[music]
Builders, Researchers, Explorers
NASA's mission attracts and encourages excellence in these kinds of people.
Sadly, the NASA Goddard community
has lost four giants in recent months.
As an agency tasked to rely on one-of-a-kind technology,
NASA relied on Phil Sabelhaus
to put that technology in place.
Most recently a project manager for Landsat 9,
Phil was a passionate project manager for some of
the most storied scientific missions in the agency,
including TOMS-EP, Landsat 7,
Landsat 8, and Aqua.
He also worked for a time as the project
manager of the James Webb Space Telescope.
While JWST may be the biggest mission to his name,
Phil helped lead NASA Goddard into a new era
of Earth observations, overseeing missions
that largely re-defined what it meant to study
our home planet.
The recipient of numerous prestigious awards
Phil's inimitable style demanded excellence from
his team with a minimum of formality.
Where his signature style leaned toward sandals and blue jeans,
Phil's technical acumen and compelling leadership abilities
enabled NASA Goddard to stay on the forefront of remote sensing technologies.
Engineers make things work.
The best engineers make things work with other things.
Marty Davis was that kind of an engineer.
A member of Goddard’s family for more than fifty years,
Marty was the go-to guy when it came to GOES
As project manager, Marty oversaw all aspects of the program,
from design to on-orbit checkout and everything in-between.
GOES is the backbone of the nation's weather forecasting system,
and when he took the job to oversee that vital program
Marty came with a formidable portfolio.
Before building observatories to look down at Earth,
Marty worked on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory,
peering out to distant reaches of the cosmos.
The recipient of many awards including NASA's highest,
the Distinguished Service Medal,
Marty also found time to strut
and fret at the footlights of Goddard's
beloved Music and Drama club,
known affectionately as MAD.
Astrophysics is essentially an untouchable science,
with researchers studying forces and events that defy
easy categorization or comparison.
NASA's Neil Gehrels, however, turned those elusive scientific mysteries
into something living and breathing.
A rock climber away from his lab,
Neil was recipient of a long list of prestigious professional awards.
Neil specialized in gamma-ray astronomy,
helping to develop both instrumentation
as well as profound scientific insights.
His career includes stints as Principal Investigator for the Swift Mission,
Project Scientist for the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory,
and Project Scientist for WFIRST, just to name a few.
Elected chair of the National Academy of Sciences Astronomy Section,
Neil's name appears more than 600 academic articles
and journal publications.
It would be too easy to stop
at the showiest part of Piers Sellers's biography.
A three flight NASA astronaut,
Piers Sellers was a champion for Planet Earth,
acting as both explorer of the highest order,
as well as a tireless leader tasked with empowering
other researchers to push back the frontiers of big questions.
A PhD in biometeorology,
Piers came to work at NASA Goddard
long before he earned his place in the 1996 astronaut class.
His dreams of space required that he first become a naturalized
citizen of the United States, something he added in 1991
to his shared British citizenship.
His research into how the Earth's biosphere and atmosphere
interact had a substantial impact on
the growing field of multi-modal climate modeling,
using data inputs from aircraft,
satellites, and ground based research.
But his relentless drive to help science
better understand how to protect
and preserve a healthy planet
most profoundly underscores his legacy.
In a recent New York Times opinion piece,
Piers commented about his optimism for humanity
to make the kinds of decisions that will preserve
the stability of our fragile home.
"History is replete with examples
of us humans getting out of tight spots," he wrote.
As a decorated spacewalking astronaut
he understood the great potentials for getting out
of tight spots better than most.
NASA means exploration
and NASA means excellence.
These four excellent explorers
will be missed and remembered.
[music]