Fletcher Brooks Moore passed away on April 9, 2024, in Huntsville, Alabama. A funeral service will be held at the Heiberger Methodist Church in Heiberger, Alabama, on April 27, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. with interment to follow in Heiberger Cemetery with Kirk Funeral Home of Marion directing.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held on May 11, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville, Alabama, with visitation starting at 1:00 p.m.
Brooks was preceded in death by his wife, Marian Foreman Moore. Brooks is survived by his sons, Larry Moore and wife, Annette, and Ron Moore and wife, Ann; grandchildren, Matthew, Michael (Mackenzie), Callie and Brooks and great grandson Grady.
Brooks Moore was born on June 15, 1926, and raised in Heiberger, Perry County, Alabama where he graduated from Perry County High School in 1944. After graduating high school, he was selected to serve in the Naval Officer’s Training School and graduated at the Officer Grade Level of Midshipman. He served for two years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, followed by 10 years service as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. In 1946, he entered Auburn University where he received a B.S. Degree in Electrical Engineering and subsequently a M.S. Degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech.
After graduating from Georgia Tech he began his professional career at the Navy Research Laboratory in Panama City, Florida, developing mine and torpedo counter-measure defense systems.
In 1952, Brooks joined the Army’s Rocket Development Team under the direction of space pioneer Dr. Wernher von Braun at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. He directed the design of the control systems of the Army’s Redstone, Jupiter C, Jupiter, and Pershing missile systems as well as the launch vehicle for the first U.S. satellite Explorer 1.
In 1960, when Marshall Space Flight Center was created as an element of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) he transferred with Dr. von Braun’s team to become a charter member of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and became the Director of the Guidance and Control Division. He directed the design of the guidance, control, and computer systems for the Saturn 5 Manned Moon Landing Launch Vehicle as well as the Saturn 1 and 1B. In 1967 he was promoted to the position of Director of the Astrionics Laboratory. His responsibilities would expand to include all the guidance, control, electrical, electronic, computing, sensing and communication systems of the Saturn V, the electronic and control systems of the Skylab, the Space Shuttle Launch vehicle, and the Hubble Space Telescope.
Brooks retired from NASA in 1981, but continued to be active in support of our nation’s space program through his involvement as a part of the aerospace industrial community in Huntsville, including being President of Control Dynamics Company for many years. He also worked for BD Systems, Inc., Logicon, Inc., SASIC, Leidos, and Teledyne Brown. He is a past president of the Marshall Retiree Association and served on the Board of Directors. He also served as a volunteer NASA Emeritus Host at the United States Space and Rocket Center.
Brooks received many NASA awards throughout the years, including the NASA Medal for Exceptional Service (Lunar Landing), NASA Saturn V Achievement Award, NASA Skylab Achievement Award, MSFC Apollo-Soyuz Achievement Award, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the NASA Hubble Telescope Award.
Brooks loved all things Auburn and was very involved in the Auburn University Engineering Department. He served on the Alumni Engineering Council and the Research Advisory Board. He was personally involved in the establishment of the Brooks and Marian Moore Endowed Scholarship at Auburn University encouraging local students to pursue a degree in engineering. He received numerous Auburn Awards over the years, including EE Dept. Outstanding Alumni Award, Auburn Engineering Superior Service Award, Auburn Legislative Committee Special Service Award, Algernon Syndey Sullivan Award, Distinguished Auburn Engineer, and Auburn’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Throughout his life Brooks also received other engineering awards including being an Inductee in the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame, an Inductee in the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame, the Astronautics Engineer Award, and the National Space Club.
While working for the Navy in the early 1950s, Brooks met Margaret Marian Foreman, the girl who was later to become his wife. They met through their participation in the choir at First Methodist Church in Panama City, Florida. Brooks and Marian were married on September 5, 1954, at the church where they had first met. Brooks and Marian were blessed with wonderful singing voices and were often asked to sing solos or duets at the marriage ceremonies of their friends and family throughout the years.
Being an active member of the Methodist Church at a very early age, and upon moving to Huntsville in 1952 and noticing there was not a local Methodist Church, Brooks and Marian joined several young couples and initiated the effort to establish a new Methodist Church in Huntsville, Alabama. Their efforts led to building what is now known as the Trinity United Methodist Church. Brooks was active in the laity of the Methodist Northeast Alabama District. In the 1980s-1990s, he served four years as Associate District Lay Leader followed by eight years as Lay Leader.
Brooks was considered the patriarch of his extended family which included up to 150 “cousins” who meet annually for a family reunion on July 4th in Heiberger, Alabama and have done so for over 100 years. Brooks loved his family and the example he set of what a good, kind, wise, hard-working, family-first man of God should be and was cherished by all who knew him. Brooks was truly a remarkable, rare, legend of a man. “Love of God, love of family, and love of Country” was his mantra and they were the words he lived by. Despite his accomplishments he always remained humble, and he was a prime example of a true Southern gentleman.
The family would like to extend a special thank you to the wonderful caretakers at Lilly’s Springs Home for their devotion and care for Brooks over the past eighteen months.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to the Brooks and Marian Moore Endowed Scholarship Fund at Auburn University, Heiberger Methodist Church in Heiberger, Alabama, Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville, or the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.
