NASA test director was "go" for launch, then beans

Friends on Monday remembered Norm Carlson as a cool-headed NASA test director, from the final minutes of Apollo 11's countdown through tense moments preparing dozens of shuttles for liftoff, including the first.

"He was unflappable, never a temperamental, blow-your-stack type person," said Bob Sieck, who worked alongside Carlson as a shuttle launch director. "He was always in charge of what he was responsible for."

But it was a more lighthearted legacy that Carlson, a Titusville resident who died Sunday at 81, became best known for at NASA.

After successful shuttle liftoffs, hundreds of launch team members would gather in the lobby of Kennedy Space Center's Launch Control Center for a celebratory meal of beans and cornbread.

The tradition began with a single crock pot of northern beans Carlson prepared for senior team members. Eventually the entire launch team was filling bowls from 18-quart cookers served up by KSC kitchens.

A NASA photo taken after a 1988 blastoff from Kennedy Space Center captured Carlson holding a sign that reads, "Beans are go."

"It spans generations, it spans employees," Mike Leinbach, another former shuttle launch director, said of the tradition. "It's something that kind of ties STS-1 to STS-135, and I'm not sure a heck of a lot else does that."

Carlson died of complications from congestive heart failure at Hospice of St. Francis in Titusville, said his daughter, Bobbie Lu Turner.

In addition to Turner, 51, of Titusville, Carlson is survived by daughter Jodi Juretich, 53, of Salt Lake City, Utah, son Chris Carlson, 59, of Denver, Colorado, and three grandchildren.

An Oklahoma native, Carlson served two years in the Army before earning a mechanical engineering degree from Oklahoma State University in 1960.

From there he joined NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama in 1960 — after passing on an opportunity with Singer sewing machines — before moving to Florida in 1964.

Five years later Carlson was the lead test conductor responsible for the Saturn V rocket that launched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon.

"He was one of the most humble people I've ever met in my life," said Joe Williams of Titusville, a close friend. "I don't think he fully realized, even up until the time he died, how much of giant he was in the space program down here."

As NASA's chief test director during the shuttle program, Carlson performed critical oversight of systems necessary for launch directors to give the final "go" for launch.

In a statement, KSC Director Bob Cabana called him "the consummate professional, working tirelessly to ensure the success of the missions and the safety of all of the astronauts."

Leinbach remembered Carlson as a true family man, both at home and within NASA. In the firing room, he had a knack for breaking the tension in difficult situations to help keep the launch team loose.

Carlson continued to attend launches after his retirement in 1995. A room where launch team managers ate a meal together on launch day was named for his wife, Bobbie, who died in 2007.

Cabana said KSC has Carlson's beans recipe and he hopes that tradition continues when astronauts next launch from the Cape. Future launch teams might have different tastes, but past teams still savor memories of "Norm's beans."

"The launch team looked forward to it," said Sieck. "If there's one tradition you look back on on shuttle program for the launch team, it would be Norm's beans. That's what everybody will remember."

They are part of how Carlson wished to be remembered, his daughter said. Before he became ill, Carlson cooked and froze beans and barbecue for family and friends to eat at a celebration of life event planned March 14.

"It was a tradition, and he started that and he was very proud of that," said Turner.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. Follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean

Memorial service

A memorial service for Norm Carlson will be heddMarch 14 at Indian River City Methodist Church at Titusville, followed by a celebration of life event at a location to be determined. Donations may be made to Hospice of St. Francis in Titusville.

Norm Carlson's recipe for "Successful Launch Beans"

Put 6 lbs. of dried great northern beans in an 18-quart electric cooker.

Cut 10 lbs. of smoked ham into cubes.

Add ham and ham bones to beans.

Add 1/2 shaker of lemon pepper.

Add 3 lbs. chopped onions.

Add 2 stalks chopped celery.

Add 1 tsp. liquid smoke.

Cover with water and cook for at least 8 hours

Credit: NASA