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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our November luncheon speaker was Philip “Phil” Pressel, author and former longtime Optical Engineer at the Perkin-Elmer Corporation in Danbury, CT, responsible for designing the cameras for the KH-9 satellites, a now declassified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) project that launched 20 KH-9 satellites from 1971 to 1986. His presentation, entitled “The Hexagon KH-9 Spy Satellite: Its Importance to World Peace and How It Worked,” discussed the design and importance of the KH-9 satellites that helped keep the peace during the Cold War for 15 years. The Hexagon satellite system was an invaluable asset, which provided photographic intelligence information during the Cold War. The satellites supplied the data that supported President Nixon’s signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and were the basis of President Reagan’s “trust but verify” philosophy. The satellites used a complex camera system with 60 miles of photographic film, which was returned to Earth via four return vehicles. Film actually had better resolution than digital images, but had a delayed delivery time. Each spacecraft carried two 20-inch aperture cameras which were six feet long, 30 inches in diameter, and weighed 600 pounds.

Phil explained how the cameras worked in perfect synchronization with the incredible amount of fast-moving film (linearly and in rotation). This satellite system was and still is considered one of the most complicated satellites ever launched into orbit. It was also one of America’s best and most successful spy satellites. He showed photographs taken by the satellites of a number of Russian assets and even some US cities. The spacecrafts were launched on either Titan IID or Titan 34D rockets into elliptical orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB), CA.

Mr. Pressel appeared in 2016 on CNN in a documentary called “Declassified” about the Hexagon Program and has written a book that describes in detail how the system actually worked with accompanying drawings and photographs as well as a number of amazing events in the program’s history. One of those events that Phil described was how the Trieste underwater bathysphere was used, in great secrecy, to recover one of the film capsules that accidently sank in 16,400 feet of the Pacific Ocean when its parachute failed. The last remaining Hexagon satellite is on exhibit at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. For more information about this amazing story, see https://www.hexagonkh9.com.

Please plan to join us at our monthly luncheons in 2019 as we celebrate Goddard’s 60th Anniversary. We will have a host of interesting speakers, some memorable photos and videos, and, of course, an opportunity to see some of your colleagues from the first six decades. We look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from Robert Adams, William Bryant, Jr., James Costrell, Carroll Dudley, James Heppner, Eugene Humphrey, Paul Karpiscak, Lenoir Lewis, William Mack, Michael McCumber, Ralph Ryder (in memory of Alton D. “Buddy” Payne), Steven Smith, Wayne Sours, John Sudey, Jr., and Richard Weiss (in memory of James S. and Sally Burneskis).

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Raymond L. Granata, of Adelphi, MD, passed away on November 2^nd. After graduate school, he was hired by the Naval Research Lab where he was a pioneer in the nation’s first satellite tracking program. In July ’59, he was one of 200 scientists and engineers who transferred to Goddard once NASA was formed. Ray was first assigned to the Office of the Assistant Center Director in the Time Measurement Branch of the Tracking Systems Division. In ’65 the division changed its title to the Network Engineering & Operation Directorate, where he remained until ’72 when it changed titles again and he became an Assistant Branch Head in the Network Engineering Division of the Networks Directorate. In ’83, he was assigned to the Networks Operations Division of the same directorate until ’85, when its title changed again to the Mission Operations & Data Systems Directorate. In ’92, he moved to the Systems Management Office where he remained until retiring in 2000.

GODDARD PLANS 60TH ANNIVERSARY EVENTS DURING 2019: Deanna Trask and Robert Garner, of Goddard’s Office of Communications, attended the October GRAA Luncheon to provide attendees information about NASA’s 60th Anniversary. Events at Goddard in early 2019 include an All Hands meeting with the Center Director and an “Antiques Road Show” style event and on May 1^st (when the Center was named Goddard Space Flight Center), a Town Hall meeting and a GEWA Happy Hour at the Barney and Bea Rec Center will occur. Please keep in mind that GRAA itself is planning special anniversary luncheons in April and May 2019.

Volunteers are needed for a public open house on September 21^st. Retirees are invited to participate in these events. An oral history project is looking for stories from Goddard pioneers. Please contact Deanna Trask at her email address (deanna.m.trask@nasa.gov) for further information.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN DECEMBER AND JANUARY :
December 7, 2001 - The Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite was designed to study the physical and chemical processes acting within and upon the coupled mesosphere, lower-thermosphere system/ionosphere system. The spacecraft was launched on a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, CA. TIMED investigated a region that is difficult to study because it is too high for even the largest research balloons and still dense enough to quickly cause to decay from orbit. Originally proposed as a two-spacecraft mission, the project was re-scoped to a one-satellite mission due to budget constraints. TIMED was downsized to a core mission of four experiments six disciplinary investigations and mission management was moved to JHU-APL. The spacecraft has been on orbit 6200+ days since being launched, with science operations beginning 54 days after the launch.
January 30, 1969 - The International Satellite for Ionospheric Studies (ISIS A or ISIS 1) was launched on a Delta rocket from Vandenberg AFB, CA. ISIS 1 was an ionospheric observatory instrumented with a sweep- and fixed-frequency ionosondes, a VLF receiver, energetic and soft particle detectors, an ion mass spectrometer, an electronic probe, an electronic analyzer, a beacon transmitter, and a cosmic noise experiment. The sounder used two dipole antennas. NASA support of the ISIS operations was terminated on October 1, 1979. A significant amount of experimental data, however, was acquired after that date by the Canadian project team. ISIS 1 operations were terminated in Canada on March 9, 1984. The Radio Research Labs in Japan then requested and received permission to reactivate ISIS 1. Regular operations were started in Kashima, Japan, in early August 1984 and were deactivated effective January 24, 1990. A data restoration effort began in the late 1990s which successfully saved a considerable portion of the high-resolution data before the telemetry tapes were discarded.

RECENT RETIREES: Kim D. Cousler, Carmine F. Mattiello, Elizabeth A. Fortner, John J. Loiacono, John J. Pocius, C. Lynn Myers, Kristine R. April, Michael E. Triesky, Michael A. Solly, Joseph B. Gurman, and Catherine S. Mikkelsen.

THOUGHT FOR DECEMBER AND JANUARY: When seniors worry about continuing the aging process and would rather return to their youth, just think about algebra