Eric Haschal Hyde passed away in his home on Friday, August 16, 2024. Eric is survived by his wife of 16 years, Eleanor Hyde, of Huntsville, AL, and by his brother, Robert Dean Hyde, of Gulfport, MS. He was preceded in death by his older brother, Walter Brame Hyde, Jr., his mother, Minnie Mae Cockrell Hyde, and his father, Walter Brame Hyde.
Through the years, Eric cultivated numerous, deep relationships with friends and family including his cousin, Ann Cockrell Spaziani, Frank Swalley, Bill Odem, Dwight England, Dr. Robert Chappell Jr., George Payne, and Anthony, Karen and Alexander Kelley, who all will miss him terribly.
Eric Haschal Hyde was born September 8, 1938, in his family home in Stringer, MS. He graduated as Salutatorian from Stringer High School in 1956. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mississippi State University. He immediately started his first job with the United States Air Force in Mobile, AL, where he worked on fighter jet overhauls and maintenance. In May of 1962, he accepted an offer to transfer to the Propulsion and Vehicle Laboratory at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, where he worked until retiring in December 2021. During his 60 years of government service, Eric worked at all levels of NASA management and applied his extensive engineering knowledge and expertise to solve numerous technical issues, to address program and project concerns, and to support administrative functions, such as being the MSFC Export Control Administrator for 10 years.
Eric’s engineering accomplishments include creating a solution that stabilizes superheated gaseous oxygen over sub-cooled liquid oxygen, resolving engineering issues with an active POGO suppressor to make it functional, leading an agency level program to develop one of the lowest mass thermal conductivity insulation systems (leading to flight-worthy multi-layer insulation systems), serving as Chief Engineer over the development of a high tonnage per day ‘Slush Hydrogen’ production facility, and developing the test fixture and data required to set the interface specifications on the Saturn V rocket instrument control unit. In 2000, he started developing the Launch and Space Systems e-library (LaSSe). LaSSe is an extensive, searchable database of NASA technical publications, drawings, engineering data, etc., much of it from the decades prior to computers. LaSSe is still in use at all levels of the agency to this day. As a result of his eagerness to help others and to solve problems, Eric received numerous awards, including a 60-year NASA Service Award, a Shuttle flag flown on the first shuttle mission “Columbia” STS-1, presented to him by astronauts John Young and Bob Crippen, and an Exceptional Service medal for NASA engineering knowledge capture via LaSSe database in 2011. In addition, he was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame in 1996 for development of radiant barriers (insulation systems) and received a written commendation from President Gerald Ford in 1976 for “work improving government processes…an example for others to follow.”
Through the years, Eric had many hobbies. He extensively studied the American Civil War and enjoyed telling detailed stories about the lives, campaigns, victories, and defeats of its major leaders and generals that were accurate in location and date. He studied the Holy Bible and asked many thoughtful questions leading to numerous, deep discussions with many people. He extensively studied his family genealogy and recovered incredible documentation leading back many generations. He was a collector of special cars, for example, at one time he owned seven or eight “matching numbers” 1967-1972 Ford Mustangs. He knew every part on every car and was a master class mechanic, able to diagnose automotive issues with nothing but a description of the symptoms. He was a unique gem of an engineer, historian, car-lover, and friend and he will be sorely missed by those who love him.
Eric’s celebration of life will occur on Saturday, August 24, 2024, from 2:00 till 4:00 p.m. CDT at Laughlin Service Funeral Home, 2320 Bob Wallace Ave SW, Huntsville, AL, 35805. A private burial will occur at a later date, where he will be laid in his final resting place in Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, AL.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the charity of your choice.
