The Harry A. Cronk collection, 1957-1990 primarily documents Cronk's career with Pan American World Airways, or Pan Am, and NASA, supporting national defense and manned spaceflight during the height of the space race between 1950 and 1970. Materials consist of certificates, ephemera, photographs, publications, reports, and a hard hat. This collection is useful to historical research into Harry Cronk, Pan Am, and NASA projects. Harry Alden Cronk was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1922 and died in Merritt Island, Florida in 2004. He enlisted in the United States Army during World War II, earned a mechanical engineering degree from Georgia Tech, and served in the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1950, Cronk married Mary Jane Brewer and worked for Bendix in a defense contractor position. In 1957, he began to work for Armco steel before moving to Merritt Island, Florida, accepting a job with Pan American World Airways in 1960. Cronk became Chief Staff Engineer in 1962. Pan Am, and Cronk, directly supported the Apollo 11 mission that achieved the moon landing on July 20th, 1969. He also contributed to the Skylab missions and the first international manned space mission in 1975. He retired from Johnson Controls in 1990. He later passed away in 2004.
