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In Memoriam


Waspie_Dwarf

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McMurtry, Renowned Former NASA Pilot, Passes

Thomas C. McMurtry was respected by peers, admired for his piloting skills and appreciated for his mentoring by many who knew him. The retired NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center research pilot died Jan. 3. He was 79.

He is known for his exploits behind the stick of such aircraft as the triple-sonic YF-12C, the U-2 and F-104 aircraft during a career that included more than 15,000 hours. This number includes 4,000 hours recorded while flying for two private aviation firms for 12 years after his retirement from NASA.

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Chief designer of space rocket corporation Energiya Viktor Legostayev dies at 83

Legostayev’s successor will be named when the New Year holiday season is over

MOSCOW, January 8. /TASS/. The chief designer of Russia’s space rocket corporation Energiya, Viktor Legostayev, has died at 83 years of age, the corporations’ press-service said.

“Viktor Legostayev died on Thursday. The funeral will probably take place on January 13,” the source said without mentioning the cause of death.

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JPL Scientist Alberto Behar Remembered

JPL employees were deeply saddened by the death of Dr. Alberto Behar, who died in the crash of a small plane on Friday, Jan. 10, near Van Nuys Airport in the Los Angeles area.

During his 23-year career at JPL, Dr. Behar specialized in robotics for exploring extreme environments on Earth and other planets. He played a key role in developing in situ robotic systems for measuring ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland using submarines, ice rovers and boats. He also participated in the exploration of Mars, serving as investigation scientist for instruments on the Curiosity rover and the Mars Odyssey orbiter. Alberto was also a research professor at Arizona State University, helping to develop the next generation of explorers.

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Aviation history loses legend

from 412th Test Wing Public Affairs and 412th Test Wing History Office

2/6/2015 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Former U.S. Air Force and NASA research pilot Fitzhugh L. Fulton Jr., died Feb. 4. He was 89.

During a career in the military, civil service and industry, he logged over 16,000 flying hours in more than 240 types of aircraft.

Fulton was born and raised in Georgia. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet in 1943 and received his pilot wings and commission in December 1944.

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Cosmonaut Alexei Gubarev, led first multi-national space station crew, dies at 83

Feb. 24, 2015 - Alexei Gubarev, a Soviet-era cosmonaut who trained to fly to the moon but instead commanded the first multi-national space station crew, died Saturday (Feb. 21). He was 83.

Gubarev's death was reported by the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City outside of Moscow, where he had prepared for his two space missions.

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F. Curt Michel, scientist-astronaut who left NASA after losing the moon, dies at 80

March 2, 2015 - Curt Michel, an astrophysicist who was among NASA's first scientist-astronauts but who resigned when it became clear he would not fly to the moon, died on Feb. 23. He was 80.

Michel's passing was reported on Friday (Feb. 27) by Rice University in Houston, where served as a faculty member before and after his time with NASA.

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Norm Carlson, NASA test director who gave 'go' for Saturn V, shuttle and beans, dies

March 3, 2015 - When NASA astronauts next launch to space from Florida, the flight control team that oversees their liftoff may celebrate with a traditional crock of beans.

If they do, they will be honoring Norm Carlson, too.

The test director who oversaw the launch countdowns for Apollo 11, the first moon landing in 1969, and STS-1, the first space shuttle flight in 1981 — as well as many more missions, Carlson died Sunday (March 1) of complications from congestive heart failure. He was 81.

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German-born US rocket expert Oscar Holderer dies at 95

A member of the German engineering team that designed the rocket that took US astronauts to the Moon has died in Alabama.

Oscar Holderer, who was 95, suffered a stroke last week and did not recover, his son Michael said.

Mr Holderer was one of about 120 engineers who moved to the US after World War Two, bringing technology used in the German V2 rocket.

They played a key role in the Saturn V rocket used in the 1969 Moon landing.

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I haven't checked this thread in a while... So sad to see so many passing away recently...

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ESA mourns loss of Director Antonio Fabrizi

18 May 2015 On Saturday 16 May, after a long illness, ESA Director of launchers Antonio Fabrizi passed away in Rome at the age of 67.

On hearing the sad news, ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said, "ESA and the European space sector lose an outstanding professional in launchers development and exploitation; I lose a very close friend who has been available and present at all times during our 12 years in common at ESA.

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NASA Legend Dale Myers Dies at 93; Helped Save Apollo 13

Dale Myers, a famed NASA administrator who helped save the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission and resurrect the space shuttle program after the 1986 Challenger disaster, has died at his retirement home in La Costa.

His passing was announced in an 1,100-word death notice Sunday in The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Jack King, legendary "Voice of NASA," dies at 84

John W. "Jack" King, the calm, reassuring "Voice of NASA" who held the world riveted as he counted down the final seconds of the Apollo 11 launch to the moon, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 84.

The cause was congestive heart failure, according to his family.

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Claudia Alexander (1959–2015)

It is with great sadness that we share the news of Dr Claudia Alexander’s passing on 11 July 2015.

