Watersmeet native helped send man to moon
November 4, 2019

Kim E. Strom/Daily Globe
FRANK KUCHEVAR of Watersmeet, holds a picture of an IMU or inertial measurement unit, Saturday, that is one component of three needed for navigating a spacecraft. The IMU, computer and the optics together provide the location and orientation of the craft. Kuchevar designed technical manuals on how to build and troubleshoot the device and taught this information to the Apollo astronauts, including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
By KIM E. STROM
WATERSMEET - Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong made history as the first man to step foot onto the moon. Frank Kuchevar of Watersmeet remembers it well. He was laying on the floor at home with his young son at the time watching it on television.
"It was very satisfying and emotional," he said in an interview with the Daily Globe on Saturday. "I actually teared up. It was a tremendous feat. All the people that worked on it and put it together."
It was satisfying to Kuchevar because he helped make it happen.
Kuchevar grew up and grad...
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