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

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE AND ARLIN KRUEGER:

We hope all of you are staying safe and well. We wanted to keep you updated on what is happening at Goddard and GRAA while we cannot operate normally. NASA’s response framework during this pandemic consists of a 4 stage approach. Goddard had entered the most restrictive Stage 4 on March 24th, but was able to go into Stage 3 (where it remains now) on July 20th. In that level, mandatory telework is required and on-site work is limited to mission-essential and approved mission critical work. Meetings must be conducted virtually and only mission-critical travel is allowed. During Stage 4, the facility was actually closed, except to mission-critical personnel like the control centers, power plant, etc. But since July, first priority projects like the James Webb Space Telescope and the Lucy mission and second priority missions (The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope- formerly called WFIRST, and the PACE mission) have been able to have people work on center for critical hands-on activities, once approved by Center management. This highly controlled process has been working safely with respect to controlling and avoiding COVID exposure. GSFC is now led by Dennis Andrucyk (Center Director), Anne Kinney (Deputy Center Director), Crystal Johnson (Deputy Director for Technology and Research), Ray Rubilotta (Associate Center Director) and Dave Pierce (Wallops Flight Facility Director), some of whom have joined us at GRAA luncheons. While we are not able to hold our luncheons, our members have been invited to attend periodic virtual Maryland Space Business Roundtable (MSBR) presentations.

We want to again emphasize our new GRAA website http://GoddardRetirees.org, where we will post these MSBR presentations as well as other opportunities of interest, like launches and special NASA or GRAA announcements and presentations, where members can access them regularly to keep up with Goddard and GRAA activities.

Newsletter mailings from the Goddard Mailroom are still restricted during this pandemic. While we hope that we will be able to send hard copy newsletters or notices to those members who do not use email or have access to the Web, it might be a while before that is possible. There are now 2,471 members in our directory list and we have email addresses for about 56% of the membership. If you know of any members who are not receiving these email newsletters, please have them send their email address to Jim Cameron at graanewsletter@gmail.com to make sure that they will be getting the Newsletters.

Until we can resume our luncheons, we will continue to update you bimonthly via email.

