New Man for the Moon

Tucked away in the middle of a routine press handout from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration last June was big news: the resignation of D. Brainerd Holmes, NASA's man in charge of the manned space-flight program, including the man-to-the-moon effort. A tough-minded engineer with ideas of his own about space programs, Holmes had decided to resign (effective Sept. 1) because of continued conflicts with his statutory boss, NASA Administrator James Webb.

Last week Webb announced that Holmes's job will be taken over by Dr. George E. Mueller, 45, vice president for research and development of Los Angeles' Space Technology Laboratories, one of the U.S.'s biggest space-age contractors. Holmes's successor, says a NASA official, is "very quiet, very polite and no table thumper like Holmes." Both an electrical engineer and a physicist by training, Mueller (pronounced Miller) has done notable and imaginative work in electromagnetic theory, missile guidance systems, deep space communications, microwave research, space-systems engineering and space payload design. He helped develop the U.S.'s first ICBM and the instrumentation for the nation's earliest space probes.

Besides his challenges in space, Mueller faces an earthly problem at NASA. Holmes was an ebullient manager, ran an exciting shop. Since his resignation announcement, his men have lost a lot of their old moon-ho spirit. "It's no fun to work here any more," a NASA spaceman recently grumbled. Mueller has a big job ahead just getting morale back into orbit.

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