2012, City of Innovation - Learn about the next big story in high technology economic development by Jim Brazell.
•Download as PPT, PDF•
1 like•3,414 views
San Antonio: City of Innovation 1910-2110. March 2, 1910 marks the birth of San Antonio as a city of innovation. From this date forward, aviation and its accompanying spirit of innovation are the platform upon which virtually all San Antonio technology-based industries are built. San Antonio's $19 billion Bio-life and health science industries are rooted in San Antonio’s history of medical and surgical research by the US Army and Air Force. Manufacturing, $14 billion, is rooted in the cities history of aviation logistics and maintenance ranging from Foulois innovations to the invention of reverse thruster for jet air craft. The city's $10 billion telecommunications and information technology industry is rooted in the 1948 founding of the US Air Force Security Service now propelled by CyberCityUSA. jimbrazell@ventureramp.com, Jim Brazell, Ventureramp.com.
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (19)
Similar to 2012, City of Innovation - Learn about the next big story in high technology economic development by Jim Brazell.
Similar to 2012, City of Innovation - Learn about the next big story in high technology economic development by Jim Brazell. (20)
More from Jim "Brodie" Brazell
More from Jim "Brodie" Brazell (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
2012, City of Innovation - Learn about the next big story in high technology economic development by Jim Brazell.
- 2. What do Mt. Rushmore, Aerobics, the Human Genome and the Science City have in common?
- 5. Father of Aerobics Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., M.P.H.
- 6. Dr. Susan Naylor & Dawn K Garcia “Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome” Dr. Susan Naylor Feb. 12, 2001, Journal Nature
- 7. SwRI TIBR Founder Thomas Baker Slick Jr. - businessman, inventor, oilman, rancher, engineer, philanthropist, peacemaker, adventurer, and visionary. Tom Slick Professorship of World Peace at the University of Texas Institute for Inventive Research, 1949, Reader’s Digest, 1000 a week, Circus Tent, 114 Viable Mind Science Foundation
- 8. What do you think of when I say San Antonio?
- 15. What do you think of when I say San Antonio?
- 16. What do you think of when I say San Antonio? Do you think Science & Tech, or ed innovation?
- 17. Wright Model B on the ground, in front of a hangar, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 1910.
- 18. Captain Benjamin D. Foulois seated at the controls of a Wright Military biplane; a radio transmitter is tied into the passenger seat; 1911.
- 19. Star Film Ranch 1910 Gaston Méliès “Voyage a la lune”
- 20. THE IMMORTAL ALAMO, 1911. Francis Ford, at right with white sombrero. Gaston Méliès, San Antonio, TX
- 21. Math ENG Tech Innovation Technology Processes & Design How do we cultivate innovation and innovators? ARTS Science
- 22. Jon Hinojosa, Artistic | Executive Director
- 23. Of the two million U.S. arts jobs requiring significant technology proficiency: • 10% architects • 11% artists, art directors and animators • 7% producers and directors and • 7% photographers The products of these disciplines represent 6.4% of the U.S. economy and over $126 billion annually in revenue from foreign trade. Read more at Arts in the Workforce. http://www.nea.gov/research/ArtistsInWorkforce.pdf
- 24. 1912 Night skywriter Loop-the Loop Snap roll on top of the loop Flying school in world U.S. Airmail Japan and China Fly alone at night Only to enlist WWI Trained WWI fighter pilots Airport in San Antonio
- 25. In 1925, he graduated from the Army's flight- training school at Brooks and Kelly fields. In 1927 he flew the Spirit of ST Louis from New York to France. http://www.charleslindbergh.com/history/index.asp
- 27. School of Aviation Medicine 1926
- 28. 1927
- 29. “Air City” Harold Clark -Largest construction project undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since the Panama Canal. 1930
- 30. Durrell “Dee” Howard, The Dee Howard Company Hall of Fame Insert Images Dee Howard 1947
- 31. Math ENG Tech Innovation Technology Processes & Design How do we cultivate innovation and innovators? STEM Science
- 32. Since 1979, 32,768 middle school and high school students have successfully completed at least one summer component of TexPREP. Of these students, 81% have been members of minority groups and 53% have been women. Of the 16,617 who are of college age 5,711 responded to the 2011 annual survey. - 99.99% are high school graduates. - 90% of the college attendees are college graduates. - 74% of the senior college graduates are members of underrepresented minority groups. - 44% of the senior college graduates are engineering, mathematics, science or computer science majors.
