By Tim Harlow
Arthur Pejsa never had the desire to go to outer space, but his contributions to the aerospace industry allowed scores of astronauts to get there and back safely.
Pejsa headed the system design and analysis group for the Thor missile, the world’s first long-range inertial guidance system. He analyzed the control systems for the early Apollo missions. Later he designed the difficult re-entry guidance system for the space shuttle, which allowed the vehicle to return to earth in the form of an airplane.
“That was what he was most proud of,” said his wife, Jane, an award-winning historian of Minneapolis....
...After World War II, Pejsa graduated at the top of his class with a major in math and a minor in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1947. He spent the next eight years teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., before heading to the private sector.