G.R.A.A.

                           Goddard Retirees and Alumni Association

                           P.O. Box 163, Lanham, MD  20703-0163

 

JUNE 2008                                              http://graa.gsfc.nasa.gov                        24th Year of Publication

 


IMPORTANT DATES: 

June 10

Mark your calendar for the GRAA Luncheon at 11:30 a.m.  Dr. Waleed Abdalati, Head of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch of the Hydrospheric and Biospheric Laboratory, is expected to present an overview of recent research on high-latitude glaciers and ice sheets using satellite and airborne instruments.  Dr. Abdalati is an expert speaker who has made appearances on numerous television, local news channels and radio shows (including CNN, NBC, WETA, and National Geographic’s Today Show).  Reservations are required, so please call Alberta Moran at 301-937-7762 no later than noon on Friday, June 6th.

July 8

Mark your calendar for the GRAA Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. with the NASA Academy interns.

  

COMMENTS FROM RON BROWNING, GRAA PRESIDENT:  Attendees at the May luncheon were treated to a viewing of a thirty-minute video “tour” of Goddard recently produced by WETA, the Washington area’s public broadcasting station.  This excellent video focuses on ongoing space missions and Goddard’s in-house capabilities, with emphasis on the next (and last) mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).  Both are major in-house projects scheduled for launch later this year.  Highlighted in the video are Paul Lowman and Seaton Norman, old timers who are still contributing their time and talent (and remain on the payroll) to Goddard’s mission successes.  [Ye Ed notes that Paul frequently bikes to work and it’s been said that the only way one can tell if Seaton is on leave is when he arrives at work wearing jeans instead of a suit jacket and dress slacks.]  If you would like to view this professional “tour” on your computer, just go to http://www.weta.org/watchonline/?playlist=wetaallaccess&videoid=11004.  A second video was shown that described the initial launch and orbital recovery of the first TDRSS mission twenty-five years ago.  Both videos brought back some heartfelt memories for many attendees.

 

Hopefully you received, via regular mail, the new 2008 GRAA Membership Directory and May newsletter (with the ballot for the Board of Directors election at the June luncheon).  There were a few returned, but Dave Moulton is tracking down those particular members.  If you did not receive your Membership Directory, please contact us and we’ll forward you a copy.  My thanks are extended to Strat Laios for compiling and getting the Membership Directory printed and to Marge Gustafson and her team for labeling the nearly 2,500 envelopes. 

 

TREASURER’S REPORT:  Bob Wigand reports that tax-deductible contributions were received from the following members:  John Callan, Tony Grandi, John Hrastar, Paul Karpiscak, Bob Keefe, H. K. Lee, Franz Lengenfelder, and Mike Tasevoli.        

                                                                                                           

GRAA MAILINGS:  If you no longer wish to receive GRAA mailings, please send a note to our Lanham address or an e-mail to Dave Moulton at davidlmoulton@comcast.net.  If you have moved or want to make corrections to the address on your mailing label, write us or send an e-mail to Strat Laios at stratlaios@comcast.net.  If you already receive your newsletter via e-mail, please let Strat know when your  e-mail address changes.  If you are interested in receiving the newsletter by e-mail, simply notify Strat.

 

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN JUNE:  On June 10, 1973, Explorer 49/Radio Astronomy Explorer (also known as RAE-B) was launched from Cape Canaveral.  The satellite investigated low frequency radio emissions from the sun, planets, and galactic and extragalactic sources.  Explorer 49 was the last    U.S. spacecraft to survey the moon for 21 years (until the Clementine mission in 1994).  It was also the largest spacecraft to enter lunar orbit and was comprised of a set of giant antennas.  The Explorer 49 mission ended in 1975.

 

 

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH:  A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.

 

RECENT RETIREES:  Bernard J. Cullinan, Donald W. Deering, Bernard J. Klein, Lynne G. Slater, and Carol L. Tedore.       

 

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

§         Curtis R. Allen, of Chincoteague, VA, passed away on April 19th from double pneumonia at age 85.  A veteran of the Korean War, he retired as the Chief of Flight Operations at Wallops.

§         Ellen J. Boyce, of Baltimore, MD, passed away on March 1st.

§         Herbert J. Fivehouse, of Glenwood, MD, passed away on May 7th.  He retired as Goddard’s Director of Administration some 30 years ago.  Following his retirement, he served as an energy coordinator for the Baltimore City government and later worked with various energy-related organizations.

§         Ronald A. Parise, of Silver Spring, MD, passed away on May 9th following a courageous battle with brain cancer.  He worked for Computer Sciences Corporation and was Goddard’s resident astronaut, having served as a payload specialist on two Space Shuttle missions:  STS-35 on Columbia in December 1990 and STS-67 on Endeavor in March 1995.

§         Gopalakrishna M. “Gopal” Rao, of Bowie, MD, passed away on May 16th in London, England, from a yet to be determined cause.  Still employed at Goddard at the time of his passing, he was in London taking part in the battery acceptance buyoff for the LRO spacecraft.

 

GODDARD EARTHDAY 2008:  Goddard celebrated Earthday 2008 in April with a keynote address presented by Dr. James Hansen, Climate Scientist and Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies located in New York City.  You can view Dr. Hansen’s address, entitled “Dark and Bright Sides of Global Warming,” via computer at http://mediaman.gsfc.nasa.gov/asx/public/Earthday/2008/Earthday-08-2.asx.

 

ST. LAWRENCE CRUISE NO LONGER AVAILABLE:  Last month’s newsletter included a tease about a cruise on the St. Lawrence Seaway scheduled in late August or early September and promised additional details about the trip.  However, Alberta Moran reports that all available space has already sold out.  It sounds like members were just waiting to press the speed dial on their telephones to sign up for this trip!

 

SEND YOUR NAME TO THE MOON:  Somewhat reminiscent of Jackie Gleason’s famous refrain of “to the moon, Alice,” NASA (although not so sharp-tongued to the public) invites people to join the lunar exploration journey by offering the opportunity to send their names to the moon aboard the LRO spacecraft.  The LRO web site enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the moon for years to come.  Participants may submit their names at http://www.nasa.gov/lro (see the invitation on the right hand side of the screen), print a certificate, and have their names entered into a database.  The database will be placed on a microchip that will be installed on the spacecraft.  The deadline for submitting names is June 27th.  Feel free to pass this offer along to others, especially children (of all ages, of course).