Captain Robert C. Truax (USN – Retired) passed away over the weekend. According to the notice on the AIAA website, “Capt. Robert C. Truax, past president of the American Rocket Society, organizer of the U.S. Naval Missile Test Center’s propulsion research laboratory at Point Mugu, Calif., and AIAA Honorary Fellow. Capt. Truax passed away in Vista, Calif., on September 17, 2010. He was 93.”
My good friend Jim Busby alerted me to his passing before any official news releases had been made. Jim has a lot of good things to say about Bob Truax, and had met the man on several occasions.
Truax was a heckuva a man. Not only a career Navy man, a graduate of the Naval Academy, WW2 veteran, he was also a pioneer in rocketry, inspired by Robert Goodard’s articles in Popular Mechanics.
Bob Truax lived a good, long, life, with a list achievements to match his career. Truax will live on in memory as one of the original Rocketmen. My thoughts and prays to the Captain’s family. I know he will be greatly missed.
