Jerry C. Elliott

High Eagle, from the age of five, harbored interest in assisting astronauts to get to the moon. While supported by some members in his community, he was faced with opposition due to his race.[4] Elliott attended Linwood Elementary School, Taft Junior High School, and graduating from Classen High School.[5]

He was accepted into the University of Oklahoma at the age of 18. While in university, he faced a degree of culture shock, facing disrespect and misunderstandings towards him as a Native American.[6] He faced racial discrimination from his superiors, and was unable to pursue graduate studies due to the passing of his stepfather and an overall lack of funding. He then pursued a career in policing to pool the funds to further his graduate studies, successfully being able to land a career as a deputy sheriff in Norman, Oklahoma.[7] He received a degree in physics in 1966, being the Native American to obtain one.[8][6] While at work, he successfully sought a NASA application. His hiring at NASA wound up with him evading the Vietnam War draft.[7]

Elliott joined NASA in April 1966 as a flight mission operations engineer, serving at the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas.[9] He was Program Staff Engineer at the NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC during the Apollo-Soyuz Program.[10][6] He served as a Senior Technical Manager in the Management Integration Office of the Space Station's Program Office.[10][11] Elliott and his team provided ground support equipment and space hardware for Skylab, the United States' first space station.[6]

While at NASA, Elliott pushed for furthering telecommunications infrastructure between reservations. His work on the American Indian Telecommunications Satellite Demonstration Project linked the All-Indian Pueblo Council and the Crow Indian Reservation with the federal government at Washington, D.C. His testimony before congress culminated in the establishment in the First Americans Commission for Telecommunications (FACT).[12][6]

During the Apollo program he was the lead retrofire officer,[7] he was the only Native American person on the control team.[13] He served on the mission control team during Apollo 11's successful moon landing. Elliot played an instrumental role in computing the trajectory and successful recovery back to Earth during the events of Apollo 13. His efforts during the events of the disaster awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Richard Nixon[9] for his role in saving the lives of the three endangered astronauts.[4][14][15][16][17]

Elliot worked at NASA for a total of four decades, after being hired in his twenties. Some of Elliott's personal papers during the Apollo era are held at the Oklahoma History Center.[18][8]

Elliott is fluent in the English, Spanish, and Osage languages.[10] His name "High Eagle" was given to him when he turned 41, by tribal elders to honor his contributions to aeronautics.[6] Elliott cites his mother and Albert Einstein as his personal heroes. He enjoys playing the guitar and Indian flute.[19] His work in music has led to him performing in the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C.[9] He has also played roles on the film Houston, We've Got a Problem, where he played himself, along with an appearance on the television show Walker, Texas Ranger.[9][18]

In 1977, he was one of the founders of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, along with George Thomas, A.T. Anderson, and Carole Gardipe. The society pursues further Native American involvement in the sciences.[20][21] He is the founder and CEO of High Eagle Technologies, Inc. The company participates in Cancer research.[22]

• Cherokee Medal of Honor[9]
• Navajo Medal of Honor[23]
• Presidential Medal of Freedom