Colin Cantwell, Designer of ‘Star Wars’ Iconic Starships, Dies at 90

thewrap.com:

A graduate of UCLA with an animation degree, Cantwell spent much of the 60s and 70s with his mind in space, working on both real-life NASA projects exploring the final frontier and sci-fi imaginings of what might be out there.

Before entering Hollywood, Cantwell got a job at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, using his animation skills to help create educational programs to explain the Apollo missions to the public.

This work caught the attention of CBS News, leading Cantwell to get a job as a liaison between NASA and the famed newsman Walter Cronkite during the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.

As the landing was broadcast to the nation, Cantwell relayed and interpreted the communications between the Apollo 11 astronauts and mission control, providing Cronkite the information that he shared with millions watching on television. “Halfway through the final descent, I alerted Walter to my detection of an orbit change that would consume more fuel, but allow coasting a little further than the planned target,” Cantwell wrote in a 2016 Reddit AMA. “When the other TV stations had the ships landed according to their NASA manual, I determined that the the Apollo had not yet landed.