Edward J. Grace

Ed Grace graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in electrical engineering, and from Northeastern University with a Master’s degree in electrical engineering.

Grace spent 10 years at the MIT Instrumentation/Draper Laboratory working on the Apollo program.  MIT had a contract with NASA to design and develop the Primary Guidance Navigation & Control System (PGNCS) used by both the Apollo Command and Lunar Modules.  The PGNCS included the Apollo Guidance Computer, which was the first computer based on silicon–integrated circuits.  His office was in Cambridge, Mass., but he would travel to Houston to be on-site at NASA’s Apollo Mission Control Operations Center during the Apollo flights.  He also was a member of the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Nixon on April 18, 1970.

In subsequent years, Grace founded several high-tech companies, one of which was acquired by Data General Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange corporation. Later, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Electronics Association (AEA).  The AEA, headquartered in Washington, DC, comprised 1,500 high-tech companies focused on industry lobbying.  During his five-year tenure on the AEA board, he worked with U.S. Senate and House of Representatives personnel on proposed legislation affecting the high-tech industry.

Grace moved to Naples, Florida in 2008.  He now lectures to schools, groups and organizations on space exploration and the Apollo 13 mission.  He also is active in the Astronauts Scholarship Foundation, which was founded by the original Mercury 7 astronauts.