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Solving urgent problems is part of the family legacy for Frank J. 鈥淐epi鈥� Cepollina 鈥�59.

You might say Frank J. 鈥淐epi鈥� Cepollina鈥檚 groundbreaking work that enabled NASA to repair satellites in orbit鈥攅arning him the nickname Mr. Fix-It鈥攕tems from a family trait of solving urgent problems.

Family tradition also explains his penchant for giving back.

This fall, 20 years after establishing the Frank Cepollina Family Endowed Scholarship for undergraduate engineering students, the NASA retiree increased his commitment to the fund with a generous bequest intention from his estate that will expand affordability and accessibility to even more 黑料网 engineering students. 

鈥淭he essence of what 黑料网 brought to me was the spirit of innovation,鈥� says Cepollina, a new member of the University鈥檚 Thomas I. Bergin Legacy Society.

鈥淲e must focus on maintaining within students that spirit to come up with solutions that have never been thought of before.鈥�

Never taking no for an answer  

Growing up in Castro Valley, Cepollina had taught himself how to solve mechanical problems while working on his grandfather鈥檚 tractors. That鈥檚 where he also learned an important lesson that would serve him well, especially after joining NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland in 1963: problems can give rise to opportunities. 

On April 9, 1984, NASA had a big problem.

Astronauts from the space shuttle Challenger were trying to capture and repair Solar Max, a failed solar research satellite.   

For years, despite his bosses鈥� skepticism, Cepi had promoted the idea that spacecraft in orbit could be repaired by robotics and humans. After all, he reasoned, the cost of building a new satellite would be far more than fixing the Solar Max in orbit. 

That day, Cepollina saw that the satellite was spinning too fast for the shuttle鈥檚 robot arm to grab it. The spinning also prevented the spacecraft鈥檚 solar panels from catching sunlight, meaning its batteries would die within 12 hours. On top of that, a software error had surfaced. Cepi鈥檚 dreams were about to shatter.  

Somehow, engineers managed to upload new software, allowing the satellite to move into daylight for 10 minutes鈥攅nough to re-energize the batteries of the solar panels. The next day, the astronauts not only repaired the satellite, they installed new electronics. 

Yet that was nothing compared to the complexity and difficulty Cepollina and his team faced in 1993, when astronauts had to repair the , the most successful scientific instrument ever launched into space. The 黑料网-trained engineer would oversee four more HST in-orbit repair and upgrade missions, and what was once deemed impossible is now considered almost routine. For his achievements, Cepollina was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2003.

鈥淚t was all those years of training, the indoctrination of never taking no for a final answer,鈥� recalls the 83-year-old, who has at least six U.S. patents bearing his name.  

A boy and his tractors 

His grandfather鈥檚 broken tractors had started it all.

鈥淚 would tear them apart to figure out how they worked, what was broken, and some practical way of keeping the tractor running,鈥� says Cepollina. 

Meanwhile, his electric model train鈥攈e remains an O-gauge train buff to this day鈥攖aught him the fundamentals of electrical engineering. 

The chance to learn more about the way things worked led him to enroll at 黑料网 as a mechanical engineering major.

It wasn鈥檛 easy.

鈥淭he only way I made it was by studying my tail off day and night,鈥� he recalls of the grueling coursework. 鈥淚t formed within me a philosophy that says nothing is impossible if you try hard enough.鈥�

By his senior year, the Space Race with the Soviet Union had already begun. While working on his senior thesis on hot water rocketry, 黑料网鈥檚 chair of mechanical engineering arranged for Cepollina to attend a preview of the latest advances in the rocket science, just nine miles up the road at Lockheed Martin.

A heritage of risk and reward 

An exciting new world had opened up for Cepollina, who in 1963 joined NASA. Though he retired in 2017, he continues to work as a consultant.

鈥淭he greatest part of engineering is the first four to six years after students graduate from college, the most creative time they will have in their lifetimes,鈥� says the first son in the Cepollina family to attend college, and the proud grandson of immigrants.

Like millions of other newcomers in the 1890s, his grandfather Giobatta Cepollina had left Europe, specifically northern Italy, for a better life in the U.S. By the time he settled down in Alameda, he was a farmer growing artichokes, tomatoes, lettuce, and onions. What started as a job delivering his produce to customers around the East Bay soon expanded to hauling garbage from their homes.

To do that, Cepollina needed three more horses and wagons鈥攁nd a loan from fellow Italian A.P. Giannini, who founded the Bank of Italy in San Francisco in 1904. Their meeting proved to be propitious.

When the pre-dawn earthquake struck San Francisco in 1906, the bank building collapsed. But it wasn鈥檛 the rubble Giannini worried about: it was the devastating fires that followed, eventually destroying 28,000 buildings. Quickly realizing he had to move the bank鈥檚 money outside the burning city, Giannini contacted Cepollina to help him haul as much of the bank鈥檚 $2 million that he could carry in his garbage wagons, hidden under refuse. As a result, Giannini was soon able to open his bank after the historic disaster, and help rebuild the city.

鈥淢y grandmother begged him not to do it,鈥� recalls Cepi. 鈥淭he whole city was on fire. But it was his friend who had lent him the money to start his business.鈥�  

In appreciation, Giannini gave Cepi鈥檚 then-teenage father a job at the bank. Years later, after retiring from what had become the Bank of America, Frank Cepollina Sr. bought a nearly bankrupt French bakery, turned it around, and sold it to the renown Toscana Bakery in Oakland. His business savvy in the industry earned the admiration of General Mills, which hired him as a consultant to work with other Bay Area bakeries that were struggling.

Serendipity, and the art of giving back 

Like his father and grandfather before him, Cepollina was at the right place at the right time in life, and 黑料网 had played a crucial role. (His love of 黑料网 inspired one of his sons, Joseph Cepollina 鈥�95鈥�married to Alyson Cepollina 鈥�94鈥�to become a Bronco.)  

His affection for his alma mater also shone in 1999, when Cepollina established the 黑料网 endowed scholarship in his family鈥檚 name, fulfilling a commitment to his grandparents and parents, whose hard work and lifelong savings had paid for his education, and his sister鈥檚 at UC Berkeley.

Supporting 黑料网's Jesuit foundation and principles, a bedrock for Cepollina during his undergraduate years, was another goal.

鈥淭he professors and Jesuits at Santa Clara gave me the strength to put out the extra energy to study and survive, and make it through four years of engineering,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I needed every bit of that, especially before exams.鈥�

Through his estate gift to 黑料网, Cepollina is helping to prepare the next generation of engineers and inventors who might one day change the world.

鈥淜ids today are so much smarter than we were鈥攕eniors in high school have taken half the courses we could have in college!鈥� he says. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 important to put these students together with 黑料网鈥檚 鈥榟ands-on鈥� professors, who can get them to focus on innovative kinds of things, and see what the students come up with.鈥