About
Lead by Norman Howard Casson, Apollo Spacecraft Checkout Group did their part to not only meet but beat the goals put forth by President John F. Kennedy, when he challenged our country to commit itself to the goal, before the end of the decade of the 1960s… to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth. Norman Casson played a significant role in meeting that goal.
SDASM Flightlines Express - February 2021 Issue
SDASM Black History Month - February 2021
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San Diego has one of the richest aviation heritages of any city in the world.
Convair, home of such famous aircraft as the B-24 Liberator and the PBY Catalina, was founded here.
Ryan Aeronautical, home of Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, was located here, and
North Island Naval Air Station is the birthplace of naval aviation.
The San Diego Air & Space Museum, is a major institution unique to the region and one of the preeminent aviation museums in the nation.
In 1986 the Museum became the first aero-themed museum to be accredited
by the American Association of Museums, and it is now a Smithsonian affiliate.
The California Legislature voted to declare the Museum
“California’s Official Air and Space Museum and Education Center”.
Because of San Diego’s contributions to aviation and aerospace history and technology, it is only fitting that the Museum is now recognized as one of the country’s premier aerospace museums.
This video was produced thru the collaborative efforts of
Katrina Pescador, SDASM Library & Archives Director, and
Steve Hicks, SDASM Volunteer, and personal friend of Norman Howard Casson
Under Katrina Pescador’s leadership since 2005, the Library & Archives has expanded well beyond its walls through a dramatic online presence. The card catalog was placed into an online library system, and then both Flickr.com and YouTube.com sites were launched to provide and highlight digitized images and films.
To date, over 305,000 images and films have been placed online, receiving over 40 million views each year.
We believe this is the largest online collection of its type in the world.
In 2013, the video you are about to see was filmed by Katrina Pescador’s team on-site at the Museum.
In 2014, the Museum was named one of the top eight museums in the world to use social media to spotlight its collection and was the only one of the eight dedicated to air and space history. Much of this growth has been made possible through Katrina Pescador’s efforts with almost forty volunteers, who contributed over 7,000 hours in 2014 alone.
Steve Hicks is a life-long San Diego resident, UCSD Cognitive Science alum, aerospace enthusiast, and personal friend of Mr. Norman Howard Casson, the subject of the following video. In August 2009, Steve had the extraordinary and serendipitous honor of introducing Mr. Casson to the SDASM. Steve has since assisted him in revisiting Apollo sites as well as capturing many of his oral histories. This led to the following presentation at the Museum attended by scores of people from Mr. Casson’s life.