- 35. . The United States Air Force Security Service 1948
- 36. Cyber Patriot highschoolcdc.com Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Students-hoping-to-ridethe-cybersecurity-wave-1043235.php#ixzz1IBe4Gqls
- 37. There are between 3.8 and 5.8 million people in the US employed in NIT. Computer and mathematical occupations are projected to add 785,700 new jobs from 2008 to 2018. As a group, these jobs are forecast to grow more than twice as fast as the average for all occupations in the economy. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-nitrd-report-2010.pdf
- 38. The meaning of STEM is culturally bound.
- 39. 39 1948, Col. Harry Armstrong, “Aeromedical Problems of Space Travel”
- 41. Health CTE Arts Innovation Technology Processes & Design How do we cultivate innovation and innovators? Character Academic
- 45. General Bernard Schriever Feb. 19, 1957 Inaugural Air Force Office of Scientific Research Astronautics Symposium in San Diego. Commander of Western Development Division Headquarters Charles Wilson
- 47. Alamo Heights
- 51. Elementary spaceTEAMS San Antonio,TX Robot competition plus career and academic exploration and history of science and technology.
- 52. Pemmaraju Rao, SFBR Cancer Research: immuno- diagnostic area of steroid hormones (chemotherapy) 1958
- 53. John F. Kennedy, Nov 21, 1963 Man-In-Space Program
- 55. Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White January 26, 1967
- 56. http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Earth-View-From-The-Moon.jpg July 20, 1969
- 58. Hall of Fame 1961 - 2002 William A. Mallow SwRI
- 60. 1972 PC Architecture 1977 LAN ARCNET 1968
- 61. William Barker, Data Race @ 1969
- 62. John Vrzalik, Kinetic Concepts 1976
- 63. John Taboada, Ph.D. Taboada Research Instruments, Inc. 1979
- 64. Julio C. Palmaz, M.D., UTHSC Richard Schatz, M.D., Brooks 1988 Palmaz-Schatz Stent®
- 65. Robert Rodriguez Edgar Rice Burroughs' science fiction classic 'Princess of Mars' for Paramount Pictures. 1992
- 66. WheelGroup Network Security Cisco Extends Leadership in End-To End Network Security Products SAN JOSE, Calif. February 18, 1998 Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held WheelGroup Corporation of San Antonio, Texas. Under the terms of the acquisition, between 1.8 and 2.0 million shares of Cisco common stock will be exchanged for the outstanding shares and options of WheelGroup. Based upon Ciscos February 18 closing price of $65.50 the stock exchanged would have a value of approximately $124 million. 1995 - 1998
- 67. Wheel Group Culture of Innovation Secure Logix Secure Info Novus Edge
- 68. The Cassini spacecraft, launched in Oct. 1997 for an 11-year mission to the Saturn system .
