Ivy Fay Hooks (born November 17, 1941) is an American mathematician and engineer who worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She joined NASA after graduating from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

with a master's degree in mathematics and physics in 1965. Her first assignment was with the Apollo program, where she worked on the modeling of lighting on the Moon and the dynamics of the

launch escape system A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule that can be used to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiring the abort of the launch, suc ...

, among other projects. She then went on to play an important role in the design and development of the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

, being one of only two women engineers assigned to the original design team for the orbiter.

Early life

Ivy Fay Hooks was born in Houston, Texas, on November 17, 1941, and grew up in

Livingston, Texas Livingston is a town in and the county seat of Polk County, Texas. With a population of 5,640 at the 2020 census, it is the largest city in Polk County. It is located about 46 miles south of Lufkin and was originally settled in 1835 as S ...

. She was named after Ivy Parker, one of the founding members of the Society of Women Engineers, and a close friend of her parents. She graduated from Livingston High School and entered

Southwestern University Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a private liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwestern is the oldest college or university in Texas. Southwestern o ...

Georgetown, Texas Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census. It is 30 miles (48 km) north of Austin. Founded in 1875 from four existing colleges, the oldest of ...

, where she studied mathematics. In June after her first year, she got married, and moved to

Lufkin, Texas Lufkin is the largest city in Angelina County, Texas and the county seat. The city is situated in Deep East Texas and about 60 miles west of the Texas-Louisiana border. Its estimated population is 35,021 as of July 1, 2019. Lufkin was founded ...

, where her husband was a reporter for a local newspaper. She then went to

Austin College Austin College is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Sherman, Texas. She entered the

in her

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

year. There, she also became interested in physics. She earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in mathematics in 1963.

NASA career

Project Apollo

Jobs for women with mathematics degrees were not common in the early 1960s, and she did not want to become a teacher, so she went to graduate school, where she worked towards her master's degree. A friend's mother drew her attention to an article in the newspaper that said "

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

's looking for women scientists and engineers." When she went for an interview at the Manned Spaceflight Center, she was unimpressed with the building, which was a disused box factory with no windows, and the people, who she thought were strange. However, she met a woman whose husband worked at NASA and was looking for people. A second interview was arranged, and this job was more to her liking. She was hired as an "aerospace technologist", which annoyed some of the engineers who had the same job classification. Hook's first assignment was modeling lighting on the Moon. This was of great importance at the time, as it was vital to know what the view would look like when astronauts attempted to land the lunar module. Most engineers were not much interested; it was not something on the college syllabus. She found that the subject had been researched by Russian physicists in the 1920s, who were interested in the lunar

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refl ...

, and they had created a full mathematical treatment of the subject. There were very few women working for NASA at the time in technical roles, and the men often played cruel practical jokes. She became fed up with the behavior of two of the men in her group, and decided to switch to another. She went to work for Humboldt C. Mandell, Jr., who was working on developing cost models. These were projections far into the future. She returned to the University of Houston, where she completed her studies, and was awarded a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree in mathematics in 1965. Hooks studied the dynamics of the

, and the effects of jet plumes coming from the Lunar Module's

ascent propulsion system The ascent propulsion system (APS) or lunar module ascent engine (LMAE) is a fixed-thrust hypergolic rocket engine developed by Bell Aerosystems for use in the Apollo Lunar Module ascent stage. It used Aerozine 50 fuel, and oxidizer. Rocketdyn ...

and descent propulsion system. She also investigated the dynamics of the Apollo flight systems.

Space Shuttle

In April 1969 she became one of two women engineers assigned to the original design team for the

Space Shuttle Orbiter The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1977 to 2011 by NASA, the U.S. space agency, thi ...

. She recalled that

Max Faget Maxime Allen "Max" Faget (pronounced ''fah-ZHAY''; August 26, 1921 – October 9, 2004) was a Belizean-born American mechanical engineer. Faget was the designer of the Mercury spacecraft, and contributed to the later Gemini and Apollo spac ...

walked into the room carrying a

balsa wood ''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' bei ...

model airplane and declared; "We’re going to build America’s next spacecraft. And it’s going to launch like a spacecraft, it’s going to land like a plane." Hooks studied various configurations for such a spacecraft. She was particularly involved with the analysis and management of the mechanism for the separation of the

from the

Shuttle Carrier Aircraft The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) are two extensively modified Boeing 747 airliners that NASA used to transport Space Shuttle orbiters. One (N905NA) is a 747-100 model, while the other (N911NA) is a short range 747-100SR. The SCAs were used ...

for the Approach and Landing Tests. Another area in which Hooks made a significant contribution was the means by which the

Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) was the first solid-propellant rocket to be used for primary propulsion on a vehicle used for human spaceflight. A pair of these provided 85% of the Space Shuttle's thrust at liftoff and for the first ...

s separated from the

Space Shuttle external tank The Space Shuttle external tank (ET) was the component of the Space Shuttle launch vehicle that contained the liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. During lift-off and ascent it supplied the fuel and oxidizer under pressure to the ...

. For her work on the design of the Space Shuttle, Hooks received the

Arthur S. Flemming Award The Arthur S. Flemming Award is an award given annually to employees of the United States federal government. More than 500 individuals have received the award since it was created in 1948. The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Admini ...

in 1978, and the

NASA Exceptional Service Medal The NASA Exceptional Service Medal is an award granted to U.S. government employees for significant sustained performance characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability that clearly demonstrates substantial improvement in engineering, ae ...

in 1981.

Software

Foreseeing that computers would become more important, Hooks headed the Aerodynamics Systems Analysis Section of the Aerodynamics Branch in the Engineering Analysis Division from 1973 to 1977. She headed the Spacecraft Software Division in Data Systems and Analysis Directorate from 1978 to 1980, and was the Software Manager in the Spacecraft Software Division in the Data Systems and Analysis Directorate from 1980 to 1981. She was manager of the Shuttle Data Office in the Space Shuttle Program Office from 1981 to 1982, acting head of the Integration and Operations Section, Flight Software Branch in the Spacecraft Software Division from 1982 to 1983, and Chief of the Flight Software Branch of Spacecraft Software Division in the Mission Support Directorate from 1982 to 1984.

Later life

Hooks left NASA in 1984, and joined Barrios Technology, an aerospace contractor. In 1986 she became President and Chief Executive Officer of Bruce G. Jackson and Associates. She later founded her own software company, Compliance Automation.

Notes

External links

Hooks raw interview (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hooks, Ivy 1941 births Living people American engineers American women engineers NASA people Recipients of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal Southwestern University alumni University of Houston alumni 21st-century American women