William H. Pickering: America's Deep Space Pioneer - Jet Propulsion Laboratory Leader, Explorer 1, Ranger and Surveyor Lunar Missions for Apollo Preparation, Mars and Venus Probes (NASA SP-2008-4113)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), World Spaceflight News, Douglas J. Mudgway
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On the first day of February 1958, three men held aloft a model of Explorer 1, America's first Earth satellite, for the press photographers. That image of William Pickering, Wernher von Braun, and James Van Allen became an icon for America's response to the Sputnik challenge.
Von Braun and Van Allen were well known, but who was Pickering? From humble beginnings in a remote country town in New Zealand, Pickering came to California in 1928 and quickly established himself as an outstanding student at the then-new California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
At Caltech, Pickering worked under the famous physicist Robert Millikan on cosmic-ray experiments, at that time a relatively new field of physics. In 1944, when Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was developing rocket propulsion systems for the U.S. Army, Pickering joined the workforce as a technical manager. He quickly established himself as an outstanding leader, and 10 years later, Caltech named him Director of JPL.
And then, suddenly, the world changed. In October 1957, the Sputnik satellite startled the world with its spectacular demonstration of Soviet supremacy in space.
Pickering led an intense JPL effort that joined with the von Braun and Van Allen teams to answer the Soviet challenge. Eighty-three days later, on 31 January 1958, America's first satellite roared into Earth orbit.
A few months after that, Pickering's decision to affiliate JPL with the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration set the basis for his subsequent career and the future of NASA's ambitious program for the exploration of the solar system.
In the early days of the space program, failure followed failure as Pickering and his JPL team slowly ascended the "learning curve." Eventually, however, NASA and JPL resolve paid off. First the Moon, then Venus, and then Mars yielded their scientific mysteries to JPL spacecraft of ever-increasing sophistication.
Within its first decade, JPL-built spacecraft sent back the first close-up photographs of the lunar surface, while others journeyed far beyond the Moon to examine Venus and return the first close-up views of the surface of Mars. Later, even more complex space missions made successful soft-landings on the Moon and on Mars.
Pickering's sudden death in March 2004 at the age of 93 was widely reported in the U.S. and overseas. As one NASA official eulogized him, "His pioneering work formed the foundation upon which the current program for exploring our solar system was built."
On this, the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Space Age, it is proper to remind ourselves of the ordinary people who met the extraordinary challenge to make it happen.
About the Author
Douglas Mudgway came to the United States in 1962 to work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, following a 15-year career in the field of guided missile research and testing in Australia. At JPL, he was involved in the development and operation of the Deep Space Network from its infancy in the early 1960s until its maturity in the early 1990s. He retired from JPL in 1991.
His previous books include Uplink-Downlink: A History of the Deep Space Network, 1957-1997 (NASA SP-2001-4227) and Big Dish: Building America's Deep Space Connection to the Planets (University Press of Florida: 2005).
A mathematics and physics graduate of the University of New Zealand, Mr. Mudgway writes and enjoys life in the wine country of Northern California.
About the Back Cover
This montage was assembled from planetary images taken by NASA spacecraft managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Included are (from top to bottom) images of Mercury (taken by Mariner 10); Venus (by Magellan); Earth and the Moon (by Galileo); Mars (by Mars Global Surveyor); Jupiter (by Cassini); and Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (by Voyager). As of 2007, no spacecraft have yet visited Pluto. (pia 03153, courtesy of NASA/ JPL-Caltech)
The image used on the cover of this book was derived from this beautiful portrait of William H. Pickering, which was executed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory artist Arthur Beeman. The portrait was presented to Dr. Pickering upon his retirement by Assistant Laboratory Director Fred Felberg, on behalf of all JPL employees, at a reception in the Pasadena Conference Center on Friday, 19 March 1976. A treasured personal artifact of William Pickering's career at JPL, the original remains in the possession of the Pickering Family Trust. (Used by permission of the Pickering Family Trust.) (P16396, courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)
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William H. Pickering: America's Deep Space Pioneer
Douglas J. Mudgway
The NASA History Series
National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA History Division Office of External Relations Washington, DC 2008
NASA SP-2008-4113
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"To set foot on the soil of the asteroids, to lift by hand a rock from the Moon, to observe Mars from a distance of several tens of kilometers, to land on its satellite or even on its surface, what can be more fantastic? From the moment of using rocket devices a new great era will begin in astronomy: the epoch of the more intensive study of the firmament."
Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, Father of Russian Astronautics: 1896
"This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it."
