Oliver, Fred

Financial and accounting consultant.

Fred Oliver attended the University of Cincinnati from 1960-1965. During those years, Oliver worked as a co-op student at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where he learned about electric thrusters for satellites. After graduating with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering in 1965, Oliver joined what was then the Air Force Aero Propulsion Laboratory in its Space Technology Branch. He managed contracts and conducted in-house work in the field of space maintenance before moving on to orbital structures. During this period, Oliver managed two of the Department of Defense’s extravehicular space experiments aboard Gemini and Skylab. Neither experiment was carried out due to the difficulty of conducting them while wearing space suits, and due to the Air Forces’ changing role in space which emphasized the use of satellites versus humans for information gathering. The hardware for one of the experiments, a space power tool for Gemini experiment D-016, is on display for viewing at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.