James Busby is a child of the space age. Born in 1954 in Long Beach, California, Aerospace has always played a major role in his life. The son of a Diesel Engineer and a Registered Nurse, whose aunt was a pilot and an uncle who was an engineer on the Saturn rockets for Douglas Aircraft. He became enamored with flying at the age of five and by the time he was ten he was writing to Gemini astronaut crews and reading mission reports. By the age of fifteen he was constructing kit models and mock up hardware, subscribing to Aviation week and Space Technology and teaching his classmates about the Apollo Lunar Missions.
Graduating from High School as the Skylab missions were launched, James entered college studying sciences and public affairs. In 1978 he and a few like-minded friends created the Organization to Support Space Exploration (O.S.S.E.) to heighten public awareness about space exploration. Under Mercury Astronaut Deke Slayton’s mentoring, O.S.S.E. was the first group to do historical recreations of the Apollo Moonwalks. In 1979 O.S.S.E. became involved with Rockwell International’s speakers Bureau in Downey, CA conducting public orientations. With James knowledge he soon became the master of ceremonies for the Open Houses and astronaut visits at the Plant.
After many years of volunteering and consulting for the California Museum of Science and Industry on the redesign of their Aerospace Museum, he was hired in 1984, where he was employed for 18 years. The museum became the first in the world to broadcast NASA’s live mission coverage; “A Busby Innovation”. The museum awarded James with an honorary degree of Doctor of Space Science Information in 1995.
In 1986, James and his O.S.S.E. team built a full-sized, operating Apollo Lunar Rover from Blueprints and plans James supplied. Actor, Director, and Producer Tom Hanks met James in 1997 and asked him to become a technical advisor for the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon”. Utilizing James’s vast technical knowledge, model collection, and documentation allowed the producers to create a historically accurate, Emmy winning series. James Busby appeared in a cameo role as one of the designers of the Lunar Module in the Apollo-9 episode “Spider”. He has assisted in other productions such as “Apollo-13”, “Race into Space”, and “Salvage One”.
James was employed by the Space Frontier Foundation as Director for Lunar Programs, and ran two International Lunar Conferences in Las Vegas. He is a frequent contributor to the Apogee Publishers “Mission Report” series, as well as an educational advisor and consultant for various other space related projects. He has been seen and heard on Los Angeles Television News and radio programs, as well as on the Discovery Channel.
James Busby has been awarded various honors from the Aerospace Community. His hobbies include writing, swimming, astronomy, plastic kit modeling and model rocketry.