John F. Kennedy, President of United states of America: November, 1963
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Contents
Chapter 1 - The Boy from Havelock
Chapter 2 - The Cosmic Ray Researcher
Chapter 3 - The Cold War Warrior
Chapter 4 - The Space Age Begins
Chapter 5 - The Learning Curve
Chapter 6 - The Steep Part of the Curve
Chapter 7 - Point of Inflection
Chapter 9 - An Active Retirement
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Foreword
The Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) Foundation is delighted to have this opportunity to make some remarks in support of this most commendable and authoritative biography of William Pickering by his colleague and friend Douglas Mudgway.
The IPENZ Foundation is a charitable trust formed by the IPENZ in 2002 for the promotion of the engineering profession in New Zealand and to assist in the welfare of its members. William Pickering, one of our most distinguished New Zealanders and an Honorary Fellow of IPENZ, was invited to become the Foundation's inaugural patron. He accepted with alacrity, met with the trustees on his many visits to New Zealand, and maintained a lively interest in the Foundation until his death. He is sadly missed.
In the course of researching the feasibility of sponsoring a biography of "William Pickering, the Foundation became aware that preparation of this book was well under way under the auspices of the NASA History Division. "We are pleased therefore to be able to perpetuate the memory of William Pickering in New Zealand by our association with this biography, which we see clearly as part of our mission to promote the engineering profession.
William Pickering was a modest man, but his achievements were legion, as the reader will learn from this wonderfully illustrated and very readable biography. He was a spaceflight and rocket engineer and the revered leader of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Pasadena in the early heady days of space exploration. The author had the inestimable advantage of knowing Bill and being able to interview him and subsequently, after his death, having full access to his papers.
Douglas Mudgway, also a New Zealander by birth, graduated from the University of New Zealand before moving to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1962 following a 15-year career in Australia in the field of guided missile research.
The IPENZ Foundation is thus doubly proud to be associated with this prestigious NASA publication about a former New Zealander by a former New Zealander. We commend this book to readers in the United States, New Zealand, and around the world who remain in awe of the achievements of the early pioneers of the Space Age. Who can forget the photo (reproduced in the book) of William Pickering, James van Allen, and Wernher von Braun holding aloft the model of Explorer 1 following the successful launch of the first U.S. satellite in 1958?
John Cunningham Chair
IPENZ Foundation
Wellington, New Zealand
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Preface
William Pickering first came to the attention of the world in 1958 when the media triumphantly announced the successful launch of Explorer 1, the American response to the Soviet deployment a few months earlier of the first Earth-orbiting satellite Sputnik. Along with Wernher von Braun and James Van Allen, William Pickering shared the limelight and the accolades. In that instant of time the Space Age was born, and with it the professional reputation of William H. Pickering.
By that time, he had already been the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for more than three years, and had been associated with the Laboratory for about ten years prior to that time as the head of one of its principal engineering divisions engaged in secret guided missile tests for the U.S. Army.
Shortly after the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) was established in 1958, Pickering became responsible for carrying out NASA's Ranger program, a bold step to return live, close-up video images of the lunar surface in the last few moments before spacecraft impact. Although the program got off to a discouraging start, Pickering remained confident of ultimate success and, soon enough, the world saw its first close-up pictures of the Moon. These were followed by more sophisticated lunar missions that expanded our knowledge of the Moon and paved the way for the Apollo manned landings on the Moon.
Successful though they were Pickering saw these remarkable achievements as merely the beginning of man's venture into deep space. Under NASA's sponsorship, JPL shifted its focus outward, beyond Earth and the Moon, to the planets, beginning with Venus and Mars. Later, Pickering would push the envelope of JPL's interest even further outward, toward the very edges of the solar system itself, with missions to Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus.
When he retired in 1976, Mariner spacecraft had visited Mercury, Venus, and Mars, and Jupiter had been reconnoitered by each of the two Pioneer spacecraft and two massive Viking spacecraft were in orbit around Mars, each preparing to release a robot Lander to explore the surface of Mars. JPL teams were also preparing to launch two Voyager spacecraft both of which would conduct an amazing 20-year odyssey of all the major planets of the solar system that came to be known as the Grand Tour. This was the legacy that Pickering left for others to build upon, in mankind's relentless pursuit of scientific knowledge and understanding of its place in the "grand scheme of things."
In the years that followed, JPT continued to advance NASA's program of planetary exploration with great success. From time to time Pickering's name appeared in the local newspapers and, those of us at JPL who were interested, learned that he had been invited to Saudi Arabia to setup an institute of technology for the Saudis. A few years later, we heard that he was back in the U.S. and had become involved in development of an alternative fuel for domestic home heating applications. Of the details we knew nothing.
Later, in retirement I found occasion to reflect on what kind of person William Pickering really was and how he had suddenly appeared on the national scene, just when a man like him was needed most. As part of his engineering work force at JPL, I had seen our Director only as a reserved, well-informed man of academic manner whose legendary achievements were a matter of public record, but the persona of this taciturn, tight-lipped man remained hidden from my view.
