by Crawford M.
My first job
with Lockheed began in February 1960. It was at the Vandenberg Tracking Station
(VTS), whose primary mission was to track the Discovery launches out of
Vandenberg Air Force Base and then track the resulting polar orbits that were within range
of the station. After working at VTS for eight years, I was fortunate to be
selected to work in Germany on a classified DoD program, and did so for four
years. What an opportunity! After returning from Germany, I worked in Sunnyvale
for another 26 years, completing a career that lasted nearly 39 years.
In February
1995, President Clinton declassified the Corona program, revealing that most of
the Discovery launches I had worked on in the 1960s had been from the
Corona program, the first-ever, satellite-based surveillance program. It was a
very successful.
In August 1998, I retired. Even today, I look back on my Lockheed Martin career with great
pride and many fond memories. For me, having been raised on a small farm in
rural North Carolina, what a trip it was, from farm boy to division manager in
the free-world’s number one aerospace company. What a trip! Thanks Lockheed Martin for a wonderful
career!
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| What a trip it's been! |
