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

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE AND ARLIN KRUEGER:

Goddard continues to carry out its missions during this pandemic, requiring telework for all except mission-essential and approved mission-critical on-site work. Only mission-critical travel is allowed. On-center work has been carried out very successfully and safely with respect to controlling and avoiding COVID exposure.

Launches planned in the Flight Projects Directorate (https://fpd.gsfc.nasa.gov) for this year include Landsat 9 and X-ray Polarimetry mission IXPE in September; Trojan asteroid mission LUCY in October; and James Webb Space Telescope and GOES-T in December.

The Sciences and Exploration Directorate, operating virtually, continues most normal research activities, including meetings and seminars. Large international meetings, such as the American Geophysical Union, very successfully met virtually, with innovative dynamic, interactive posters frequently communicating their messages better than conventional printed posters. The best way to keep informed about Goddard’s world-leading research in Earth Sciences, Astrophysics, Heliophysics, and the Solar System is at: https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/.

The Goddard Engineering Colloquia and Science Colloquia series continue to meet virtually in WebEx sessions. Videos of past talks are available through https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov and https://scicolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov. The February 2021 Air & Space Magazine article ”How Star Trek Helped NASA Dream Big. And how NASA helped Star Trek stick around” at https://www.airspacemag.com/space/how-star-trek-helped-nasa-dream-big-180976753/, which mentions Goddard pioneer and GRAA member Alberta Moran, may also be of interest to members.

Goddard and GRAA hope to gradually return to a new normal as herd immunity is achieved later this year. While we are not able to hold our luncheons, we send emails to our members with links to talks of interest at the Maryland Space Business Roundtable’s virtual luncheons. We expect to also post these links as well as other opportunities of interest, like launches and special NASA or GRAA announcements and presentations on our GRAA website http://GoddardRetirees.org.

Regular Newsletter mailings from the Goddard Mailroom should resume later this year. However, for now we need to increase the number of GRAA members who we reach electronically. Please encourage members to send their email addresses to Jim Cameron at graanewsletter@gmail.com to ensure that they will be getting the Newsletters. We also would like to thank those members who have contributed to GRAA during this difficult period. We hope to issue a new GRAA Directory in 2022. There are now 2,473 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. Until we can resume our luncheons, we will continue to update you bimonthly via email.

Best wishes and please stay safe.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• H. Paul Scherer, age 86, of Wheat Ridge, CO, died on September 9, 2020. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Nancy, and three children. Paul developed a love of mechanical things at an early age with a special interest in model airplanes, winning many trophies for his skills in making and flying them. He also had a passion for old cars and worked on his 1930 Model A Ford Coupe and a 1930 Model A Town Sedan. Paul obtained a Bachelor of Science and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University. His area of expertise at Goddard, where he worked on various satellites, was in satellite guidance and control systems. He retired from Goddard in 1994 and subsequently worked for the Special Programs Division of Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, CO.
• J. Steve Metcalf, age 70, of Fulton, MD died on December 31, 2020 with his wife, Beverly, and son Zachary at his side. Steve lost his 13 year battle with cancer. He was an avid reader, who had a list of the top 100 books in literature and had read all of them. He loved music from the 1950s to 2020. He contributed to the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO), Earth Observing System (EOS) Program and was Deputy Project Manager for the Earth Science Data Systems Project. Throughout his tenure he found great satisfaction in mentoring and guiding countless individuals. In 2011 he retired from NASA after a 30-year career at GSFC.
• Raymond W. Melcher, LTC, U.S. Army (Ret.) Passed away on February 4, 2021. He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Annette, and five children. He enlisted in the Army in 1945. During Basic Training, he was chosen to go to Officer's Candidate School. He was then commissioned as a 2LT and stationed in 1948 at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Ray continued on active duty until 1954, serving as a Company Commander in the 1402 Combat Engineer Battalion for his last tour of duty. He remained in the USA Reserves for 33 years prior to his retirement in 1987. Ray earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, with honors, from the University of Oklahoma in 1957. He applied this knowledge at Goddard Space Flight Center from 1963 to 1991 where he developed and tested a range of instruments on the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, and the Hubble Space Telescope, retiring as the Head of the Instrument Directorate Branch. His tireless work and engineering leadership earned him the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He was a world traveler, who visited every continent with his wife, but the highlight of every year was his family's annual beach week. Ray will receive full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
• Peter T. Burr Sr., 86, of Odenton, MD, passed away on February 6, 2021. He was preceded in death by his wife, Valorie A. Burr, also a Goddard alumnus. Pete spent his very early years in the Washington DC suburbs, and then saw much of the US living in many cities and towns with his parents and brother, Chris. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in electrical engineering, Pete joined the US Army. He departed the Army as a lieutenant. Pete joined NASA in 1960 and held many positions at Goddard Space Flight Center throughout his 34 year career with the agency. He began work as a research engineer with the Satellite Applications Systems Division, held positions as Head of the Information Systems Engineering Section in the Tracking and Data Systems Directorate; Assistant Project Manager, then Project Manager, Test and Training Satellite; and Spacecraft Manager, Synchronous Meteorological Satellite. From 1975 until its successful launch in 1980, he was Project Manager, Solar Maximum Mission, and from 1980 until April 1988 he served as Project Manager, Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, when he was named Deputy Director of Flight Projects. He served as Director of Flight Projects at Goddard and had responsibility for the overall direction, development and management of a large number of satellite projects, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Background Explorer, ASTRO-1, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, NOAA and GOES weather satellites, and the Gamma Ray Observatory. He finished his formal career in 1994 as the Deputy Director of Goddard, but went on to contribute to the Report on the Loss of the Mars Polar Lander and Deep Space 2 Missions in 2000. He received numerous awards, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Goddard Astronautics Award in 1981, and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 1983.
• George C. Kronmiller, Jr., of Columbia, MD, passed away on February 20, 2021 at 87. George was an engineer with the Naval Research Lab, assigned to the Vanguard Project, and was one of 10 original members of that team to be transferred to Goddard. George was instrumental in developing the concept, evolution and performance analysis of a high-accuracy, near-earth and cislunar cooperative target tracking system known as the Goddard Range and Range Rate System. He managed the Ranging Section in the Networks Directorate, where he was instrumental in developing and implementing ranging capabilities in tracking stations all over the world.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES — IT HAPPENED IN FEBRUARY/MARCH:

February 24, 1996: Delta-II launched Polar to study magnetospheric phenomena

March 25, 1961: Delta launched P-14/Explorer 10 into a highly elliptical orbit to measure magnetic fields and solar winds

March 13, 1971: Delta launched Explorer 43/IMP-8. 2nd generation IMP to study solar-lunar relationship

April 2, 1998: Pegasus-XL launched Explorer 73/TRACE, complementary with SOHO mission

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from L. Henry Anderson and Jan Owings.