Early on a brilliant fall afternoon just before Thanksgiving 2002, I called on William Pickering to seek his concurrence and cooperation in writing the story of his professional life. With the passing years, the need to do that had become more imperative and I finally resolved to make the effort. "It might be an interesting idea to kick around," he said in response to my proposal. We chatted back and forth for the rest of the afternoon until it was, obviously, time for me to go. For the next year, in intensive oral interviews, Pickering generously recalled the personal and professional details of his remarkable life, spanning 93 years from childhood in New Zealand to his retirement years in California.
In the following pages I have embedded what he told me in the context of the major events in the American space program in which he played a significant part, significant indeed. In a 1965 article that spoke of Pickering's career at JPL to that time, a leading New York newspaper suggested that his greatest contribution may have been his positive efforts to influence government and public attitudes toward support for the space program, and his determination to rally public confidence in the nation's power to recover from the shock of Soviet dominance in space engendered by the Sputnik affair and subsequent Soviet Moon shots. More than 30 years later, Thomas Everhart, a former president of Caltech, would write, "More than any other individual, Bill Pickering was responsible for America's success in exploring the planets. . . ." These would become his legacies in the American record of space exploration and endeavor.
As in all large enterprises, the top executive gets all the credit despite the obvious fact that the ultimate result is the outcome of the integrated efforts of the thousands of individuals involved. It is also true that the top executive gets all the blame when the outcome turns unfavorable. This was never more true than during Pickering's tenure as Director of JPT. Pickering understood this and thought of himself and JPT, that is, the people of the "Tab" as he called it, as synonymous. Thus, in recalling his story of success and failure, he found it difficult to separate his individual contribution from that of the Laboratory as a whole. The media attention that focused the public spotlight on William Pickering, the individual, tended to overlook the enormous infrastructure that produced the space spectaculars for which he received the credit—or the blame.
Nevertheless, Pickering believed there were two areas for which he was solely responsible. First, he believed that it was his job to create a work environment at the Laboratory that would attract, and retain, the very best engineering and scientific talent to work on its programs. And second, he believed that it was his job to use his public image to foster public support for the U.S. space program and its preeminent position in space exploration. In achieving these ends he engendered strong critics at NASA Headquarters, for his hubris in the former case, and his inordinate expenditure of government time and effort to public speaking and the advancement of professional societies in the latter case. Undeterred by the criticism, Pickering nevertheless forged ahead to realize the ultimate vindication of his responsibilities as he saw them.
After he became Director, William Pickering published little in the way of technical material, preferring rather to make use of his outstanding skills as a public speaker, to present his views and opinions on space and, later, the human condition, to professional and public audiences alike. I have made frequent use of his public speeches to afford a window on his inner thoughts on these topics as they caught his interest over the 20-year period of his involvement with the space program. The archives of both the JPL and Caltech contain much additional material about Pickering and his tenure as Director that remains to be mined by future researchers.
In a life spanning most of the 20th century, William Hayward Pickering rose from the most humble beginnings to achieve worldwide recognition by the highest institutions in the field of science and technology. The institutional story of JPL during Pickering's tenure has been well told elsewhere.1 This is the personal story of William H. Pickering the man, before, during, and after that climactic period of his life.
Sonoma, California October 2007
1 Koppes, Clayton R. JPL and the American Space Program: A History of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982.
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Acknowledgments
In the task of researching and writing this book, I count myself very fortunate to have enjoyed the personal confidence, support, and encouragement of William H. Pickering for the final three years of his life. After he suddenly passed away in March 2004, I was equally fortunate to have received a continuation of that confidence and support from his daughter, Beth Pickering Mezitt, and his wife, Inez Chapman Pickering. To both of these ladies I am deeply indebted for their gracious help with details of William Pickering's personal life, and for their generous access to the collected personal papers and photographs of William Pickering.
I am also indebted to R. Wayne Mezitt, Trustee for the Pickering Family Trust, for permission to publish the manuscript.
The Archives and Records Section of JPT assisted me with my research in its William H. Pickering Collection and the Millikan Tibrary at Caltech provided me a copy of his thesis and copies of various technical papers dealing with Pickering's early work on cosmic rays at Caltech. The Alexander Turnbull Tibrary in New Zealand generously provided me with background photographs and material related to Wellington in the 1920s to supplement the material on Pickering's years at Wellington College that came from the College Archives Director, Paddianne Neely. The staff at the Marlborough Provincial Museum and Archives in Blenheim, New Zealand, supported this project with background material relating to Havelock for almost 30 years that included young William Pickering's childhood.
