WHO IS STANLEY LEBAR?

Stan Lebar led the Westinghouse Electric Corporation team that developed the lunar camera that brought the TV news images of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon to more than 500 million people on earth. Two media milestones were reached: a world-record audience, and the first-ever live TV from another heavenly body.

Lebar came the Westinghouse Aerospace Division with a talent for motivating people and a background in electronic optics and circuitry, radar, microwave systems and antenna design. Lebar managed 75 Westinghouse engineers and technicians and more than 300 manufacturers for five years to develop the state-of-the-art lunar camera.

The team needed to shrink a 400-pound studio camera to a 7-pound hand-held unit that astronauts could simply point and shoot. A million dollars and scores of innovations later, a brand new camera was born. The Westinghouse team had to design, develop, manufacture, and test nearly every component -- from the camera tube to the cable connector. To do it, they pioneered integrated electronic TV circuitry.

There would be no Pulitzer Prizes for moon-landing coverage. This was TV’s event, all the way. On behalf of his Westinghouse team, Stan Lebar accepted the Emmy Award in 1970 from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, for "Outstanding Achievement in Coverage of a Special Event."

Lebar’s secret to success? He was adamant: More than anything, this camera had to be reliable. It was one of the few items aboard with no backup. If it hadn’t worked, the chance to unify the world — at least for a few moments — would have been lost.