Portrait of Floyd L. Thompson NASA Langley Center Director from 1960 to 1968. Died in 1976
Portrait of Floyd L. Thompson NASA Langley Center Director
Portrait of Floyd L. Thompson NASA Langley Center Director
NASA SeaWinds radar instrument eyed the center of a massive hurricane -- Floyd -- as it ripped past Georgia and the Carolinas Wednesday afternoon, September 15, then marched toward a midnight strike at Cape Fear, North Carolina.
Portrait of Floyd L. Thompson NASA Langley Center Director 1960-1968. Died in 1976
Langley Center Director Floyd Thompson shows Ann Kilgore the "picture of the century." This was the first picture of the earth taken from space. From Spaceflight Revolution: "On 23 August 1966 just as Lunar Orbiter I was about to pass behind the moon, mission controllers executed the necessary maneuvers to point the camera away from the lunar surface and toward the earth. The result was the world's first view of the earth from space. It was called "the picture of the century' and "the greatest shot taken since the invention of photography." Not even the color photos of the earth taken during the Apollo missions superseded the impact of this first image of our planet as a little island of life floating in the black and infinite sea of space." -- Published in James R. Hansen, Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center From Sputnik to Apollo, (Washington: NASA, 1995), pp. 345-346. Mayor Ann Kilgore was married to NASA researcher Edwin Carroll Kilgore. Mrs. Kilgore was Mayor from 1963-1971 and again from 1974-1978.
Lexington, Massachusetts high school student, Judith Miles, discusses her proposed Skylab experiment with Keith Demorest (right) and Henry Floyd, both of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). In her experiment, called the “Web Formation in Zero Gravity”, called for spiders to be released into a box and their actions recorded to determine how well they adapt to the absence of gravity. Spiders are known to adapt quickly to other changes in the environment but nothing was known of their ability to adapt to weightlessness. At the same time spiders were weaving webs in Earth orbit, similar spiders were spinning webs in identical boxes on Earth under full gravity conditions. Miles was among the 25 winners of a contest in which some 3,500 high school students proposed experiments for the following year’s Skylab Mission. Of the 25 students, 6 did not see their experiments conducted on Skylab because the experiments were not compatible with Skylab hardware and timelines. Of the 19 remaining, 11 experiments required the manufacture of equipment.
Todd Meister(center), high school student of the Bronx High School of Science, discusses his experiment “An Invitro Study of Selected Isolated Immune Phenomena” with his advisor, Dr. Robert Allen (right) and Henry Floyd, both of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). His experiment was aimed at discovering whether or not the absence of gravity affects the representative life processes. Meister was one of the 25 winners of a contest in which some 3,500 high school students proposed experiments for the following year’s Skylab mission. Of the 25 students, 6 did not see their experiments conducted on Skylab because the experiments were not compatible with Skylab hardware and timelines. Of the 19 remaining, 11 experiments required the manufacture of equipment.
Robert L. Staehle (center), high school student from Harley School, Rochester New York, talks with Steven Hall (advisor to Staehle) and Henry Floyd, both of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) about his experiment “Behavior of Bacteria and Bacterial Spores in the Skylab Space Environment”. He was one of the 25 winners of a contest in which some 3,500 high school students proposed experiments for the following year’s Skylab mission. Of the 25 students, 6 did not see their experiments conducted on Skylab because the experiments were not compatible with Skylab hardware and timelines. Of the 19 remaining, 11 experiments required the manufacture of equipment.
Terry C. Quist (center), high school student from San Antonio, Texas, discusses his proposed Skylab experiment with Marshall Space Flight Center’s (MSFC) Henry Floyd (left), coordinator of the Skylab Student Experiment Project, and DR. Raymond Gause, scientific advisor to Quist. The student’s experiment, “Earth Orbital Neutron Analysis”, was aimed at learning more about the source of neutrons in the solar system by seeking the number and direction from which each comes. Quist was among the 25 winners of a contest in which some 3,500 high school students proposed experiments for the following year’s Skylab mission. Of the 25 students, 6 did not see their experiments conducted on Skylab because the experiments were not compatible with Skylab hardware and timelines. Of the 19 remaining, 11 experiments required the manufacture of equipment, such as Quist’s experiment, which required detector hardware.
