Space and Missile Pioneers


 


INDUCTEES 2010-2019


 

Space and Missile Pioneers

Mr. William N. Barker

  • JOINED the U.S. Air Force in 1964
  • LEFT active duty in 1969
  • INDUCTED 2018

Mr. William N. Barker was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on September 28, 1941. He graduated from Handley High School in Winchester, Virginia, then attended Randolph Macon Military Academy before transferring to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Barker received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Mechanics degree from that institution in 1964 and secured the title “Distinguished Military Graduate” for exemplary efforts as commander of the 1st Air Force Group in the Corps of Cadets. From university, he went to pilot training at Craig Air Force Base in Selma, Alabama.

 

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Space and Missile Pioneers

Col. Francis X. “Duke” Kane

  • JOINED the U.S. Army in 1943
  • CHAIRED the Strategy Working Group 1978 - 1992
  • INDUCTED 2010

Col. Francis X. “Duke” Kane was born December 12, 1918, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated from South Hills High School in Pittsburgh in June 1936. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1943 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. During World War II, he was a flight instructor for American, French, British, Dutch, and Brazilian pilots and served in 1945 with the 508th Fighter Group in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater.

 

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Joseph Kittinger next to the Excelsior gondola on June 2, 1957. USAF

Joseph Kittinger next to the Excelsior gondola on June 2, 1957



Space and Missile Pioneers

The Honorable Hans M. Mark, Ph.D.

  • JOINED NASA in 1969
  • SERVED as Secretary of the Air Force from 1979-1981
  • INDUCTED 2012

The Honorable Hans M. Mark, Ph.D., was born in Mannheim, Germany, on June 17, 1929, and came with his parents to New York City in 1940. Having received U.S. citizenship in 1945, he attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in physics in 1951. He went on to complete his doctorate in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1954. Dr. Mark remained at MIT as acting head of the Neutron Physics Group, Laboratory for Nuclear Science, until 1955. 

 

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Space and Missile Pioneers

Brig. Gen. Joseph Donald Mirth

  • JOINED the U.S. Air Force in 1952
  • RETIRED from active duty in June 1982
  • INDUCTED 2018

Brig. Gen. Joseph Donald Mirth was born on March 30, 1931, in Flint, Michigan. Raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mirth graduated Calumet High School in 1949, then attended Wilson Junior College and the University of Illinois before joining the U.S. Air Force as an Aviation Cadet in 1952. The next year, having earned his pilot wings and a second lieutenant’s commission at Greenville Air Force Base, Mississippi, he became an instructor pilot at Vance AFB, Oklahoma. Subsequently, Mirth entered Oklahoma State University, where he earned both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering in 1959.

 

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Space and Missile Pioneers

Maj. Gen. Robert A. “Rosie” Rosenberg

  • GRADUATED from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1957
  • RETIRED from active duty in 1987
  • INDUCTED 2016

Born in Kansas City, Mo., 1934, Maj. Gen. Robert A. “Rosie” Rosenberg graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., in 1957, receiving a Bachelor's degree in general engineering. Since his eyesight had significantly deteriorated after four years, the Navy insisted he would qualify only as a Supply Officer, “Stacking skivvies by the score in the Supply Corps.” 

 

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Dr. Gladys West and Sam Smith look over data from the Global Positioning System

Dr. Gladys West programmed an IBM 7030 Stretch computer to deliver increasingly precise calculations for the shape of the Earth





Space and Missile Pioneers

Col. Robert “Rob” Walker Roy

  • JOINED the U.S. Air Force in 1951
  • RETIRED from active duty in 1976
  • INDUCTED 2018

Col. Robert “Rob” Walker Roy was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 4, 1928. After attending Pennsylvania State College in 1946-47, he accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1951. Commissioned as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, his initial assignment took him to Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, as a launch control officer with the 6555th Guided Missile Squadron.

 

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Space and Missile Pioneers

Maj. Gen. Thomas D. Taverney

  • GRADUATED from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1968.
  • RETIRED from the service in August 1960
  • INDUCTED 2016

Maj. Gen. Thomas D. Taverney graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He began his space career with the Office of Development Plans, Space and Missile Systems Organization at Los Angeles Air Force Base in California. Shortly after his arrival, he developed the Air Force position on the Russian Galosh missile system as an input to the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I negotiating team.

 

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Space and Missile Pioneers

Dr. Gladys B. West

  • WORKED on the precise calculation of satellite orbits
  • RETIRED in 1998
  • INDUCTED 2018

Dr. Gladys B. West was born in Sutherland, Virginia, in 1930. After graduating at the top of her high school class, she attended Virginia State College where she majored in mathematics. Upon her graduation with a Bachelor of Science in 1952, Dr. West taught mathematics at schools in Sussex County until 1954, when she decided to pursue her Master of Science in Mathematics, full-time, at Virginia State College.

 

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Space and Missile Pioneers

ROCKET SLED DEMONSTRATION BY LIEUTENANT COLONEL JOHN STAPP



Inductees 2000-2009

  • Space and Missile Pioneers

    Maj. Gen. Joe Henry Engle

    Engle became an astronaut at age 32 while flying the X-15 for the U.S. Air Force, becoming the youngest pilot ever to qualify as an astronaut. When selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in 1966, he was the only person selected that was already engaged in spaceflight operations. He was the last surviving X-15 pilot. (Photo: NASA)

     

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Inductees 2010-2019



Inductees 1990-1999

  • Space and Missile Pioneers

    Gen. Samuel C. Phillips

    Lt. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, Director of the Apollo Program, looks out over the controllers in Firing Room 1 of the Apollo Launch Control Center at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida prior to the launch of Apollo 8 on Dec. 21, 1968 (Photo: NASA)

     

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Inductees 1980-1989

  • Space and Missile Pioneers

    Gen. Bernard A. Schriever

    • SERVED as Director of the Minuteman program 1959 - 1963
    • RETIRED from active duty in 1966
    • INDUCTED 1998

    Gen. Schriever (right) inspects an experimental missile warhead reentry vehicle in 1959. Creating an effective nuclear-armed missile force was one of his main goals. (U.S. Air Force photo)

     

     

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Space and Missile Pioneers