“When we get into trouble that’s when I get interested,” so said Kinzler after he saved the United States’ $2.5 billion space station following the loss of the thermal shield during its launch in 1973.

This passion for trouble-shooting led the technical services chief in NASA to create a parasol from four fishing rods which the crew aboard the Apollo erected on the station, protecting it from the sun’s searing temperatures. Each rod cost $12.95 a pop – you don’t need to be a genius to do the math.

While this might have been Kinzler’s most enduring legacy, it wasn’t his sole innovation in terms of space equipment. He is also part-responsible for possibly the most famous golf shot in the history of man, in fact the Universe.

In a covert operation to make lunar golf possible, he developed a collapsible golf club which astronaut Alan Shepherd secretly took aboard the Apollo 14 in 1971. It consisted of the head of a 6-iron and a lunar-sample scoop. While it wasn’t quite part of his mandate at NASA, it allowed Shepherd to hit two balls on the moon (the first of which he shanked!).

But perhaps his most tangible gift to US space exploration was the flagstaff Kinzler was charged with creating ahead of the 1969 moon landing.

Inspired by how his mother made curtain poles for their family home, Kinzler created a flagstaff worthy of flying a flag on the moon. His flawless design saw the US Stars ‘n’ Stripes held by a crossbar which remains permanently snapped to attention to this day.

Kinzler passed away last month at the age of 94. John Kelleher talks to Jonathan McCrea on Moncrieff about the life of NASA's Mr Fix It.