Youngstown, Ohio high school student, W. Brian Dunlap (center), discusses with Dr. Robert Head (right), and Henry Floyd, both of the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), his experiment to be performed aboard the Skylab the following year. His experiment, “Wave Motion Trough A Liquid in Zero Gravity” used a container attached to the end of a leaf spring which was oscillated at specific rates using two thickness differentiated types of liquids. Dunlap was among 25 winners of a contest in which some 3,500 high school students proposed experiments for the following year’s Skylab mission. The nationwide scientific competition was sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The winning students, along with their parents and sponsor teachers, visited MSFC where they met with scientists and engineers, participated in design reviews for their experiments, and toured MSFC facilities. Of the 25 students, 6 did not see their experiments conducted on Skylab because the experiments were not compatible with Skylab hardware and timelines. Of the 19 remaining, 11 experiments required the manufacture of additional equipment. The equipment for the experiments was manufactured at MSFC.
At Cape Canaveral Air Station's Complex 5/6, a Redstone rocket lies broken on the pad after Hurricane Floyd passed along the East Coast of Florida, Sept. 14-15. The complex, now dismantled, was the site of the first manned launch May 5, 1961. At a weather tower located between Shuttle Launch Pad 39A and Launch Complex 41, the highest winds recorded during the superstorm were 91 mph from the NNW at 4:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15. The maximum sustained winds were recorded at 66 mph. The highest amount of rain recorded at KSC was 2.82 inches as the eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 121 miles east of Cape Canaveral at 4 a.m. Wednesday. A preliminary review of conditions at the Kennedy Space Center was positive, however, after the worst of Hurricane Floyd passed. There appeared to be no major damage to NASA assets, including the launch pads, the four Space Shuttle Orbiters, and flight hardware
The east side of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center shows missing panels around the leaves of the upper door, the effect of the high winds from Hurricane Floyd as it passed along the East Coast of Florida, Sept. 14-15. At a weather tower located between Shuttle Launch Pad 39A and Launch Complex 41, the highest winds recorded during the superstorm were 91 mph from the NNW at 4:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15. The maximum sustained winds were recorded at 66 mph. The highest amount of rain recorded at KSC was 2.82 inches as the eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 121 miles east of Cape Canaveral at 4 a.m. Wednesday. A preliminary review of conditions at the Kennedy Space Center was positive after the worst of Hurricane Floyd passed. There appeared to be no major damage to NASA assets, including the launch pads, the four Space Shuttle Orbiters, and flight hardware
A railroad spur running alongside Launch Pad 39A and 39B at Kennedy Space Center is covered with debris washed up by the Atlantic Ocean as Hurricane Floyd passed along the East Coast of Florida, Sept. 14-15. Pad 39B can be seen at upper left. At a weather tower located between Shuttle Launch Pad 39A and Launch Complex 41, the highest winds recorded during the superstorm were 91 mph from the NNW at 4:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15. The maximum sustained winds were recorded at 66 mph. The highest amount of rain recorded at KSC was 2.82 inches as the eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 121 miles east of Cape Canaveral at 4 a.m. Wednesday. A preliminary review of conditions at the Kennedy Space Center was positive after the worst of Hurricane Floyd passed. There appeared to be no major damage to NASA assets, including the launch pads, the four Space Shuttle Orbiters, and flight hardware
Just east of Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39, Pads A & B (Pad 39B is seen upper left), sea-oat-covered sand dunes along the Atlantic Ocean show the ravaging effects of wind and high water from Hurricane Floyd as it passed along the East Coast of Florida, Sept. 14-15. At a weather tower located between Shuttle Launch Pad 39A and Launch Complex 41, the highest winds recorded during the superstorm were 91 mph from the NNW at 4:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15. The maximum sustained winds were recorded at 66 mph. The highest amount of rain recorded at KSC was 2.82 inches as the eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 121 miles east of Cape Canaveral at 4 a.m. Wednesday. A preliminary review of conditions at the Kennedy Space Center was positive after the worst of Hurricane Floyd passed. There appeared to be no major damage to NASA assets, including the launch pads, the four Space Shuttle Orbiters, and flight hardware
