Inductee Profile
Thomas Kelly
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Merrick, N.Y., Thomas J. Kelly, who came to be known as the "father" of the vehicle that brought astronauts safely to and from the surface of the moon, attended Wellington C. Mepham High School in Bellmore and Cornell University's five-year engineering program in 1946 on a Grumman scholarship. Tom also earned a Master of Science degree in engineering from Columbia in 1956 and a Master of Science in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from SUNY Farmingdale in 1987.
Tom joined Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation full time as a propulsion engineer after graduation from Cornell and stayed until his retirement in December 1992, leaving only to serve in the Air Force from 1956 to 1958.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Merrick, N.Y., Thomas J. Kelly, who came to be known as the "father" of the vehicle that brought astronauts safely to and from the surface of the moon, attended Wellington C. Mepham High School in Bellmore and Cornell University's five-year engineering program in 1946 on a Grumman scholarship. Tom also earned a Master of Science degree in engineering from Columbia in 1956 and a Master of Science in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1971. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from SUNY Farmingdale in 1987.
Tom joined Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation full time as a propulsion engineer after graduation from Cornell and stayed until his retirement in December 1992, leaving only to serve in the Air Force from 1956 to 1958.