- 70. First VLSI implementation of the IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN protocol known as Wi-Fi (Michael Fischer, Intersil) Very large-scale integration allowing over 100,000 transistors on a chip
- 71. Richard V. Butler, Ph.D. Mary E. Stefl, Ph.D. Trinity University SFBR is home to the world's largest computer cluster devoted to statistical genetic analysis. Home of military medicine. 2005
- 72. Dr. Rebecca Rico Hess
- 74. Miguel Yacaman, who heads UTSA's physics and astronomy department, shows off images taken by the world's most powerful electron microscope, nicknamed 'Helenita' after King Ranch heiress Helen Groves, whose gift was used to buy the device. / SA http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/article/UTSA-boasts-world-class-gift-794295.php
- 75. Avatar, Star Wars: Episode 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Lord of the Rings, The Passion of the Christ, Spider- Man 2, The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, Black Hawk Down, Star Trek Nemesis, AI, Jimmy Neutron, Jurassic Park III, Spy Kids, Charlie’s Angels, The Gladiator, Red Planet, Titanic. Tim Jenison
- 77. 77 Since going public on August 8, 2008, the company’s stock has soared from $12.50 a share to more than $56 a share today. The company has a market capitalization of $6.5 billion. http://www.siliconhillsnews.com/2012/03/23/rackspace-and-graham-westons-impact-on-silicon-hills/ 2008
- 79. http://www.thenewnewinternet.com/wp-content/uploads/24th-air-force.jpg 2009 – Activation of 24th Air Force Home of Air Force Cyber
- 81. The meaning of STEM is culturally bound.
- 82. “San Antonio is a city of the future.” Fujio Cho, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation
- 84. CACI Northrop Grumman Lockheed Martin General Electric Pratt & Whitney Chromalloy Proxtronics Veridian Mitre Telcordia OnBoard Soft Secure INFO dNovus Frontline Systems Karta Secure LOGIX Titan Adtech Diligent Denim Group 21102010
- 85. Brain Power
Editor's Notes
- Painting, Stagecoach , Menger Hotel Sculpture, Apache Pursued (replica) & Monument to Trail Drivers, Witte Museum BORGLUM, JOHN GUTZON DE LA MOTHE (1867-1941) Guts-un Borg-lum Painting, Stagecoach , Menger Hotel Sculpture, Apache Pursued , replica Witte Museum Monument to Trail Drivers , Witte Museum masters, the most important of whom was Auguste Rodin Lived in Menger Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota, of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. These were dedicated on August 10, 1927, and completed, after Borglum's death, by his son Lincoln. In 1925 the sculptor moved to Texas to work on the monument to trail drivers commissioned by the Trail Drivers Association.qv He completed the model in 1925, but due to lack of funds it was not cast until 1940, and then was only a fourth its originally planned size. It stands in front of the Texas Pioneer and Trail Drivers Memorial Hall next to the Witte Museum in San Antonio. Borglum lived at the historic Menger Hotel, which in the 1920s was the residence of a number of artists.
- Painting, Stagecoach , Menger Hotel Sculpture, Apache Pursued (replica) & Monument to Trail Drivers, Witte Museum BORGLUM, JOHN GUTZON DE LA MOTHE (1867-1941) Guts-un Borg-lum Painting, Stagecoach , Menger Hotel Sculpture, Apache Pursued , replica Witte Museum Monument to Trail Drivers , Witte Museum masters, the most important of whom was Auguste Rodin Lived in Menger Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota, of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. These were dedicated on August 10, 1927, and completed, after Borglum's death, by his son Lincoln. In 1925 the sculptor moved to Texas to work on the monument to trail drivers commissioned by the Trail Drivers Association.qv He completed the model in 1925, but due to lack of funds it was not cast until 1940, and then was only a fourth its originally planned size. It stands in front of the Texas Pioneer and Trail Drivers Memorial Hall next to the Witte Museum in San Antonio. Borglum lived at the historic Menger Hotel, which in the 1920s was the residence of a number of artists.
