Bill Tindall

Howard “Bill” Tindall was born February 20th, 1925. he graduated from Brown University in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science and worked at the Langley Research Center with the National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics on wind tunnel instrumentation. He later became the Chief of Apollo Data Priority Coordination for NASA during the Apollo missions—best known for his snarky and humorous “Tindallgrams.”

Tindall worked on Project Echo and entered into the world of orbital mechanics and rendezvous. This knowledge allowed him to work on Projects Mercury and Gemini. It culminated in his appointment to Chief of Apollo Data Priority Coordination, a position that allowed him to be heavily involved in mission planning. He was straightforward with his memos about MIT’s software and in meetings with the Instrumentation Lab team. Tindall was also an honorary flight director for NASA through the Apollo program. He retired from NASA in 1979.