This week we visit Michigan! The Great Lakes State—famous for being a center of automobile manufacturing—was also an important hub of aircraft production during World War II. The Ford Motor Company built B-24 Liberators at their Willow Run plant, producing a bomber every hour at its peak in 1944. On the space side, the Michigan Ordnance Missile Plant was a production site for Redstone rockets. The state is also the home of 13 astronauts, including Christina Koch, who was part of the Artemis II crew and became the first woman to leave Earth orbit.
To learn more, please visit these websites:
Roger B. Chaffee
Gregory Jarvis
Christina Koch
The Chrysler Foundation
Willow Run Bomber Plant
Henry Ford Museum
Michigan Flight Museum
Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Museum
The Mitchell Institute is a supporting partner of America250
This episode was brought to you by:
Hosts
Heather PenneyDirector of Studies and Research, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
Charles GalbreathDirector and Senior Resident Fellow for Spacepower Studies, The Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence
Doug BirkeyExecutive Director, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace StudiesCredits
Producer
Shane Thin
Executive Producer
Doug Birkey