John Howard Disher was born December 23, 1921, in Olmstead, North Dakota. He was raised in Devils Lake, North Dakota and graduated from high school there in 1939. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, in 1943. While at UND, he was a Sigma Nu Fraternity member and was active in the University concert and marching bands.
Following his graduation from UND, Disher joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, a predecessor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. He worked as a NACA aeronautical research analyst in the Flight Propulsion Laboratory, located in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1951, Disher was named head of Free Flight Research Section. This group tested the first hypersonic flight of a solid rocket, and the first flight of a high energy fueled vehicle.
NASA was formed in 1958. The following year, NASA appointed Disher Project Engineer of the task group formed to oversee the Mercury Program, which launched the first American astronauts into space. He served in this capacity at the Langley Research Center in Virginia until 1960, when he was named Head of Advanced Manned Missions and relocated to NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1961, he became Assistant Director for Apollo Spacecraft Development for the Spacecraft and Flight Missions Office. From 1963 to 1965, he was the Director of the Apollo Test for the Apollo Program Office. He was appointed Deputy Director of Skylab in 1965 and played an important role in the development of that program. In 1974 he became the Director of Advanced Programs, Manned Space Flight and held this post until his retirement from NASA in 1980.
Disher also made notable achievements independent of NACA and NASA. In 1969, he graduated from the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program. From 1948-1987, he served on the Technical Committee of the Indianapolis 500 Automobile Race.
After his retirement from NASA, he became an aerospace consultant and formed his own company, Avanti Systems. Avanti Systems’ clients included the Italian government, Boeing Aerospace, and the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment. From 1986 until his death in 1988, Disher served on the University of North Dakota School of Engineering and Mines Advisory Council. He was a member of the International Academy of Astronauts and a fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.
Disher received many honors, including the NASA Sustained Superior Performance Award for Apollo Test Program Management (1964), the NASA Exceptional Service Medal (1969), the Collier Trophy, a Skylab Program Award (1973), the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for the Skylab Program (1974), the American Astronautical Society Achievement Award for Skylab (1974), the University of North Dakota Sioux Award for Outstanding Achievement (1974), the American Astronautical Society Achievement Award for Skylab (1974), and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal for "Outstanding Achievement in Development of Advanced Space Systems and Innovative Concepts" (1980). In 1993, the University of North Dakota School of Engineering and Mines honored him posthumously with its Nye Award.
John Howard Disher died August 27, 1988, in Bethesda, Maryland. He was survived by his sons, James and John Thomas, and by his wife, Lillian Helen Rusnak Disher, whom he married in Cleveland, Ohio on April 9, 1948.
Source: "University of North Dakota School of Engineering and Mines Engineers Banquet, Thursday, March 4, 1993." [Pamphlet]
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