A special note of thanks is due to indefatigable Dr. John Campbell of Canterbury University for his concept of the Rutherford-Pickering Memorial in Havelock and his untiring effort to bring the concept to reality. His splendid book on Rutherford provided much insight into life in early Havelock. Also in New Zealand, Alan Hayward and Carol Short, members of the Hayward and Pickering families, respectively, provided recollections and memorabilia for which I am truly grateful.
In reconstructing Pickering's professional career I have drawn upon previously published material from "JPL and the American Space Program," by Clayton R. Koppes; "Exploring the Unknown," by John M. Logsdon; "Beyond the Atmosphere," by Homer Newell; "Rutherford," by John Campbell; "Haywood Heritage," by Stuart Bunn; "Millikan's School," by Judith R. Goodstein; "The Rise of Robert Millikan," by Robert H. Kargon; "The Universal Man," by Michael H. Gorn; and various articles on William H. Pickering from Time magazine, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Pasadena Star-News, Marlborough Express, The Press Christchurch, the Evening Post, the Dominion, and the Auckland Herald. I am indebted to the authors and publishers of these various works.
Dr. Steven Dick, NASA Chief Historian, and Erik Conway, JPL Historian, provided insightful comments on my representation of NASA, Caltech, and JPL during Pickering's time for which I am profoundly grateful. Stephen Garber and the staff of the NASA History Division provided invaluable editorial guidance.
In the Communications Support Services Center at NASA Headquarters, Ann-Marie Wildman expertly designed the layout of the book and Steve Bradley adapted the cover art and designed the dust jacket. Stacie Dapoz oversaw the careful copyediting and proofread the layout, David Dixon handled the printing, and Gail Carter-Kane and Cindy Miller supervised the whole production process. These talented professionals gave form and finish to the manuscript, an onerous task that earns my admiration and appreciation..
Finally, I had the unique experience of working as a high-level engineer at JPL during the last 15 years of William Pickering's tenure as Director. His influence on all that happened there in those years percolated down to me, thereby inspiring me and my colleagues alike to do greater things, to reach further, to do better than we or others had done before, to always understand fully what we were doing and why we were doing it, and, above all, to pursue excellence in all that we did. For that experience too, I am grateful.
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The Boy from Havelock
The Monument (2003)
The little town proclaimed its position in the general order of things by two large billboards that were prominently located on the main road at either end of the business area that consisted of several stores, a few cafes, a post office, and two pubs. Against a postcard-like background of green hills, shining water and blue sky, the billboards shouted their greeting: "Welcome to Havelock: Greenshell Mussel Capital of the World." It immediately captured the attention of the tourists and it was good for the town's main business—greenshell mussel farming.
However, there was much more to Havelock than these two billboards suggested. In the center of the town, adjacent to the Town Hall stood a tall stone monument known as the "Ronga." Over the years, time and weather had all but obliterated the inscription, and most of the passers-by took little notice of it. The monument commemorated the loss of the schooner "Ronga" in April 1906, in which six local townsfolk lost their lives.1
There it stood for almost 100 years as the memories faded and those who remembered passed away. Eventually it became simply an artifact of Havelock, a rather dilapidated symbol of public enthusiasm for a long since forgotten cause.
However, as the new century began, an ambitious initiative began to stir in the town councils of Havelock. It was driven by John Campbell, a professor of physics from the University of Canterbury. In his recent book on the life of Lord Ernest Rutherford,2 Campbell described Rutherford as ". . . one of the most illustrious scientists the world has ever seen. He is to the atom what Darwin was to evolution, Newton to mechanics, Faraday to electricity, and Einstein to relativity."3 Although Rutherford was born in nearby Nelson, he received his primary education at the tiny country school of Havelock.
In John Campbell's mind, the New Zealand public paid insufficient homage to its world-famous son, and he was determined to do something about it. For a decade, he worked to promote public appreciation of Rutherford by giving talks and lectures in schools and conferences, promoting exhibitions and displays in public places, and distributing information to schools. By 1991, he had been instrumental in implementing the "Rutherford Birthplace Project" a memorial plaza in the adjacent city of Nelson, where Rutherford went to secondary school, or "college," as it is called in New Zealand.
However, the splendid Rutherford Plaza, being in Nelson, left the town of Havelock without any formal recognition of its association with the great man. Campbell could not resist a challenge to do something about that, too.
At that point, Campbell recalled meeting another famous New Zealand scientist during his visit to the University at Christchurch in the early 1980s. In the course of their conversations, Campbell learned that, by an extraordinary coincidence, this famous scientist had also lived in Havelock and been educated in the same little primary school at Havelock, just a few years after Rutherford. Like Rutherford before him, he had to move elsewhere to complete "college" and university education before going on to attain world fame in another country. His name was William Pickering and he went on to become the pioneer of America's space exploration program.