Norman Shyken was born in 1932 in Omaha Nebraska. His parents were Ethel Novoselsky Shyken and Jake Shyken. He attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Following graduation, he joined McDonnell Douglas in 1960, working as a senior design engineer, joining the astronaut team in 1966. Called to active duty, he trained as a pilot and participated in the Berlin airlift in 1961-62. He was a commentator on television several times in 1964-65, explaining various aspects of space flight. the last year of the Gemini manned flights which paved the way for the Apollo mission to the moon. He was not selected for space flight at that time, but continued to work on the Gemini program until its completion in 1966. He served as project coordinator for the Gemini Extravehicular program. Extravehicular activities (EVA) were space walks. The Gemini phase EVA program helped NASA gain valuable expertise in extravehicular activity, which proved valuable in future missions. The EVA developers noted that simulating conditions in space was a difficult challenge, and that underwater testing proved to be the most realistic weightless environment. EVA allowed for interesting photography of space from outside the spacecraft. In 1966, Shyken was assigned to work in Washington D.C., and then to Israel from 1968 to 1972. He returned in 1972 to the St. Louis in the U.S., where he worked and lived until his death in 1978.<ref name=":0" />
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