Claudia worked for NASA at JPL. She was an eminent planetary scientist and was deeply involved with the Rosetta Mission as US Rosetta project scientist. She was passionate about outreach, including engaging amateur astronomers through the ground-based observing campaign of Rosetta’s target comet, 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Claudia was also very well known for her role in NASA’s Galileo and Cassini projects.

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George Mueller, NASA Apollo-era manager and 'father of space shuttle,' dies at 97

Oct. 15, 2015 - George Mueller, who led NASA's human spaceflight efforts through the first moon landing and was credited as the "father of the space shuttle," died Monday (Oct. 12) after a brief illness. He was 97.

NASA and sources close to Mueller's family confirmed his passing on Thursday (Oct. 15).

Mueller, as associate administrator, headed the Office of Manned Space Flight at NASA's Washington headquarters from 1963 through 1969. During that time, Mueller brought together NASA's three human spaceflight centers under a common management system, introduced an approach to testing that made landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade possible, played a key part in the design of the United States' first space station and advocated for a reusable space transportation system that became known as the space shuttle.

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Former MESSENGER Mission Manager Robert Farquhar Dies at Age 83

MESSENGER Mission News

October 23, 2015

Robert W. Farquhar, an early MESSENGER Mission Manager and a planetary trajectory pioneer who designed some of the most esoteric and complex spacecraft trajectories ever attempted, died on October 18, at the age of 83. A 50-year veteran of deep-space missions, Farquhar made pivotal contributions to the exploration of comets, asteroids, and the planets.

"Bob Farquhar was critical to the MESSENGER mission, from initial concept through launch and early operations," offered MESSENGER Principal Investigator Sean Solomon, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "His competitive drive to achieve new firsts in space, his enthusiasm for attempting difficult tasks, and his brilliantly creative and technically thorough solutions to mission design challenges set a tone for the entire MESSENGER team. That MESSENGER was selected for flight, completed a record six planetary flybys, and became the first spacecraft to successfully orbit Mercury is in no small measure the result of Bob's inspiration, passion, and skill at problem solving. The entire MESSENGER team will miss him."

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Apollo Astronaut Edgar Mitchell Dies at Age 85

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot on Apollo 14, passed away Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla., on the eve of the 45th anniversary of his lunar landing.

Mitchell joined Apollo 14 commander Alan Shephard, Jr., the first American in space, in the lunar module Antares, which touched down Feb. 5, 1971, in the Fra Mauro highlands. Shepard and Mitchell were assigned to traverse the lunar surface to deploy scientific instruments and perform a communications test on the surface, as well as photograph the lunar surface and any deep space phenomena. It was Mitchell’s only spaceflight.

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Very sad.

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That is sad news - a true pioneer and gentleman.

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May he RIP

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Henry S. F. Cooper Jr., Space Reporter, Dies at 82

Henry S. F. Cooper Jr., who defended the environmentalist legacy of his forebear, the novelist James Fenimore Cooper, and as a writer himself reached beyond the planet to pioneer reporting on space travel, died on Jan. 31 at his home in Cooperstown, N.Y. He was 82.

The cause was lung cancer, his daughter Elizabeth Cooper said.

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NASA astronaut Don Williams, led mission to launch Jupiter probe, dies at 74

Feb. 27, 2016 - Donald Williams, a NASA astronaut who commanded a space shuttle mission that launched the first probe to orbit Jupiter, died Tuesday (Feb. 23). He was 74.

Williams' death was confirmed by the Association of Space Explorers, a society of astronauts and cosmonauts.

"We are sad to pass along the news that former astronaut Don Williams has passed away," the organization wrote on Facebook. "Fair skies and following seas, Cap'n."

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Bob Ebeling, Challenger Engineer Who Forewarned Of Shuttle Disaster, Dead At 89

Ebeling, who blamed himself for 30 years, found peace in the last weeks of his life.

For three decades, retired NASA engineer Bob Ebeling blamed himself for being unable to stop the 1986 launch of space shuttle Challenger. He had warned that the shuttle might explode, and it did shortly after liftoff, killing seven crew members.

In the final weeks of his life, however, thanks to an outpouring of support following a National Public Radio story in January on the 30th anniversary of the disaster, Ebeling, 89, finally found peace.

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Andre Brahic, discoverer of Neptune's rings, dies

Andre Brahic, one of the people who discovered the rings of Neptune, has died aged 73, his publisher says.

The Frenchman was one of the team who first spotted the rings in 1984, naming them Equality, Fraternity and Liberty after the motto of the French Republic.

In a tribute, French President Francois Hollande said Brahic had known "how to easily explain the mysteries of space".

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Antonín Rükl, 1932–2016

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A world-renowned lunar cartographer, whose beautiful atlases have become prized possessions, has died at age 83.

Antonín Rükl, noted lunar cartographer, selenographer, prolific author, and retired director of the Prague Planetarium, passed away on July 12th at his home in Prague, Czech Republic.

Rükl's loss is being deeply felt by anyone who loves looking at the Moon. Among the books he authored, his legendary Atlas of the Moon, originally published in 1991 and most recently revised in 2007, remains one of the most sought-after books of its kind.

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