Best wishes for the holiday season and please be safe.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Lester H. (Les) Wentz, Jr., of Glenn Dale, MD passed away on June 30^th of 2020. After attending both Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, he would find himself a 41-year career at GSFC working on the Gemini, Apollo, Columbia and other projects and missions. He was hired by GSFC in 1963 and initially assigned to the Data Systems Division of the Office of Tracking & Data Systems. In ’67, he was reassigned to the Manned Flight Engineering Division of the Manned Flight Support Directorate. In ’72, the directorate title was changed to the Networks Directorate and Les was reassigned to the Network Computer & Analysis Division. In ’73, he was transferred to the Operations Planning Branch of the Network Engineering Division. Early in 2020, Les and his daughter Karen teamed up and decided to help him sell his Glenn Dale home and move to Karen’s family home in Sinking Spring, PA (which is close to Reading). Les and other family members celebrated 50 years of marriage to his wife, Bernadette, shortly prior to her passing away on May 26, 2018. After serving 41 years of working at GSFC, he opted to retire from GSFC in 2003.
• Donald F. Tinari, of Dover, DE passed away on September 9^th of 2020. He was hired by GSFC in 1964 and initially assigned to the Network Engineering & Operations Division of the Office of Tracking & Data Systems Directorate. In ’65 the Office title was changed to the Tracking and Data Systems Directorate. In ’67, the division was updated to the Spacecraft Tracking and Data (Acquisition) Network (STADAN) Operations Division. In ’72, Don was reassigned to the Network Facilities and Services Division of the Networks Directorate. In ’74, he was reassigned to the Network Procedures & Evaluation Division of the Networks Directorate until ’83, when he was reassigned to the Recording Systems & Data Management Section of the Network Operations Division. In ’85, the directorate title was changed to the Mission Operations & Data Systems Directorate and Don was assigned to the Information Processing Division. He opted to retire from GSFC in ’86 after serving briefly as the Executive Manager during space exploration and work on the space station. He then went to work for Boeing for 9 years and became Mayor of Cheswold, DE for another 9 years.
• Sajjad H. Durrani, of Olney, MD passed away on November 13^th of 2020. He was born in 1928 in Jalapur (British India, later Pakistan). He received engineering degrees in Pakistan and England and then went to study in Germany where he met and married Brita Portin in 1959 who added the name Yasmin upon her conversion to Islam. After they married, the couple immigrated to the U.S. where he received a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico. In 1969, the Durrani family settled in Olney, MD. He worked at both NASA Headquarters and GSFC over 18 years on issues related to satellite communications. Prior to working for NASA he had worked as an engineer in the private sector for GE, RCA, and Comsat Labs, taught engineering at Kansas State University, and served as head of the Engineering University in Lahore, Pakistan. Throughout his long career, he gave courses on satellites in the U.S. and abroad and taught engineering courses at George Washington University and the University of Maryland. After retiring from government, he went to work for Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in the U.S. and abroad.
• Charles M. MacKenzie, of Roanoke, VA passed away on December 4^th of 2020. He graduated in 1952 from Northeastern University with a BS in Electrical Engineering. His early career was spent working for 10 years at Harry Diamond Laboratories, a research facility that was part of the National Bureau of Standards Aircraft Division, where he worked on power systems for guided missiles. Afterward, his career led him to GSFC where he worked for 37 years. While there he was responsible for the early development of technology and systems for the generation of power for satellites and space vehicles. He worked on numerous spacecraft and satellite systems including IRIS, AURORA, LANDSAT, NIMBUS, HELIOS, and finally for EOS (Earth Observing System) and continued work as a NASA consultant following his retirement. He received numerous awards and recognition including the APOLLO achievement award in 1983. He was the first recipient of the Goddard Award of Merit, the highest level of recognition for GSFC.
• Dr. Franco Einaudi, of Columbia, MD passed away on December 10^th of 2020. He was born in Turin, Italy in 1937 and came to the U.S. and graduated from the Politecnico di Torino in 1961 and came to the U.S. a year later to undertake graduate work in physics at Cornell University. After receiving his PhD, he spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and other noted institutions in Colorado and Georgia and subsequently spent ten years as a fellow in the Cooperative Institute of Research in Environmental Sciences followed by eight years as a Professor of Geophysical Sciences at the Georgian Institute of Technology. In 1987, he moved to Maryland and spent 23 years at GSFC where he served as Head of the Severe Storms Branch, later called the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Branch (1988-1990), Chief of the Laboratory for Atmospheres (1990-2000), with his last ten years as Director of the Earth Sciences Division. He retired in 2010 and spent the next five years as an official ambassador visiting high schools and colleges with high percentages of minority students and helping to encourage them to pursue careers in earth sciences. In recognition of his work, the American Meteorological Society presented him with the Thomas E. Anderson Award.
• Alfred H. M. Shehab, of Odenton, MD passed away on December 12^th, 2020. As a Lieutenant Colonel, when he returned to the U.S. at the end of WWII, he signed up to continue working 20 more years at Fort George G. Meade, MD, so in 1964 he interviewed at GSFC after retiring from the base on the same year and was accepted for an assignment in the Public Affairs Office. In ’66, he was reassigned to the Manpower Utilization Division of the Administration & Management Directorate. In ’68, the Manpower Utilization Division added one more office identified as the Employee Development Branch in which he worked. In ’73, the Manpower Utilization Division was changed to the Organization & Employee Development Branch. In ’82, the directorate was changed to the Management Operations Directorate. He apparently elected to retire from GSFC at an early date in ’84.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES — IT HAPPENED IN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER/JANUARY:

November 18, 1965: Scout launched Explorer 30 for solar UV and X-ray science

November 6, 1973 and November 15, 1974: Deltas launched ITOS-F and ITOS-G respectively, operational weather satellites

Fifty years ago on December 12, 1970 Scout launched Explorer 42/SAS-1 from the Indian Ocean off the coast of Malindi, Kenya to detect X-ray sources. This was the first launch of a US satellite from outside the USA. The satellite was also named Uhuru (freedom in Swahili) after launch to recognize Kenya

December 4, 1998: Shuttle Endeavour launched the first US module, Unity, to the International Space Station

December 19, 1960: Mercury 1A, the first Mercury-Redstone capsule-launch vehicle combination was launched. The mission was an unoccupied test flight that tested the spacecraft instrumentation and recovery system; the spacecraft was recovered by helicopters after landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

January 31, 1961: Mercury 2 was launched with Ham, a chimpanzee who was named for the Holloman Aerospace Medical Center where he was trained for the mission, on-board for a suborbital flight. The capsule and Ham were successfully recovered after landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from James A. Costrell, Eugene C. Humphrey, Michael McCumber, Patricia & Robert Mackey, John Millman, Karl G. Peters, George T. Roach, Steven A. Smith in memory of Dave Lewoc, William A. Struthers, and David J. Zillig.