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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: At our April luncheon, we continued to celebrate GSFC’s 60^th Anniversary by hosting members of the original Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Vanguard Project who were part of the team that formed GSFC in 1959. Vanguard II was the first meteorological satellite, leading the way to the NOAA satellites that are responsible for today’s 10-day weather forecasts and timely warnings of severe weather. We first introduced a number of our Vanguard Pioneers (including Andy Anderson, Bill Daniels, Ed Habib, Ron Muller, and Ken Stark) and later gave them a chance to speak about some of their Vanguard experiences.

Our featured speaker was Dr. Angelina Callahan, NRL Historian and a historian of technology whose presentation was entitled “The Proof is in the Prototyping – The Technical and Programmatic Vision of the Vanguard Era.” Her thesis is: Although prototypes are a valuable way to test new systems, their real value is in carving out resources and refining operations for follow on systems. This is exemplified in the tribulations at the beginning of America’s space programs.

The concept of an International Geophysical Year (IGY) was spawned in 1950 at a meeting of Lloyd Berkner, Sidney Chapman, and other prominent geophysicists at James Van Allen’s home in MD. The idea spread internationally to collect data using balloons, rockets, and yet to be developed Earth-orbiting satellites. The latter were in concept stage in the US military, but the Administration favored a civilian program allowing international cooperation. The Vanguard Program was started in 1955 to represent the US in the IGY (July 1957 – December 1958). An NRL proposal of a Vanguard launch vehicle using a Viking first stage with Aerobee and solid rockets as second and third stages was accepted. In addition to launch vehicle and satellite development, NRL had to prepare a launch facility, develop tracking and data collection systems, and write orbit propagation software. Vanguard test failures and the Soviet launch of Sputnik in October 1957 led the Administration to authorize use of an Army Redstone rocket to launch the Explorer I satellite on January 31, 1958. NRL followed with the successful launch of Vanguard I carrying a 6-inch spherical satellite on March 17, 1958. At the same time, work continued on the Vanguard II mission to carry the world’s first meteorological satellite, designed to image clouds from space.

Meanwhile, NASA was founded on October 1, 1958, and 157 employees of the Vanguard group, including the Minitrack network, data collection, orbit determination, and associated personnel were initially transferred to the new GSFC. The Vanguard development continued at GSFC as the forerunner of NASA’s TIROS, Nimbus, and EOS satellite programs and NOAA’s operational meteorological satellites.

Ron Muller presented some of his experiences of what is was like in 1957, when NRL was competing with the Army to respond to the President’s call to launch a non-military satellite with a scientific payload, built on V-2 and sounding rocket heritage. Vanguard II, launched on February 17, 1959, was a 20-inch diameter, 24-pound satellite designed to observe and record cloud cover.

Andy Anderson spoke of software used in 1955, which generated acquisition data. In 1956, he used the NAREC computer for trajectory analysis. In 1957, IBM opened a computer center in Washington, DC, for orbit computation. The same year, the Minitrack network was operational and was able to generate station look angles. The system was capable of tracking Sputnik 1, thus proving the viability of the ground system.

Ed Habib spoke about the folks who developed the infrastructure for satellite operations (including Minitrack), data collection, and orbit determination. He also mentioned amateur radio operators tracking Sputnik and feeding the data to the computing center in DC where the Vanguard team plotted the overpass data on a map and determined the actual Sputnik orbital elements, resulting in the news headline “Vanguard Computes Orbit of Russian Spacecraft.” Ed promised he’ll tell more stories later this year, perhaps in July.

GSFC’S ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM: Jessica Deibert of the Goddard Archives Office introduced the Archive’s Oral History program to preserve Goddard historical accounts by conducting interviews with GRAA members and other alumni. One-hour interviews are user-friendly meetings with members of the Archives team and are easily scheduled by simply contacting Holly McIntyre at holly.a.mcintyre@nasa.gov or 301-286-6126.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• William D. Carpenter, of Silver Spring, MD, passed away on February 8^th. He was hired as an Engineer at GSFC in the Data Systems Division of the Office of Tracking & Data Systems. In ’66, the office title was changed to the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate. He was assigned from ’67 to ’82 to the Information Processing Division, but the directorate title changed in ’72 to the Mission Operations & Data Operations Directorate. The organizational titles did not change again until after he retired in ’82.
• Joseph J. (Bud) Eck, of Bowie, MD, passed away on March 15^th. He was hired as an Engineer at GSFC in 1960 after serving six years in the Army and Air Force and graduating from college. He was initially assigned to the Space Data Acquisition Division in the Office of Tracking & Data Systems, but in ’63 the title of the division was changed to Information Processing Division and in ’72 the directorate title was changed to Mission Operations & Data Tracking Directorate of the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate. No other title changes occurred until after he retired in ’97.
• Michael F. (Mike) Roberts, of Plant City, FL, passed away on November 8^th of last year. He was hired as a civil servant at GSFC in 1971 and was first assigned to the Network Facilities & Services Division of the Networks Directorate. In ’74, the division title was changed to the Network Procedures & Evaluation Division., which did not change again until ’82, when it became the Network Operations Division. In ’85 he was transferred to the Special Payloads Division of the Engineering Directorate and then in ‘99 transferred to the Suborbital & Special Orbital Projects Directorate prior to retiring in 2002.
• Francis P. Russo, of Mechanicsburg, PA, passed away on February 26^th. He was an Electrical Engineer at GSFC and initially assigned to the Laboratory for Solar Physics of the Space & Earth Sciences Directorate in 1971, the title of which changed in ’74 to the Laboratory for Solar Physics & Astrophysics and then in ’77 changed again to the Earth Observations Systems of the Applications Directorate. Then in ’81 he transferred to the Instrument Systems Division of the same directorate and in ’85 he was again reassigned to the Laboratory for Astronomy & Solar Physics in the Space & Earth Sciences Directorate. In ’87, he was reassigned again to the Instrument Division of the Engineering Directorate where he remained until retiring in ’93.

ROBERT H. GODDARD MEMORIAL SYMPOSIUM (RHGMS): The 57^th RHGMS, sponsored by the American Astronautical Society (AAS), was held March 19-21 at the Tommy Douglas Conference Center in Silver Spring, MD. The title and theme of the event was “The Next Giant Leap: Earth, Moon, Mars, and Beyond” and featured speakers included James Morhard, NASA Deputy Administrator; Tim Gallaudet, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy Administrator of NOAA; Scott Pace, Executive Secretary, National Space Council; and John Mather, Senior Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. A live stream of the symposium is available on the AAS website at https://astronautical.org (scroll down under Events). A summary of the symposium will be included in the Goddard View Magazine (2019 Issue 2) when available in late April or early May at the following link: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard-view-magazine.

RECENT RETIREES: Garcia J. Blount, Edward S. Campion, William E. Cutlip, Garry L. Gaukler, Mark S. Hess, James S. King, Belkacem Manseur, Sharon M. Purser, Brian E. Rehm, Lisa B. Shears, Robert C. Smith, and Dorothy J. Zukor.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN MAY: The Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-6) was launched on May 30, 1974, by a Titan III-C rocket at Cape Canaveral, FL. The primary objectives of the ATS-6) were to erect in orbit a large steerable antenna capable of providing a quality TV signal to a ground-based receiver and to measure and evaluate the performance of such an antenna. A secondary objective was to demonstrate new concepts on space technology in the areas of aircraft control, laser communications, and visual and infrared mapping of the Earth/atmosphere system. The satellite was turned off on June 30, 1979, boosted into a higher orbit, and decommissioned in July 1979.