John Houbolt

John Cornelius Houbolt was an aerospace engineer credited with leading the team behind the lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) mission mode, a concept that was used to successfully land humans on the Moon and return them to Earth. This flight path was chosen for the Apollo program in July 1962. The critical decision to use LOR was viewed as vital to ensuring that man reached the Moon by the end of the decade as proposed by President John F. Kennedy. In the process, LOR saved time and billions of dollars by efficiently using the rocket and spacecraft technologies.

10 April 1919

Born on the same birth day (10 April): Chris Heston • Christopher Simmons • Donald Dufresne • Jane Kean • Ken Griffey Sr. • Michel Corrette • Pavlos Fyssas

Born in the same month (April 1919): Alberto Breccia • Carl Lindner Jr. • Chavela Vargas • Clairette Oddera • Delfo Cabrera • Don Cornell • Edoardo Mangiarotti • Esther Afua Ocloo • Glafcos Clerides • Howard Keel • Ian Smith • Joseph Murray • K. Saraswathi Amma • Madalyn Murray O'Hair • Merce Cunningham • Raymond Carr • Richard Hillary • Roger Doucet • Roland Gaucher