by Thomas G.
I joined Martin Marietta in 1959, right
after my four-year stint in the United States Air Force. My proudest experience was in 1979. Vice
President of Launch Vehicles Chuck Carnahan and I produced the first
telecommunications satellite conference. It was called “Project Encounter.” We
conducted a successful design review on a launch vehicle umbilical boom
modification at Vandenberg Air Force Base. This was the first satellite
conference conducted between Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and Martin
Marietta, Waterton, Colorado. As part of this program, I also designed the
first satellite conference room.
Project Encounter was a personal dream and
was driven by the successful launch of a NASA Titan III from Cape Canaveral on
May 30, 1974. This was a special Application Technology Satellite (ATS-6),
which contained 26 communication experiments.
To demonstrate the educational
experiment’s capabilities, I designed and built a little “Red Schoolhouse,”
placed on a 24-foot trailer with a 10-foot ground satellite dish. Behind the
windows of the schoolhouse were two 25-inch color TV sets. There were graphics
along the side to demonstrate the capabilities. I traveled with the trailer
throughout the Rocky Mountain region demonstrating the technology to school
kids.
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| I'm proud of the "Red Schoolhouse." |
