The Space Shuttle represented a dramatic departure from the launch and space vehicles of the preceding Apollo era, with a new focus on routine access to low-Earth orbit, utilizing a high degree of reusability—and higher flight rates—to attempt to meet its many challenging goals. Russel E. Rhodes is a native of the state of Indiana, where he earned a BS in aeronautical engineering from Indiana Institute of Technology in 1958, and a senior member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for more than fifty-five years. He has been employed for more than fifty years at Kennedy Space Center.