GRAA NEWSLETTER
P.O. Box 1184, Greenbelt, MD 20768-1184

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM RON BROWNING, GRAA PRESIDENT: A White House meeting preempted NASA Administrator Charles Bolden from being our guest at the June luncheon. Fortunately, Dennis Andrucyk, Goddard’s former Director of Applied Engineering and Technology and currently Deputy Associate Administrator of the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at NASA Headquarters graciously substituted for him. Dennis provided an overview of technology activities ongoing within NASA to further new space and human exploration missions. Approximately $600 million of NASA’s FY 2016 $18 billion budget is for technology programs. with the focus on needs to place humans on Mars. He showed images of recent test hardware to develop techniques for decelerating a Mars landing vehicle weighing 20 metric tons. To date, the object with the greatest mass that has landed successfully on the planet was the Mars Science Laboratory, which weighed one metric ton. Other technology pursuits are: GPS-like devices which use neutron stars for guidance; 3-D printers that can produce parts using Mars regolith or waste debris; large spacecraft solar sails; precise atomic clocks; and solar electric and composite rocket fuel tanks. STMD also partners with universities to inspire the next generation of technologists. Dennis’ enthusiasm in explaining how technology is definitely the key to NASA’s future quickly abated any disappointment of Mr. Bolden’s not being able to attend the luncheon due to the aforementioned White House meeting.

GODDARD’S CENTER DIRECTOR RECEIVES HONORARY DOCTORATE : Center Director Christopher Scolese was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the State University of New York (SUNY) during a University at Buffalo (UB) commencement ceremony held on May 17th. UB is one of 64 geographically-dispersed institutions of public higher learning that comprise the SUNY system and from which he received his BS in Electrical Engineering in 1978.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible contributions from the following: Joseph Arlauskas, David Douds, Walter Gates, Elbert Jones, Robert Langley, John Millman, Howard Ottenstein, and John Purcell (in memory of Clifford Cobb and Edward Fern).

RECENT RETIREES: Jeffrey F. Ferrara, Timothy P. McCain, Bradford H. Parker, Alan J. Posey, Allan J. Tylka, and Ji-Wei Wu.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES - IT HAPPENED IN JULY: On July 2, 1965, a Delta rocket launched TIROS-10 (Television and Infrared Observation Satellite) from Cape Canaveral, FL. The satellite was a sun-synchronous meteorological spacecraft designed to develop improved capabilities for obtaining and using TV cloud cover images from satellites and operated as an interim operational satellite. It had a reinforced base plate carrying most of the subsystems and a cover assembly. A single antenna for reception of ground commands extended from the top of the cover assembly. A pair of telemetry antennas projected down and diagonally out from the base plate. The satellite was equipped with two identical wide-angle TV cameras for taking Earth cloud cover images which could be transmitted directly to either of two ground receiving stations or stored in an onboard tape recorder if the spacecraft was beyond communication range of a station. The deactivation date of TIROS-10 is debatable, as one NASA website indicates July 31, 1966, and another indicates it was deactivated on the same date as TIROS-8 on July 1, 1967.

THOUGHT FOR JULY: Wouldn’t it be great if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ten minutes and come out wrinkle-free and three sizes smaller?

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Faye T. Aukerman of Arab, AL, passed away on March 3^rd. She was an Accountant at Marshall Space Flight Center for most of her 24-year NASA career, but did spend a stint at Goddard in the early 1980’s working in the General Ledger and Accounting Operations Sections that were then part of the Management Operations Directorate.
• Evelyn J. Baumann of Cocoa Beach, FL (formerly of Annapolis and Seabrook, MD) passed away on May 21^st. She was the widow of one of Goddard’s pioneers, Robert “Bob” C. Baumann, who passed away in 1997 one day after retiring as the Director of Flight Assurance. While not a Goddard employee, Evelyn was well known by the Goddard family and a gracious cook and hostess, especially to the many scientists and engineers Bob would bring home with him on the spur-of-the-moment for dinner during times when he was managing international space projects. In addition to raising five children, Evelyn spent her career as an Employee Relations Specialist with the Agricultural Research Service until her retirement in 1995.
• Michele “Mickey” L. Garrett of Gambrills, MD, passed away on June 8^th. Starting at Goddard soon after graduating from high school, her career at Goddard spanned 34 years, starting as a Secretary in the Procurement Division of the Office of Administration to becoming Head of the Small Purchases Section of the Construction/Purchasing Procurement Branch in the Institutional Procurement Division of the Management Operations Directorate.
• Angelita C. Kelly of Bowie, MD, passed away on June 7^th. She was a Physicist/Computer Scientist at Goddard whose many varied assignments during her career of 30+ years included being Project Manager of the Shuttle/Spacelab Data Processing Facility in the Mission Operations & Data Operations Directorate, Morning and Afternoon Earth Observing System (EOS) Constellation Team Manager and the first woman to become a Mission Operations Manager.
• Vuk Peric of Anacortes, WA, passed away on February 23^rd. He was an Electrical Engineer at Goddard who worked in the Systems Review Office in the Systems Reliability Directorate and later in the Product Assurance Division of the Office of Flight Assurance.
• Henry W. Price, Jr. of Northampton, MA (formerly of Cocoa Beach, FL), passed away on December 12, 2014. He was a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland and consultant to Goddard in control systems before accepting a full-time position in the early 1960’s in the Spacecraft Systems & Projects Division of the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications. He was later Associate Chief of the Earth Observations Systems & Systems Engineering Division of the Space Applications Directorate and later still as Chief Engineer of the Engineering Directorate.
• Milton L. Sing of Temple Hills, MD, passed away on May 19^th. He was an Engineer at Goddard who specialized in instrumentation used in space research. He worked in the Laboratory for Atmospheric & Biological Sciences of the Space Sciences Directorate, and later in the Atmosphere Explorer Project and the Explorer & Attached Payloads Project in the Flight Projects Directorate.
• Carl M. Wagenfuehrer of Lanham, MD, passed away on June 7^th. He was Head of the Business Management Branch in the Engineering Directorate, later in the Systems, Technology and Advanced Concepts Business Office of the Flights Projects Directorate, and later still in the Earth Science Technology Office and Technology Planning & Integration Office of the Flight Projects Directorate.
• John R. Volpe of Arnold, MD (formerly of Lanham, MD), passed away on June 21^st. He was a Plumber at Goddard.

CONSIDER MAKING A DONATION TO GRAA: Twice each year Ye Ed asks members to consider making a tax-deductible donation to GRAA. If you haven’t contributed in a while, this is an ideal time to help the GRAA treasury remain financially-viable. Keep GRAA in your thoughts by sending a check soon to GRAA, P.O. Box 1184, Greenbelt, MD 20768-1184.