Albert "Al" R. Lunde Boeing Space Collection

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: 2024-09-27

Content Description

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The Albert "Al" R. Lunde Boeing Space Collection documents the career of Albert Lunde as a test engineer with the Boeing Company’s Space Environmental Laboratories. The collection dates from 1955 to 2014 and provides insight into Lunde’s professional achievements in the field of aerospace while employed with Boeing from 1959 to 1995.

The collection consists of two binders of materials that Lunde collected throughout his employment with Boeing. Lunde created the binders, which functioned like scrapbooks, following his retirement in 1995. The binders consist of a mix of textual documents and photographs. These materials document Lunde’s work with Boeing’s Space Environmental Laboratories, Space Simulation Laboratory in Kent, Washington. In addition, the records illustrate Lunde’s affiliation and publications with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (IES).

The textual documents include a copy of a speech made at Lunde's retirement party, as well research papers, copies of published articles, technical reports, awards, certificates, correspondence, ephemera, clippings, and college transcripts. The remainder of the collection consists of 120 color photographs, seven black-and-white photographs, and two black-and-white transparency reproductions of photographic prints. The images depict the inside of the Space Simulation Laboratory, detailed views of the equipment, the high temperature structural tests that Lunde and his fellow lab engineers conducted on the Lunar Orbiter, Lunar Rover, Intelsat VII satellite, and the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) space launch system. In addition to the interior shots of the laboratory, there are images of the construction of Boeing’s Kent Space Center and views of its completion. There are also images of the lunar rover signed by Alan Bean and of the Space Shuttle signed by the STS-12 crew.

Dates

Creation: 1955-2014

Creator

Lunde, Albert "Al" Robert, 1937- (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research and is accessible in the Dahlberg Research Center by appointment. For more information contact us.

Conditions Governing Use

The Museum of Flight (TMOF) Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the archives and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from TMOF archives before any publication use. TMOF does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.

Biographical Note: Albert R. Lunde

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Albert R. Lunde was an engineer in the Space Environmental Laboratories with the Boeing Company’s Space Division from 1959-1996.

Albert "Al" Robert Lunde was born in Spokane, Washington on June 6, 1937, to Alice and Melvin Lunde. Albert Lunde attended North Central High School in Spokane. He was drafted during the Korean War, in 1955, and served in the Washington Air National Guard. It was during this time that he was also a student at Gonzaga University, where he earned his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in 1959. From 1960 to 1964, Lunde continued his education at the University of Washington where he received his graduate degree in mechanical engineering.

In 1959, Lunde began working for the Boeing Company’s Space Environmental Laboratories as a test engineer where he was tasked with planning and conducting fatigue tests of airframe structures and components. He later conducted high temperature structural tests and developed vacuum chambers to test the behavior particles under the unique conditions of no atmosphere. These tests laid the foundation for Lunde’s work on Boeing’s future space programs. By the mid-1960s, Lunde was the lead engineer of the Solar and Radiation Group with Boeing’s Space Simulation Laboratory in Kent, Washington where he worked on projects such as the Lunar Orbiter, Lunar Rover, Intelsat VII satellite, and the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) space launch system.

Lunde was a member of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (IES).

Albert Lunde married Gloria J. Albo on July 12, 1958, in Spokane. The two later divorced on April 27, 1979. Lunde then married Joann Marion Favro on November 30, 1979, in Reno, Nevada. Joann passed away on August 21, 1996. On February 1, 2003, Lunde married Barbara Marie Montressor in Federal Way, Washington. Lunde had five children.

As of 2024, Lunde was living in Puyallup, Washington.

Biographical note derived from donor information and records on Ancestry.com.

Full Extent

.4 Cubic Feet (1 5-inch letter size document box)

Language

English

Additional Description

Overview

The Albert "Al" R. Lunde Boeing Space Collection documents the career of Albert Lunde as a test engineer with the Boeing Company’s Space Division. The collection, which dates from 1955 to 2014, contains both visual materials and textual documents. These materials provide insight into Lunde’s career at Boeing and his achievements in the field of aerospace.

Separated Materials

The following items have been separated from the archival component of this collection and are kept in Objects storage:

3 plaques
1 framed set of Boeing Medallions
1 IUS-2 Titan-340 DSCS, 1982, patch
1 space shuttle in yellow star with blue background, patch
1 "Super Bird" patch
1 Marshall Space Flight Center Boeing employee badge, 1995
1 small silver and blue pin

Processing Information

The archivist disassembled two framed pieces with various photos and binders for preservation purposes but maintained the materials in original order.