- http://www.cooperaerobics.com/Corporate/BioKenCooper.aspx Google: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Father+of+Aerobics+Aerospace During his 13 years of military service, Dr. Cooper served as director of the Aerospace Medical Laboratory in San Antonio and worked with the National Aeronautics Space Administration in conditioning America's astronauts for space. He developed the 12-minute fitness test and the Aerobics Point System, which today are used by the Army, Navy, Secret Service, several foreign military organizations, many U.S. and foreign corporations, and more than 2,500 universities and public schools. In 1966 he received certification from the American Board of Preventive Medicine, an indication of the direction he was headed. Two years after the publication of Aerobics (Bantam, 1968) Lieutenant Colonel Cooper resigned from the U.S. Air Force to explore the relationship between exercise and health and longevity full time. Founder, President, and CEO—The Cooper Aerobics Center When Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D., M.P.H., published his first bestseller, Aerobics, in 1968, he introduced a new word and a new concept to America. Millions of people started exercising, motivated by his preventive medicine research, persuasive public appearances, and a series of inspiring books. In short, a young Air Force physician who had once been a track star in his native Oklahoma had started a worldwide fitness revolution. Born in Oklahoma City on March 4, 1931, Ken Cooper was the son of a dentist father, and a mother who always cheered him on at track meets and other athletic competitions. Choosing medicine over missionary work, his other calling, he received a B.S. degree in 1952 from University of Oklahoma and an M.D. degree in 1956 from University of Oklahoma School of Medicine. His master of public health degree was earned from Harvard School of Public Health in 1962 while still an Air Force flight surgeon stationed in Texas. From the time of his first book in 1968, Dr. Cooper has advocated revolutionizing the field of medicine away from disease treatment to disease prevention through aerobic exercise. The Cooper philosophy, "It is easier to maintain good health through proper exercise, diet, and emotional balance than to regain it once it is lost," has been proven valid in scientific research. Still receiving dozens of citations every year is The Cooper Institute's 1989 landmark study, published in the renowned Journal of the American Medical Association, showing the relationship between fitness and mortality in some 13,000 patients. Recognized for more than three decades as the leader of the international physical fitness movement, Dr. Cooper is credited with motivating more people to exercise in pursuit of good health than any other person. At The Cooper Aerobics Center, as president and CEO, Dr. Cooper is supported by a 400-person staff in carrying out his mission to educate and encourage optimum health in as many segments of the population as possible. Dr. Cooper sets an example for maintaining a healthy lifestyle by exercising at the Center on a regular basis, and his wife Millie, daughter Berkley, and son Tyler may also be seen coopering.
- Chromosome 3, the third largest of the human chromosomes, accounts for 7 percent of a person’s entire genetic blueprint. Increased knowledge of the genome is changing the face of disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. “ In our Health Science Center labs, we have proven that a gene on Chromosome 3 is linked to ovarian cancer,” Dr. Naylor said. “We are working with many types of genes, including several that suppress formation of various cancers and others that are involved in bone development. Scientists worldwide come to us because we are the resource, the clearinghouse, for information on Chromosome 3.” The genome, composed of an amazing primordial acid called DNA, is found in the center of every cell. More complex than the most sophisticated computer software, DNA programs the biology of development, puberty, adult life and death. It appears in x-shaped structures (chromosomes) in the nucleus of every cell, is made up of blocks of functional units called genes, and contains four foundational amino acids, abbreviated as G, C, A and T. The order of these acids determines the function of a sequence of DNA.
- Tom Slick legend among the "independents" hands-on, impromptu deals were often brokered on street corners and over telephones. "worked out of his hip pocket." Quest for the Abominable Snowman, yeti and Sasquatch. Creation of a research facility near Loch Ness. Life made for the movies… Nicholas Cage? Tom Slick Tom Slick, born in 1916, was a San Antonio oil millionaire who used his fortune to further the causes of scientific research and peace throughout the world. He founded the Southwest Research Institute, the Southwest Foundation for Research and Education, the Institute of Inventive Research and the Mind Science Foundation. He was also a cryptozoologist and helped finance expeditions searching for the Yeti. There is a Tom Slick Professorship of World Peace at the University of Texas, which also publishes a Tom Slick World Peace Series of books. In 1958 he wrote the book Permanent Peace , which said in the dedication, "To that beautiful new world to emerge when the spectre of war has been banished forever - when the life blood now draining into armaments will, transfused into the bloodstream of the world, bring about unbelievable new progress, prosperity, health and happiness." He died in a airplane crash in 1962.
