Planetary News: The Planetary Society (2004)
Bruce Murray Remembers William H. Pickering
17 March 2004
William H. Pickering, who served as Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1954 to 1976, died Monday, March 15, of pneumonia in his home near JPL. Dr. Pickering was a Founding Member of The Planetary Society, and we will miss him greatly.
Bruce Murray, the Society's Chairman of the Board, who followed Dr. Pickering as Director of JPL, remembered him today:
"Bill Pickering was the leader of JPL through the extraordinary successes of the early American space age--Explorer 1 in 1958, the first U.S. Earth satellite; Mariner 2 in 1962, the first mission to Venus; Mariner 4 in 1965, the first flight to Mars; Mariners 6,7, and 9, follow-up missions to Mars; and Mariner 10, the first flight to Mercury. These accomplishments will stand out in the history of the human race.
I had the challenging task of following this giant of the space age as Director of JPL and developed a deep personal respect for his accomplishments."
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