Surveyor Project Documents Collection, 1966-1971.

ArchivalResource

Surveyor Project Documents Collection, 1966-1971.

The collection consists of documents pertaining to the later stages of development and aftermath of the Surveyor project. Included in the collection are correspondence, memoranda, handwritten notes, and manuscript drafts. The latter half of the collection is a rough draft of a management study conducted by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) of the Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter projects. There is one folder with documents pertaining to the Surveyor Review Board at Hughes Aircraft Company, held in May 1966. The review board recommended that Hughes should act promptly in making any key personnel changes, and increase top management attention to Surveyor. The Surveyor program at Hughes was ultimately realigned, with operations consolidated and responsibilities clarified. Included in the folder are memoranda and correspondence, as well as handwritten notes written by Gordon Neiswanger, who at the time of the review board was Assistant to the JPL Deputy Director, Alvin R. Luedecke. One folder documenting the activities of Apollo 12 that photographed and retrieved parts from the Surveyor 3 spacecraft is represented in the collection. Represented in the folder is correspondence pertaining to the disposal of the parts recovered from Surveyor 3. Included are correspondence from NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine, Manned Spacecraft Center Director Robert L. Gilruth, Apollo Program Director Rocco A. Petrone, and Surveyor Returned Materials Program Coordinator Milt Goldfine. Also included is an interoffice memorandum from James D. Burke to Goldfine requesting loan of parts from Surveyor 3 for an exhibit at the International Astronomical Union meeting at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, in April 1971. In the early 1970s, the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) funded a study to identify and categorize the major management experiences gained through the Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter programs. The study was written by Erasmus H. Kloman, Senior Research Associate at NAPA. Draft copies of Kloman's study proved to be extremely controversial at JPL. In JPL's estimation, the drafts were filled with factual and interpretive errors; Kloman lacked an objective approach that would make the study meaningful. The study was published as NASA SP-4901, Unmanned Space Project Management: Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter, in 1972. Represented in the collection are revised drafts of Kloman's studies on Surveyor and Lunar Orbiter. Included in the drafts are comments by Charles W. Craven, Executive Assistant to the Director, at the beginning of the draft, and by James W. McGarrity, Advanced Planetary Missions, Section 201, throughout both of the draft manuscripts. More than one person may have left comments in the text.

0.45 cubic ft. (12 folders)

Related Entities

There are 16 Entities related to this resource.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w77cw5 (corporateBody)

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a research and development center and NASA field center in Pasadena, California. The JPL is owned by NASA and managed by the nearby California Institute of Technology. The laboratory's primary function is the construction and operation of planetary robotic spacecraft, though it also conducts Earth-orbit and astronomy missions. It is also responsible for operating NASA's Deep Space Network. Among the laboratory's major active projects are the Mars Scien...

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r60hpw (corporateBody)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established as an independent agency of the executive branch on October 1, 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act (72 Stat. 426), approved July 29, 1958. It superseded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). NASA conducted redsearch on problems of flight, developed aeronautical and space vehicles, explored outer space, and participated in international programs for the peaceful development of space technology....

Kloman, Erasmus H.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ck60t4 (person)

Paine, Thomas O., 1921-1992

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67q0xds (person)

Engineer, corporate executive, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration official. Full name: Thomas Otten Paine; died 1992. From the description of Thomas O. Paine papers, 1931-1992 (bulk 1960-1982). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83457377 Epithet: couper, of Woodstock, county Oxfordshire British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001092.0x000200 Thomas Otten Paine (November 9, 1921 - May 4, ...

Neiswanger, Gordon.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h782cp (person)

Parks, Robert J., 1922-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gj741f (person)

Robert J. Parks was born April 1, 1922, in Los Angeles, CA. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1944. Parks then served two and a half years in the Army, and six months at Hughes Aircraft before joining the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in April 1947. Parks retired from JPL in June 1987. Parks served as an Engineer in the Guidance and Control Section for three years before serving as Se...

Petrone, Rocco A.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b6459m (person)

Pickering, W. H. (William Hayward), 1910-2004

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rj4mj9 (person)

William Hayward Pickering was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on December 24, 1910. After one year at the University of New Zealand, he entered California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1929. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1932, his Master of Science degree in Physics in 1933, and his Doctorate in Physics in 1936, all from Caltech. After graduation, he joined the Caltech faculty, becoming a full professor of electrical engineering in 1...

Craven, Charles W., 1920-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bd1k0g (person)

Gilruth, Robert R. (Robert Rowe), 1913-2000

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p951xj (person)

Gilruth was Director of MSC. From the description of Ranger 6 Camera Failure : letter to William H. Pickering, JPL Director, 1964 Feb 13. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733098480 Robert R. Gilruth (1913-2000) was an aerospace engineer and NACA/NASA administrator. He received his B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Minnesota (1935), as well as his M.S. (1936). Gilruth was also a flight research engineer f...

McGarrity, James W.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tz11kb (person)

Goldfine, Milton.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d587qm (person)

National Academy of Public Administration

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Hall, R. Cargill 1937-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68d7g71 (person)

Hughes Aircraft Company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6np6bg9 (corporateBody)

Luedecke, Alvin R., 1910-1998.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mt1csx (person)

Luedecke was Deputy Director of JPL. From the description of Personnel Appointment : memo to Senior Staff, Section Managers, Group Supervisors, 1965 Apr 6. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095558 From the description of Operating Plan for Support of Flight Projects by Technical Divisions : memo to Project, Division and Section Managers, 1965 Jul 28. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory Library and Archives). WorldCat record id: 733095786 ...