by Larry C.
In 1961, I helped design
the first Agena spacecraft solar array power system, which allowed classified
missions to last six months instead of two weeks on battery power. Eventually,
we would make them last five years. To test automatic deployable solar array
wings, I climbed over 80-foot rafter beams to hang wires to simulate space
deployment. I was the power systems department manager when we developed the
huge solar array wings for the Space Shuttle. My last job at Lockheed was as project
manager for the power system on the Iridium telecommunication spacecraft.
