About: John F. McCarthy Jr.

John Francis McCarthy Jr. (August 8, 1925 – February 7, 1986) was an American scientist and engineer. He worked for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as director of its Center for Space Research; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as the director of its Lewis Research Center; the United States Air Force, where he served with the Strategic Air Command and as a member of the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board; North American Rockwell, where he oversaw the design and development of the Apollo command and service module that took the first men to the Moon, and the S-II of the Saturn V rocket. His work doubled, and in the case of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, tripled, the service life of aircraft.