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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our February speaker was Holly McIntyre-DeWitt, Goddard’s first Archivist. Her presentation, entitled “Introducing the Goddard Archives,” defined her role in collecting Goddard’s records, preserving its legacy, and answering the question, “What do we archive?” When Holly came to Goddard in 2015 after spending ten years at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, MD, she inherited a jam-packed closet with papers and documents of all kinds. Her first year was spent assessing, sorting, categorizing, and making an electronic index for the entire historic collection. Her charter was to collect, preserve and provide access to the materials that could tell the history and legacy of Goddard and its scientists and engineers. Accurate records were never kept at Goddard, so she didn’t know what was missing from the collection. For example, Goddard technical reports (known better as X-documents in the past) containing many unpublished project results, were never retained. In her second year, she and her small team are creating a digital storage system to preserve center databases of flight projects, some of which last 30 years or more. By law, the very high level formal records, usually in the form of original memos or documents, of federal agencies are kept at NARA, but the information necessary to preserve the legacy of Goddard and its people is found in the lower level personal records and photographs of current and past employees, To that end, Holly is facilitating collaborations and fostering the relationships that she hopes will provide the evidence that will define Goddard’s history and legacy. And while doing that, she hopes to make this information easily accessible by redesigning the archive website and making a searchable online catalog for interested users for years to come. Holly has not only been appraising on-center materials, but has also visited employees or ex-employers homes to assess personal collections that might have historical significance. So if members have photos or documents that you think might be a part of Goddard’s history or legacy, you may contact Holly via email at holly.a.mcintyre-dewitt@nasa.gov or by telephone at 301-286-6126. The guidelines for determining whether papers or photos are valuable is that they need to be historically significant, be identifiable, and have some order to keep the proper context. For example, a photo needs to have a date, project name, or the names of people in it. Holly is also interested in oral history accounts, either by interviewing members personally or by receiving a personal voice recording. Holly is hoping retirees let her know when interested in pursuing an oral history interview, but please do not drag your feet before it’s too late.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN MARCH: On March 5, 1978, Landsat 3, a modified version of the Nimbus satellite, was launched on a Delta rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), CA, with the primary goal of providing a global archive of satellite imagery. Its general mission objective was to extend the period of space data acquisition for Earth resources initiated by Landsat 1 (formerly Earth Resources Technology Satellite 1) and continued by Landsat 2. The near-polar orbiting spacecraft served as a stabilized, Earth-oriented platform for obtaining information on agricultural and forestry resources, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water resources, geography, cartography, environmental pollution, oceanography and marine resources, and meteorological phenomena. Unlike later Landsat satellites, Landsat 3 was managed solely by NASA. Designed for a lifespan of one year, Landsat 3 was placed in standby mode on March 31, 1983, and decommissioned on September 7, 1983.

56^th ROBERT H. GODDARD MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM : This year’s symposium, hosted by the American Astronautical Society, will occur from the evening of March 13^th through March 15^th. We will most likely provide resulting remarks in an upcoming newsletter.

THOUGHT FOR MARCH: Have you ever realized that “Dammit I’m Mad” spelled backwards is “Dammit I’m Mad?”

GRAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION: The election of the seven-member Board of Directors (BOD) is scheduled to occur at the GRAA Luncheon on April 10^th in advance of distribution of the 2018 Membership Directory later in the spring. All current members of the BOD (Tony Comberiate, Arlin Krueger, Jackie Gasch, Barbara Hamilton, Jan Kalshoven, Strat Laios, and Ron Muller) have opted to run for another two-year term; however, other interested members living within commuting distance of the Greenbelt campus may contact Newsletter Editor Dave Moulton to self-nominate themselves or nominate another member to be included on the ballot. Pass the name(s) along to Dave by calling him at 301-249-1783 or emailing him at davidlmoulton@comcast.net not later than March 20^th, the first day of spring.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Michael J. Berzonsky, of Gettysburg, PA, passed away on February 10^th. He was a Financial/Resources Manager at Goddard starting in the ’60s. Among varied assignments during his tenure, he worked in the Program Support Division of the Administration Management Directorate throughout the ’60s and ’70s. In the ’80s he was Deputy Project Manager for Resources (DPM/R) in the Solar Telescope Project and later moved to working in the Earth Science Mission Operations Project in the Mission Operations & Data Systems Directorate. Prior to retiring, he served as DPM/R of the Flight Telerobotic Servicer/Development Test Flight Project in the Flight Projects Directorate.
• Milton R. Cromer, of Clinton,, MD, passed away on February 3^rd. Through part of the ’80s through the late 2000s he worked in the Plant Operations & Maintenance Division (which later became part of the Facilities ManagementDivision (FMD) in the Management Operations Directorate. He was a Building Manager for part of his tenure, but the bulk of his service was with FMD’s Customer Service Office.
• Lloyd C. Payne, of Beltsville, MD, passed away on January 21^st. In the early ’80s he worked on the Emergency/Control Console and later in the Utilities Operations & Maintenance Branch of the Plant Operations & Maintenance Division in the Management Operations Directorate.
• Jack E. Pownell, of Bowie, MD, passed away on February 4^th. He was an Electrical Engineer at Goddard from the early ’60s to the early ’90s, first working in the Spacecraft Integration & Sounding Rocket Division of the Technology Directorate (which later changed to the Sounding Rocket Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate). Late in the ’80s he transferred to the Special Payloads Division of the Engineering Directorate.
• Kenneth F, Rehmann, of Bowie, MD, passed away on February 13^th. Among his varied assignments he worked in the ’70s in the Electronics Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate and in the early ’80s worked in the Instrument Division and later in the ’90s in the Electrical Engineering Division of the Engineering Directorate. In the late ’90s he was transferred to the Electrical Systems Center of the Applied Engineering & Technology Directorate (AETD) and prior to retiring in the late 2000s was transferred back to the Electrical Engineering Division of AETD.

GODDARD’S FLIGHT PROJECTS DIRECTORATE (FPD) OFFERS ITS ONLINE NEWSLETTER TO MEMBERS: Members may recall the November newsletter announced that FPD was starting to offer its online newsletter, “The Critical Path,” three times per year to members and promised to provide instructions in the Holiday newsletter for registering with FPD to have it sent to you. Unfortunately that didn’t occur, but here they are! For retirees who use email, send a request to Paula Wood at paula.l.wood@nasa.gov to be placed on distribution for future issues of “The Critical Path.” For retirees with no email access, contact Paula Wood at 301-286-9125 and request she send a copy of “The Critical Path” to your home address via regular mail.