Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.). Component Development Section.

The documents presented in this collection are labeled "Section 16 Computer Group Memoranda." The "Computer Group" was a subset of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Section 16. Section 16, Component Development, was created in May 1953. In September 1956, Section 16 was transferred to Division 41, Guidance Research and Development, which was in Department 3, Guidance and Electronics. The bulk of the documents are the copies received by Allen D. Weeks, with several copies that belonged to either Russ Caplette or Ray Heacock.

Allen D. Weeks started at JPL in 1951. In 1959 Weeks was an engineer in Electrical Development. In 1962, Weeks was in Section 341, Flight Computers and Sequences, Guidance Control Division. By the early 1970s, he was in Section 361, Spacecraft Computers. This section was changed to the Spacecraft Data Systems in 1979. In 1985, the section became Section 348, still called Spacecraft Data Systems. Weeks retired from JPL in 1986.

Russell K. Caplette started at JPL in 1950. In 1959 he was an engineer in Electrical Development, along with Weeks. In 1961, Caplette was in Section 341, Flight Computers and Sequences, Guidance and Control Division. Like Weeks, he worked in Section 361, Spacecraft Computers in the early 1970s. Caplette stayed in the same section, with various name and number changes. In 1987, Section 348 changed to Data Management Systems. In 1994, Caplette moved to Section 344, Avionic Equipment. He retired in February 1996 after working at JPL for 46 years.

Raymond L. Heacock came to JPL in 1953, shortly after earning a master of science degree from Caltech. In 1959, he joined the newly formed Space Sciences Division, and was a co-investigator on the Ranger Imaging Science Team. In 1970 he was appointed spacecraft systems manager for the Outer Planets Missions Project, which eventually became Voyager. In October 1977, Heacock was appointed Voyager deputy project manager. In March 1979, he was appointed project manager for Voyager, and managed the Voyager spacecraft through the Voyager 2 Jupiter encounter and the Voyager 1 Saturn encounter. Heacock left the project in 1981 to lead an effort to get a U.S. mission to Halley's Comet. In 1987, he was named manager of the Flight Instruments Office, and in 1989, he was promoted to deputy assistant laboratory director for the Office of Space Sciences and Instruments. Heacock retired from JPL in January 1990.