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Download Chapter 821KB Memorial Tributes: Volume 19 Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Memorial Tributes: Volume 19 EDGAR M. CORTRIGHT 1923–2014 Elected in 1973 “Innovative leadership in aerospace research and development and in its practical application to significant national problems.” BY JAMES M. FREE SUBMITTED BY THE NAE HOME SECRETARY EDGAR MAURICE CORTRIGHT, a skilled engineer and manager of multifaceted space programs and organizations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), passed away on May 4, 2014, in Scarborough, Maine, at 90 years of age. His most significant accomplishments include establish- ment of the nation’s first meteorological satellite and space probe programs; supervision of Viking, the first spacecraft to land on Mars; and direction of the Langley Research Center during the transitional period in the early 1970s. Ed’s government career began as a research engineer at the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA)’s Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, where he investigated aerodynamic issues with high-speed inlets and nozzles and headed activities in supersonic wind tunnels. In 1957 he was selected for a series of space-related planning committee proj- ects that led to his transfer to headquarters in 1958. There he had responsibility for establishing NASA’s initial satellite and space exploration programs. Throughout the 1960s he was a James M. Free is director of the Glenn Research Center where Ed Cortright spent the early years of his career. Robert Arrighi, historian and research associate at the Glenn Research Center, compiled the infor- mation used to prepare this tribute. 75 Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Memorial Tributes: Volume 19 76 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES key manager of all the agency’s unmanned space missions and launch vehicles. In 1968 he was named director of Langley Research Center, where he revitalized facilities and guided the successful Viking program. After retiring in 1975, he man- aged Owens Illinois Corporation and Lockheed-California Company, served on a number of boards, and started his own business. Ed was born on July 29, 1923, in the Pennsylvania coal town of Hastings. He developed an early interest in aviation based on the stories of his father, Edgar Sr., about his experiences as one of the few US pilots in World War I. The family later relocated to Philadelphia where Ed earned his high school diploma. Although active in sports and other activities, he remained focused on aeronautics. He began work on an aeronautical engineering degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute but, as international ten- sions escalated in the fall of 1941, accepted his father’s advice and enrolled in the school’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). During this period Ed met his future wife, Beverly Hotaling. In 1944, during his junior year at Rensselaer, he was assigned to the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. The vessel did not see enemy action during its initial mission sup- porting British raids in Indonesia, but Japanese kamikaze air- craft repeatedly struck during its subsequent assignment at Iwo Jima. The resulting casualties and damage necessitated the ship’s return to the United States for repairs. Ed took the opportunity to marry Beverly. The Saratoga spent the remain- der of the war training air crews in Hawaii, and Ed was assigned to the Naval Air Modification Unit in Johnsonville, Pennsylvania, where as a project engineer he installed turbo superchargers on Vought Corsair fighter aircraft. He returned to Rensselaer in the fall of 1946 and, as a research assistant, performed theoretical analysis on General Electric air-to-air missile systems. He graduated in the spring of 1947. While he completed work on his master’s degree at Rensselaer he applied for employment with NACA. In February 1948 he began work as an aeronautical research scientist at the Lewis Laboratory in Cleveland and was immediately thrown Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Memorial Tributes: Volume 19 EDGAR M. CORTRIGHT 77 into Associate Director Abe Silverstein’s hand-picked Applied Mechanics Group, which pursued theoretical aerodynamic calculations (and included four future National Academy of Engineering members). Ed later admitted that he struggled to apply his strong mathematical background in such a creative manner. In 1949 he was named head of Lewis’ Small Supersonic Tunnels Branch and became involved in more hands-on, applied research. In the mid-1940s Lewis had built a series of supersonic wind tunnels with comparatively small diameter test sections to provide high-speed aerodynamic data while the much larger 8′ × 6′ supersonic wind tunnel was being con- structed. Ed and his colleagues used these tunnels to investi- gate supersonic aircraft inlets and exhaust nozzles. He was directly involved in the study of side-mounted inlets, flow over afterbodies, supersonic diffusers, and the use of base bleeding to reduce the drag of blunt-base objects. The base bleed concept allowed a small amount of flow to leak behind the base to increase the pressure which reduced drag. The method was verified with wind tunnel tests using artillery shells. In 1955 Silverstein tapped Ed to head the Supersonic Wind Tunnel Branch. Ed’s 20-person group performed both origi- nal in-house research and military and industry development testing. The development work included the resolution of boundary layer control problems on the Convair F-106 Delta Dart, Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, and McDonnell-Douglas F-101 Voodoo. In 1957 Silverstein pulled Ed into his personal circle of con- sultants, beginning his work in the space program. First he selected Ed to attend an exclusive in-house training program on nuclear propulsion. Lewis was designing a large nuclear test reactor at the time and becoming more involved in the Project Rover nuclear rocket engine program. Ed was then assigned the responsibility of presenting the introductory remarks at Lewis’ influential Flight Propulsion Conference in November 1957. The classified forum, shortly after the launch of Sputnik, addressed an array of military weapon systems, including atmospheric and intercontinental missiles, long- range bombers, and satellites. The meeting was significant for Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Memorial Tributes: Volume 19 78 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES its discussion of high-energy liquid propellants, ion propul- sion, and possible future space missions such as a lunar land- ing. Immediately afterward Silverstein asked Ed to serve on Lewis’ Committee on Space Flight Laboratory, a group devel- oping requirements for a new NACA laboratory to develop chemical, nuclear, and electric propulsion systems. Ed was responsible for identifying the requirements for a multiuse space flight test facility that would include a nuclear rocket test stand. The proposed laboratory did not come to fruition, but Ed’s experience establishing the budget, schedule, and logistics opened the door to his role in planning the new space agency. In the spring of 1958, NACA Director Hugh Dryden brought Silverstein to headquarters to assist with the planning of what would become NASA. Silverstein in turn asked Ed and eight other Lewis staff members to assist in developing the neces- sary programs. Ed was concurrently named chief of the Lewis Plasma Physics Branch that studied ion engines, but increas- ingly he was travelling to headquarters. Initially the Lewis group would fly into Washington on a Sunday night, put in a week of 12- to 14-hour days (which were informally extended in Silverstein’s room late into the night), then return to Cleveland the following Friday or Saturday. Over the course of several months, the Lewis team played a primary role in the assembly of the space agency and establishment of its initial programs. In October 1958 Ed permanently transferred to headquarters and the Cortrights purchased a house in Bethesda. As chief of advanced technology in the Office of Space Flight Development, Ed was initially responsible for establish- ing NASA’s first meteorological satellite programs, TIROS and Nimbus. His role then broadened to encompass all of NASA’s space applications programs, including meteorological, com- munication, navigation, and geodetic satellites. He consulted with military and university researchers who had delved into these fields, organized the information, plotted out NASA’s efforts, and developed program schedules and budgets. He was critical to the development of NASA project management policy by helping define the lines of responsibility between headquarters, the field centers, other agencies, and contractors. Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Memorial Tributes: Volume 19 EDGAR M. CORTRIGHT 79 Silverstein reorganized the Office of Space Flight Programs on February 7, 1960, and created two new offices: Lunar and Planetary Programs and Satellite and Sounding Rocket Programs. As director of the former, Ed managed all lunar, planetary, and interplanetary exploration efforts, including Mariner, Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, and Surveyor (both the space- craft and their launch vehicles). He managed the technical and programmatic issues while his deputy handled the scientific concerns. In May 1960 NASA formally adopted Ed’s system for naming exploration spacecraft: Lunar missions would refer to land exploration concepts (Surveyor), planetary probes would have nautical themes (Mariner), and unique missions would be assigned the name
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