REFLEKTOR SPOTLIGHT
Jirži Marek, direktor Er Srbije, dočekao je prvog Tesla ambasadora koji je na aerodrom u Beogradu sa suprugom doleteo iz Čikaga avionom srpske avio- kompanije Air Serbia CEO Jirži Marek welcomed the first “Tesla” ambassador, who arrived at the airport in Belgrade with his wife on a flight of the Serbian national airline from Chicago
NASA, one of the founding fathers of which was Mihailo Pupin, on 23 rd April 1915. “As you are well aware, Dr Mihailo Pupin was a founding member and former Chairman of the Adviso- ry Committee for Aeronautics, today’s NASA, the pri- mary focus of which was space exploration. His vision has since become an overwhelming reality, as we enter another phase of space exploration with the introduc- tion of the Artemis Program, designed to return to the Moon and ultimately fly to Mars. I was privileged to have worked in the shadow of Dr Pupin’s vision when I became a member of the Apollo Space Launch Team. at experience was unimaginable, we actually began from ground level zero.” You worked day and night... “In the early 1960s we were hiring 1,000 engineers, scientists and other professionals per week in order to meet the programme’s objectives of placing a man on the Moon. We worked an average of 18 hours a day, seven days a week, with meagre facilities and resources. e facilities at our headquarters were not yet completed, while operational centres at Houston and Cape Canav- eral were under construction, to include the launchpad and vertical assembly structure in Florida. e dedica- tion, commitment and camaraderie, with thousands of suppliers, sub-contractors and the North American Apollo Team was an unimaginable experience, but a most rewarding one.” How do you recall that distant date of 20 th July some 54 years ago? What did you do, how did you feel, what did you think?
DAVID VUICH, TESLA AMBASSADOR A man for whom the sky was not the limit The last remaining engineer of Serbian origin to have been a member of the legendary ‘Serbo 7’ team of the Apollo 11 mission that sent man to the Moon, and whose life achievements were all inspired by Tesla and Pupin, is still gazing spacewards T he last living member of the “Serb Seven” who participated in the Moon landing mis- sion of 1969 is chairman emeritus of the Tesla Science Foundation in the U.S., a Te- sla ambassador and the recipient of a Tesla passport. is great scientist came to Serbia and spent time in Belgrade last month in order to add weight to the commemorating of the 80 th anniversary of the cul- ture of remembrance of the most celebrated Scientist of all time. is man, who worked at NASA solving prob- lems faced by the crews of the Apollo programme, al- so presented space project proposals for our country. We began our interview by asking about his recollections of that amazing experience at
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