his class. Hal then was assigned to the bioastronautics office for the Dynasoar space vehicle at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where he worked on the design of the space vehicle’s control-display panels. The Dynasoar (for dynamic soaring) was the US Department of Defense (DoD)’s counterpart to NASA’s Gemini program, and, except for being much smaller, resembled the space shuttle, which was developed later. The Dynasoar eventually was cancelled in favor of Gemini when it was decided that the US could not afford both programs — but not before Hal had a great deal of fun working on its design.
