Bill Pickering (rocket scientist)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the American astronomer, see William Henry Pickering.

Bill Pickering

Robert A. Millikan

William Hayward Pickering

United States National Academy of Engineering.[3]

Origins and education

Born in

Electrical Engineering, and he majored in what is now commonly known in scientific vernacular as 'telemetry'.[1]

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

William Pickering became involved with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1944, during the Second World War.

As the Director of JPL, from 1954, Pickering was closely involved with management of the

Private and Corporal missiles under the aegis of the U.S. Army.[1]

His group launched

Sputnik
.

In 1958 the lab's projects were transferred to the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Pickering's team concentrated on NASA's unmanned space-flight program. JPL, under Pickering's direction flew further Explorer 3 and Pioneer missions as well as the Ranger and Surveyor missions to the moon and the several Mariner
flybys of Venus and Mars.

Explorer III discovered the radiation field round the earth that is now known as the Van Allen radiation belt. Explorer 1 orbited for 10 years and was the forerunner of a number of successful JPL earth and deep-space satellites. William Hayward Pickering is not to be confused with William Henry Pickering, an astronomer from an earlier era.

At the time of his retirement as director, in 1976, the Voyager missions were about to launch on tours of the outer planets and Viking 1 was on its way to land on Mars.

Retirement

Pickering, keen to support authentic science in his home country, was Patron of New Zealand's only school-based research group, the Nexus Research Group, from 1999 until his death in 2004. Between 1977 and his death in 2004, Pickering also served as Patron of the New Zealand Spaceflight Association; a non-profit organisation that existed from 1977 to 2012 to promote an informed approach to astronautics and related sciences.[citation needed]

Gifford Observatory

Pickering re-opened the Gifford Observatory as the guest of honour, on 25 March 2002.[4] He had been a frequent user of the observatory during his school days in Wellington College.

Death

Pickering died on 15 March 2004 of pneumonia at his home in La Cañada Flintridge, California, US.[1]

Honours

Honorific eponyms

In 2009 to mark the

Kepler Mountains of New Zealand's Fiordland National Park. In December 2010 the New Zealand Geographic Board officially gazetted Mount Pickering as an official New Zealand place name.[9]

Three roads in New Zealand have been named after Pickering, namely: Sir William Pickering Drive in the Canterbury Technology Park in Christchurch; Pickering Crescent in Hamilton; and William Pickering Drive in Auckland.

In December 2018 New Zealand company

Electron rocket and their first mission for NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites programme will be named "This one's for Pickering", in honour of Bill Pickering.[10]

Minor planet

5738 Billpickering is named in his honour.[11]

Gallery

  • Pickering and Kennedy with a model of the Mariner 2 spacecraft
    Pickering and Kennedy with a model of the Mariner 2 spacecraft
  • Pickering, Van Allen & Von Braun at NASA news conference.
    Pickering, Van Allen & Von Braun at NASA news conference.
  • Observatory Mural showing Sir William Pickering.
    Observatory Mural showing Sir William Pickering.
  • Mount Pickering Summit, Kepler Mountains Fiordland National Park New Zealand.
    Mount Pickering Summit, Kepler Mountains Fiordland National Park New Zealand.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wilford, John Noble (17 March 2004). "William H. Pickering, 93, Leader in Space Exploration, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 February 2015. William H. Pickering, a leader of the first successful space flight by the United States and its first two decades of planetary exploration, died on Monday at his home in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif. He was 93.
  2. doi:10.1063/1.1839390
    .
  3. ^ "Founding members of the National Academy of Engineering". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  4. ISBN 978-0-16-081536-2
    .
  5. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  6. ^ McClellan, Doug (5 October 1980). "Space Hall of Fame Honors Four". El Paso Times. El Paso, Texas. p. 1B – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ISBN 978-1-57864-397-4
    .
  8. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2003". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 2 June 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  9. ^ "Mount Pickering and Mount Tinsley in the Kepler Range". RASNZ. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  10. ^ "Rocket Lab prepares to launch historic CubeSat mission for NASA | Rocket Lab". Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  11. ISBN 978-3-540-29925-7
    .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William H. Pickering.
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