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

COMMENTS FROM THE GRAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic there will not be a GRAA luncheon at the Greenbelt American Legion in November. However, the Maryland Space Business Roundtable (MSBR) will be providing a webinar featuring David L. Pierce, the director of Wallops Flight Facility on Tuesday November 10 at 1:00 PM EST that may be of interest to GRAA members. The presentation will be available via NASA/GSFC's Ustream platform at https://ustream.tv/channel/nasa-gsfc. Archived presentations for the GSFC channel are also available at that link.

On Saturday November 14 at 1:30 PM EST, there will be also be an online presentation by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens, a planetary scientist at GSFC, titled "In a World...A Hollywood View of Planets" hosted by the National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS) in which she will "explore the changing views of planetary sciences through cinematic history, venturing across fascinating planetary landscapes, first on the silver screen, and then again in real planetary photographs." The event will be streamed live via YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LC0OR_hhqI. Audience members will be able to ask questions by typing them in the "chat" area and the presenter will respond verbally. The presentation will also be available for view later. November 14 is also the scheduled date for a SpaceX launch of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) of NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The launch is scheduled for 7:49 PM EST. Coverage of the launch should be available via the nasa.gov website and the NASA TV channel.

GRAA members, please inform your snail mail colleagues that we are currently unable to send Newsletters by the United States Postal Service (USPS). They need to send their email address to graanewsletter@gmail.com for regular Newsletter delivery (obituary notices for former colleagues may also be sent to that email address). Alternatively, the Newsletters will be posted at the NEW GRAA website: https://goddardretirees.org/.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• John Chitwood, 73, died in St. Petersburg, Florida on June 26th. John began working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center as a work-study student in 1964; he retired in 2001 as Head of the Microwave Systems Branch, where responsibilities included developing communication systems for satellites and planetary probes.
• William Franklin (Frank) Lau Jr., 84, of Chance Maryland passed away on Wednesday July 22nd. Frank served as a member of the DC Air National Guard and started his career at NASA at GSFC but later transferred to the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) where he served as a project manager for sounding rocket launches world-wide.
• Michael Laurente, of Charlotte Hall, MD (formerly of Clarksville, MD) passed away on June 10th, just 16 days before his 98th birthday. He was a Naval Officer during World War II. After the war, Dr. Laurente was an advisory engineer at Westinghouse Aerospace from 1962-1971, and a program manager at the Department of Transportation, before coming to Goddard in 1983 where he ran the Environet Program before retiring ~ 2000.
• Mark Storp, 85, of Chambersburg, PA passed away on April 23rd. Mark served in Korea as a Control Tower Operator and at NASA during the Gemini and Apollo programs. He retired from NASA in 1994 after having spent thirty-five years in government service with the Air Force, FAA, and NASA.
• Ronald Wallace, 76, Fort Myers, FL passed away on June 24th. While working at NASA, Ron served as the mission manager for terrestrial search and rescue as well as an American delegate to COSPAS/SARSAT, an international program for terrestrial search and rescue that relies on satellite signal processing to locate vessels lost at sea, downed planes, and lost back country travelers. Ron retired and moved to Fort Meyers in 1999 where he taught marine electronics and communications.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES — IT HAPPENED IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER:

September 18, 1959, Vanguard-SLV-7 launched Vanguard III by Goddard personnel still at Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Vanguard III measured magnetic fields, radiation belts, and micrometeorite impacts on the satellite.

October 16, 1975, Delta launched SMS/GOES-A, the 1st operational geostationary weather satellite.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from Joseph H. Bredekamp, Ronald O. Britner, M. E. Endres, Ellen L. Herring, William J. Schoene, and William F., Townsend.