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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: We were delighted to have Judith N. Bruner, fellow GRAA member and retiree late last year, speak at our November luncheon. She shared highlights and lessons learned from her esteemed careers with both the U.S. Navy and NASA. Judy was commissioned as a Naval Officer upon graduation from college in 1970 and was selected for flight training in 1972. Although she had been flying private planes since she was 16, it was not easy being among the first class of female Navy pilots, mainly due to the reaction of the establishment. She earned her wings (as the 2nd female Navy pilot) in 1974. Through her Navy career, she served in several squadrons and shore commands until retiring in 1998, starting in a weather squadron in Jacksonville, FL, where she flew through 16 hurricanes and many North Atlantic winter storms. When she came to Goddard, she was ready to handle the most challenging assignments throughout her NASA career. She tackled issues at Goddard’s main campus in Greenbelt, the Wallops Flight Facility in VA, and the Independent Verification & Validation Facility in WV. Judy’s last assignment prior to retiring was as Director of Safety & Mission Assurance. She shared her lessons learned from her naval aviator days and how they helped her at NASA. You can imagine how she learned the following lessons first hand: 1) Change is hard, so acknowledge it and keep focused; 2) It never hurts to ask questions; 3) Focus on priorities (especially if you are in the middle of a hurricane); 4) Safety is always the most important priority; 5) Keep an open perspective to the big picture; 6) Infrastructure is critical for mission success; 7) Safety is everyone’s responsibility – Live it; 8) Allow the right people to be engaged-they come up with the solutions; 9) Be open to the different ways to achieve success; and 10) Take care of your people. Judy’s closing thoughts were those, that while she was assigned daunting tasks that often seemed impossible to accomplish, she always felt fortunate to have been asked to do them and to work with such talented and passionate people. NASA has always done amazing things and achieves success by drawing on the diverse talent of its incredible employees.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from: Joseph Bredekamp, Joyce Cephas (in memory of Arnold Cephas), Richard Costa, Belle Davis (in memory of Martin Davis), Robert Defazio, Elizabeth Hoff (in memory of Harold Hoff), Thomas Kelsall, William Mack, Michael Mahoney, Ivan Mason, Patrick Melia, Sharon Rubin (in memory of Stanley Rubin), Thomas Toutsi, William Townsend, Vaughan Turner, Thomas Underwood, and Sandra Walter (in memory of Louis Walter). This reminder alerts you to the fact that only a few days remain to donate to GRAA which may be deducted from 2017 taxes.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN DECEMBER AND JANUARY:
December 6, 1998 – A Pegasus XL rocket launched Explorer 74/Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), CA, and was the third spacecraft in NASA’s Small Explorer Program. The SWAS was designed to study the composition and structure of interstellar clouds and planetary formation and its sole instrument was a telescope operating in the submillimeter wavelengths of far infrared and microwave radiation. The SWAS was initially scheduled to launch in June 1995, but was delayed due to several Pegasus XL rocket failures. SWAS was placed in hibernation on July 21, 2004, and was brought out of hibernation on June 1, 2005, to support the Deep Impact mission at comet 9P/Tempel and then was placed back in hibernation on September 1, 2005. Currently SWAS remains in Earth orbit on stand-by.
January 11, 1968 – A Delta rocket launched Explorer 36/Geodetic Earth Orbiting Satellite (GEOS-B) from VAFB, CA, and was the second satellite in NASA’s GEOS series. The end of data submission was July 1, 1982; however, the spacecraft remains in orbit.

THOUGHT FOR DECEMBER AND JANUARY: Ye Ed sent a photo of himself to the Lonely Hearts Club hoping to become a member. He now believes he has recovered enough to reveal members apparently voted and responded that they were not THAT lonely.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Edward W. Bisone, of Middletown, DE, passed away on September 5^th. He was an Electrical Engineer at Goddard for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from the late ’80s through the mid ’90s working on the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Project in the Flight Projects Directorate. When he returned to NOAA as Chief of GOES Spacecraft Engineering he was granted GRAA membership in return for all his collaborative work on the project.
• John E. Fuchs, of Salisbury, NC (formerly of Prince Frederick, MD), passed away on September 12^th. He came to Goddard in 1962 as a Microwave Technician in the Advanced Development Division in the Office of Tracking & Data Systems. In the ’70s he worked in the Network Engineering Division of the Networks Directorate and for most of the ’80s was assigned to the Laboratory for Atmospheric Sciences in the Applications Directorate. From 1990 until retiring in 1992 he was assigned to the Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes in the Earth Sciences Directorate. Upon retiring, he was employed by contractors and continued working for several years on microwave sensor technology.
• Yoji Kondo, of Columbia, MD, passed away on October 9th. He was an Astrophysicist who first came to Goddard in 1965 and was assigned to the Laboratory for Space Sciences in the Space Sciences Directorate. In 1968, fellow astronomer/astronaut Karl Henize recruited him to work at Johnson Space Center for 10 years. He then returned to Goddard in 1978 and worked for the Laboratory for Astronomy & Solar Physics in the Sciences Directorate (which was later changed to the Sciences & Exploration Directorate) until retiring in 2011 after serving a 46-year NASA career.
• Theodore P. Stecher, of Silver Spring, MD, passed away on October 29^th. He was an Astrophysicist who came to Goddard in the early ’60s and was assigned to the Space Sciences Division in the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications. In the ’70s he was assigned to the Laboratory for Optical Astronomy in the Space & Earth Sciences Directorate and in the ’80s and ’90s he was assigned to the Laboratory for Astronomy & Solar Physics until he retired.
• Leonard Rabb, of Hilton Head, SC, passed away on November 16^th. He became an Aeronautical Engineer right after WWII and went straight to work for NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at what later became the Lewis Research Center. In the early ’60s he came to work at Goddard and was first assigned to the Spacecraft Systems & Projects Division in the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications. Later in the ’60s he joined the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Project (OAO) in the Projects Directorate and spent 11 years successfully helping get OAO above the Earth’s atmosphere.
• Philip T Smith, of Orange City, FL (formerly of Alexandria, VA) passed away on October 16^th. He was a Payload Specialist at Goddard when he was hired in the early ’60s assigned to the Manned Flight Operations Division in the Office of Tracking & Data Systems (which later changed to the Manned Flight Support Directorate). In the ’70s he worked in the Network Facilities & Service Division of the Networks Directorate and in the ’80s was assigned to the Networks Operations Division in the Networks Directorate.
• Craig R. Tooley, of Greenbelt, MD, passed away on September 29^th. He was a Mechanical Engineer at Goddard and held several management positions since initially being employed on the Center in 1983, most recently as a Deputy Director in the Applied Engineering & Technology Directorate. Among numerous management positions, Craig served in the Flight Projects Directorate in 1996 and became Deputy Project Manager for the climate observation mission that eventually became DSCOVR and later helped develop procedures and train astronauts for the Hubble Space Telescope’s (HST) fourth servicing mission in 2002. He then headed HST’s Instrument Development Office, overseeing the development of instruments that were installed during the fifth and final servicing mission in 2009. He also served as Project Manager for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which successfully launched in 2009, and then transitioned into the same position for the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. Center management has hung a plaque on the wall of the MMS control room that officially changed its name in honor of Craig.