At Cape Canaveral Air Station's Complex 5/6, a Redstone rocket lies broken on the pad after Hurricane Floyd passed along the East Coast of Florida, Sept. 14-15. In the foreground lies a broken cable, which held the rocket in place, apparently sheared by the storm. The complex, now dismantled, was the site of the first manned launch May 5, 1961. At a weather tower located between Shuttle Launch Pad 39A and Launch Complex 41, the highest winds recorded during the superstorm were 91 mph from the NNW at 4:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15. The maximum sustained winds were recorded at 66 mph. The highest amount of rain recorded at KSC was 2.82 inches as the eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 121 miles east of Cape Canaveral at 4 a.m. Wednesday. A preliminary review of conditions at the Kennedy Space Center was positive, however, after the worst of Hurricane Floyd passed. There appeared to be no major damage to NASA assets, including the launch pads, the four Space Shuttle Orbiters, and flight hardware
At Cape Canaveral Air Station's Complex 5/6, a Redstone rocket lies broken on the pad after Hurricane Floyd passed along the East Coast of Florida, Sept. 14-15. Still standing behind it are the Explorer I (center) and Jupiter C (right) rockets. The complex, now dismantled, was the site of the first manned launch May 5, 1961. At a weather tower located between Shuttle Launch Pad 39A and Launch Complex 41, the highest winds recorded during the superstorm were 91 mph from the NNW at 4:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15. The maximum sustained winds were recorded at 66 mph. The highest amount of rain recorded at KSC was 2.82 inches as the eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 121 miles east of Cape Canaveral at 4 a.m. Wednesday. A preliminary review of conditions at the Kennedy Space Center was positive, however, after the worst of Hurricane Floyd passed. There appeared to be no major damage to NASA assets, including the launch pads, the four Space Shuttle Orbiters, and flight hardware
A Redstone rocket lies broken on Cape Canaveral Air Station's Complex 5/6 after Hurricane Floyd passed along the East Coast of Florida, Sept. 14-15. On the right lies a broken cable, which held the rocket in place, apparently sheared by the storm. The complex, now dismantled, was the site of the first manned launch May 5, 1961. At a weather tower located between Shuttle Launch Pad 39A and Launch Complex 41, the highest winds recorded during the superstorm were 91 mph from the NNW at 4:50 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 15. The maximum sustained winds were recorded at 66 mph. The highest amount of rain recorded at KSC was 2.82 inches as the eye of Hurricane Floyd passed 121 miles east of Cape Canaveral at 4 a.m. Wednesday. A preliminary review of conditions at the Kennedy Space Center was positive, however, after the worst of Hurricane Floyd passed. There appeared to be no major damage to NASA assets, including the launch pads, the four Space Shuttle Orbiters, and flight hardware
The flat-faced rock near the center of this image is a target for contact investigation by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in early March 2015. The view is from the rover's front hazard avoidance camera on March 3, 2015, during the 3,948th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on Mars. This camera is mounted low on the rover and has a wide-angle lens. The scene includes a shadow of the tool turret at the end of Opportunity's robotic arm. The rock includes a target called "Sergeant Charles Floyd," for the quartermaster of the Lewis and Clark expedition. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19146
The distribution of ocean surface winds over the Atlantic Ocean, based on September 1999 data from NASA SeaWinds instrument on the QuikScat satellite, shows wind direction, superimposed on the color image indicating wind speed.
IBM 704 Computer Operations People on the photo are: Woman in the front with her back to the camera is Jean Ruddle Migneault. She provided the names for the rest of the staff in the photo. Kathy Christian Young, Mary Talmage Kaylor, Willie Terrell Ruffin (computer operator not mathematician), Joyce Alston Clemens, Lou Mayo Ladson, Rachel Richardson Mayo, Sadie Livingston Boyer , Joann Shipp Buschman worked in hangar in West Area, Shelva Blevins Stroud (programmer in data reduction), Jackie Kilby, Rita Englebert, Harriet Seals Winestein, Lillian Boney, Jane Thompson Kemper, Helen Thompson ( math aide) Jane and Helen were daughters of Floyd Thompson, center director.
