Nuclear missile launch control and Mission Control for the NASA Apollo Moon Missions (260)

**Richard Stachurski** (0:00)
The thing you never wanted to hear, ever, was Skybird, This Is Dropkick, with a red dot for a message in five parts. Because that was it.

**Ian Sanders** (0:13)
This is Cold War Conversations. If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first hand Cold War history accounts. Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app or join our emailing list to keep up with the latest episode. Richard Stachurski joined the US Air Force in 1962 on the cusp of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a security police officer guarding nuclear armed B-58 Hustler bombers. Within two years he volunteered for the Minuteman Nuclear Missile Program where he served as a Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander. Richard was a junior officer on a two man crew in a launch control capsule buried beneath the South Dakota prairie who were charged with monitoring the status and launching if necessary 10 Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Nuclear Missiles. In 1965 he was selected to be loaned to NASA to support the activation and operation of the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas. He worked his way up to being a network controller who sat two consoles to the right of the flight director in the Mission Operations Control Room. He was responsible for all the ground systems that supported an Apollo mission and was selected as the lead network controller on Apollo 11, working both the launch from Earth and the first ever launch from the lunar surface. Now Cold War history is disappearing, but a simple monthly donation will help keep this podcast on the air. You'll be part of our community, you'll get a sought after Cold War Conversations coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing that you're helping to preserve Cold War history.

**Mary O'Grady** (2:04)
This is Mary O'Grady. Anyone who's interested in Cold War history should definitely subscribe and support Cold War Conversations. Thank you.

**Ian Sanders** (2:15)
If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we also welcome one-off donations via coldwarconversations.com/donate. I'm delighted to welcome Richard Stachurski to our Cold War Conversation.

**Richard Stachurski** (2:33)
When I was in college, I studied history. I did reasonably well. In fact, when I was due to graduate, I was offered a fellowship at Princeton. But I was just tired of studying history and I decided rather presumptuously, that I wanted to go out and try and make some. And the Air Force seemed like a good opportunity to do that.

**Ian Sanders** (2:55)
Had you had aspirations to fly or be a pilot or what did you think you were going to do in the Air Force?

**Richard Stachurski** (3:03)
I did not have aspirations to be a pilot because I had been wearing glasses since I was 16 years old. So I just wasn't qualified for that kind of work. But I was just interested in having a choice of a variety of assignments in a variety of places in the world. Also interested in making a contribution to my country.

**Ian Sanders** (3:25)
Did they do some sort of aptitude test as to what sort of role you're going to be suitable for?

**Richard Stachurski** (3:30)
No, they do not. The thing that they do is they give you something called the Air Force Officer Qualification Test. I was in the ROTC, Reserve Officer Training Corps in college. Normally, they give you a reserve commission when you graduate. But I took the AFOQT and scored high enough that I was given a regular commission, which in those days gave you a slight edge relative to promotion consideration.
But there was no testing relative to career orientation.

**Ian Sanders** (4:07)
What was your first assignment?

**Richard Stachurski** (4:11)
My first assignment was to Bunker Hill Air Force Base in Indiana, to the 305th Combat Defense Squadron, which was a squadron part of the 305th Bomb Wing Medium, one of the last two medium bomb wings in the US Air Force, B-58 Hustlers.

**Ian Sanders** (4:32)
And what was your role there?

**Richard Stachurski** (4:35)
The Combat Defense Squadron was security police. We were responsible for the security of the base. And so I was essentially a shift supervisor for base security operations, rotating eight-hour shifts, days, nights and midnights, checking guard posts, make sure things were organized properly, that sort of thing. B-58 Hustler was a nuclear bomber, a supersonic nuclear bomber.

**Ian Sanders** (5:08)
You joined at rather a, let's say, interesting time.

**Richard Stachurski** (5:13)
Yes. Yes. I joined up just before the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I went on active duty in August of 1962

**Ian Sanders** (5:24)
What sort of impact did that crisis have on your role? I'm presuming the tempo of what you had to do changed.