Mar 31 1976
From The Space Library
First test firing of the second Space Shuttle main engine-Engine 0002, first to have a flight-type engine-mounted controller-achieved the programmed 1.5-sec duration, firing through a diffuser used for altitude simulation when production engines were throttled in testing. Engine 0002, a flight configuration that would not be flown, was a developmental engine instrumented for test purposes. It was fired on the National Space Technology Lab's Stand A-2, used in Saturn V tests during the 1960s and modified and reactivated for the Space Shuttle program. NASA planned to fire each engine on the A-2 throttling test position before using it on a Shuttle flight. Stand A-1, the sea-level test position, had been used for about a year to test the first SSME, a test version known as the integrated subsystem test bed; A-1 was also developed for the Saturn program and modified for Shuttle tests. (MSFC Release 76-57; Rockwell Release RD-7)
Dr. William H. Pickering, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology since 1954, retired, announcing that he would return to Caltech as a professor of engineering. He had earned all his degrees at that institution and had joined the faculty in 1936, becoming a member of the JPL staff in 1944. The staff at that time numbered a few hundred; when he became director, the total had reached 1000, and numbered about 4000 when he announced his retirement. Born in New Zealand in 1910, Dr. Pickering had become one of the world's foremost experts in space technology. Under his leadership, JPL had designed Explorer 1, first successful U.S. satellite, and went on to develop and operate the Ranger, Surveyor, and Mariner space probes. Dr. Pickering was first president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1963, and president of the International Astronautical Federation in 1965-66. NASA's announcement of his retirement said he would work on gaining worldwide scientific support for the proposed International Solar System Decade of research and space exploration of all aspects of the solar system. (NASA anno. 23 June 75; NYT, 21 June 75, 41; LA Times, 31 Mar 76, 1; Pasadena Star-News, 1 Apr 76, 1)
Gerald A. Mossinghoff, NASA's Assistant General Counsel for general law since Jan. 1974, was appointed Deputy General Counsel effective this date. He joined NASA in 1963 as a patent attorney in the Office of General Counsel; in 1966 he was named director of the Office of Legislative Planning at the U.S. Patent Office, and returned to NASA in Dec. 1967 as Director of Legislative Liaison. He received NASA's Exceptional Service Medal in 1971. A registered patent attorney, Mossinghoff had received a B.S. in electrical engineering from St. Louis University and a J.1). with honors from George Washington University. (Admr.'s announcement, 31 Mar 76)
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