Cumulative driving by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity surpassed marathon distance on March 24, 2015, as the rover neared a destination called "Marathon Valley," which is middle ground of this stereo view from early March. The scene appears three-dimensional when viewed through blue-red glasses with the red lens on the left. Olympic marathon distance is 26.219 miles (42.195 kilometers). The left-eye and right-eye cameras of Opportunity's navigation camera collected the component images of this scene during the 3,948th and 3,949th Martian days, or sols, of the rover's work on Mars (March 3 and 4, 2015). The view is centered toward the east-southeast, from a location on Endeavour Crater's western rim overlooking Marathon Valley, with the floor of Endeavour beyond, and the eastern rim in the distance. In the foreground at center, Opportunity's robotic arm is positioned for examination of a blocky rock called "Sergeant Charles Floyd." http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19156
Cumulative driving by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity surpassed marathon distance on March 24, 2015, as the rover neared a destination called "Marathon Valley," which is middle ground of this dramatic view from early March. Olympic marathon distance is 26.219 miles (42.195 kilometers). Opportunity's navigation camera collected the component images of this scene during the 3,948th and 3,949th Martian days, or sols, of the rover's work on Mars (March 3 and 4, 2015). The view is centered toward the east-southeast, from a location on Endeavour Crater's western rim overlooking Marathon Valley, with the floor of Endeavour beyond, and the eastern rim in the distance. In the foreground at center, Opportunity's robotic arm is positioned for examination of a blocky rock called "Sergeant Charles Floyd." http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19155
Russian Scientists from the Commission of Interplanetary Travel of the Soviet Academy of Science November 21,1959 Left to right: Front row: Yury S. Galkin, Anatoly A. Blagonravov, and Prof. Leonid I. Sedov (Chair of the Commission for Interplanetary Travel)-Soviet Academy of Science, Leninski Gory, Moscow, Russia Dr. H.J. E. Reid and Floyd L. Thompson Langley Research Center. Second row: Boris Kit Translator, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Eugene C. Draley and Laurence K. Loftin, Jr. -Langley Research Center Arnold W. Frutkin and Harold R. Lawrence NASA Headquarters. Back row: T.Melvin Butler-Langley Research Center John W. Townsend Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Washington D.C., and George M. Low NASA Headquarters.
This photograph depicts Marshall Space Flight Center employees, James Reagin, machinist (top); Floyd McGinnis, machinist; and Ernest Davis, experimental test mechanic (foreground), working on a mock up of the S-IC thrust structure. The S-IC stage is the first stage, or booster, of the 364-foot long Saturn V rocket that ultimately took astronauts to the Moon. The S-IC stage, burned over 15 tons of propellant per second during its 2.5 minutes of operation to take the vehicle to a height of about 36 miles and to a speed of about 6,000 miles per hour. The stage was 138 feet long and 33 feet in diameter. Operating at maximum power, all five of the engines produced 7,500,000 pounds of thrust.
High-resolution ocean surface wind data from NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) illustrate the strength of Santa Ana winds that pounded Southern California this week, causing damage and spreading brush fires. The colored arrows represent various ranges of wind speed, which were still well in excess of 30 knots (34 miles per hour), even after reaching the ocean and weakening. Santa Ana winds are offshore and down-slope winds unique to Southern California that are usually channeled through mountain gaps. These Santa Ana winds extend more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) offshore before changing direction to flow along the shore. The wind speeds and directions are retrieved from range-compressed backscatter data measured by QuikScat that has much higher spatial resolution than QuikScat's standard data products. Useful applications of high-resolution science-quality wind products derived from range-compressed backscatter have been demonstrated in two scientific papers: one on Hurricane Floyd and the other on Catalina Eddies. This is the first demonstration on near-real-time retrieval applications. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03892
NPP is lowered into the thermal vacuum chamber. Once inside the Iron Maiden (visible in the lower left) is fitted in place. Then air is pumped out of the chamber and temperature extremes are applied to replicate orbit conditions. Credit: Ball Aerospace The NPP satellite sits surrounded by 144 rock concert speakers. They're stacked in a circle 16 feet high in a testing room at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. As engineers set up for the environmental test, Pink Floyd's song "Money" plays gently in the background. The music stops. The room clears. Then the sound engineer wearing earplugs and headphones in the control room next door flips a switch. Slowly, the noise of thousands of pounds of exploding rocket fuel builds louder and louder until it blasts the satellite at a deafening 143.6 decibels -- loud enough to cause serious damage and pain to unprotected ears. "I was outside the building when they did the full level acoustics," says Glenn Iona, NPP Chief Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "and I could feel the ground shaking." To read more go to: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/npp-testing.html" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/NPP/news/npp-testing.html</a> <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b> <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b> <b>Find us on <a href="http://web.stagram.com/n/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>