- supported 5 children by peddling stolen firewood and selling watered-down milk. His notorious business practices eventually earned his San Antonio neighborhood the nickname Beanville.
- Four Spanish frontier missions, part of a colonization system that stretched across the Spanish Southwest in the 17th, 18th, 19th centuries, are preserved here.
- http://www.cinetecamilano.it/2002/05_nov-dic/appuntamenti_melies.htm Gaston Melies' Star Film Company came to Hot Wells, in January, 1910, for a different kind of cure. Fleeing a bitter New York winter, they sought a warmer, more picturesque environment in which to take their moving pictures. Star Film Company 1910 and April, 1911: the time when the Company was based at Hot Wells Hotel. produced nearly eighty one-reelers: fast-paced, raucous, sentimental, melodramatic Westerns and comedies. But there are no reminders of them, either, on this forgotten tract of land. No cameras, sets, costumes or scripts. No member of the company -- no actor, director or cameraman -- is still alive.
- http://www.cinetecamilano.it/2002/05_nov-dic/appuntamenti_melies.htm Gaston Melies' Star Film Company came to Hot Wells, in January, 1910, for a different kind of cure. Fleeing a bitter New York winter, they sought a warmer, more picturesque environment in which to take their moving pictures. Star Film Company 1910 and April, 1911: the time when the Company was based at Hot Wells Hotel. produced nearly eighty one-reelers: fast-paced, raucous, sentimental, melodramatic Westerns and comedies. But there are no reminders of them, either, on this forgotten tract of land. No cameras, sets, costumes or scripts. No member of the company -- no actor, director or cameraman -- is still alive.
- Katherine Stinson was the 4th woman in the United States to obtain a pilot's license, July 24, 1912. She learned to fly at Max Lillie's Flying School at Cicero Field, Chicago. On July 18, 1915, at this same field, she became the first woman in the world to loop-the-loop. First night skywriter First woman to execute the Loop-the Loop First person to execute a snap roll on top of the loop First woman to own a flying school anywhere in the world First woman to fly U.S. Airmail First woman to fly in Japan and China First woman to fly alone at night Only woman to enlist as a pilot in WWI.Trained WWI fighter pilots from U.S. and Canada First nonstop flight from San Diego to San Francisco Created the first airport in San Antonio (now known as Stinson Field)
- Painting, Stagecoach , Menger Hotel Sculpture, Apache Pursued (replica) & Monument to Trail Drivers, Witte Museum BORGLUM, JOHN GUTZON DE LA MOTHE (1867-1941) Guts-un Borg-lum Painting, Stagecoach , Menger Hotel Sculpture, Apache Pursued , replica Witte Museum Monument to Trail Drivers , Witte Museum masters, the most important of whom was Auguste Rodin Lived in Menger Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota, of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. These were dedicated on August 10, 1927, and completed, after Borglum's death, by his son Lincoln. In 1925 the sculptor moved to Texas to work on the monument to trail drivers commissioned by the Trail Drivers Association.qv He completed the model in 1925, but due to lack of funds it was not cast until 1940, and then was only a fourth its originally planned size. It stands in front of the Texas Pioneer and Trail Drivers Memorial Hall next to the Witte Museum in San Antonio. Borglum lived at the historic Menger Hotel, which in the 1920s was the residence of a number of artists.
- 1927 Clara Bow "Buddy" Rogers Dick Grace Death Squad "Wings" stars the glamorous silent film actress Clara Bow (the "It" Girl) and Charles "Buddy" Rogers. Got your trivia hat on? "Wings" was the first Academy Award winner for best picture—that was back in 1927. The movie has some of the most innovative pretalkie special effects in movie making. About two World War I pilots in love with the same woman. Dick Grace "Squadron of Death!“ “crack-up engineer."
- Harold Clark designed Randolph in 1926 and 1927, while assigned as dispatch officer in the Kelly Field motor pool , although the War Department received the land in 1928. Having trained as an architect prior to entering the military, Lieutenant Clark sketched his ideas of a perfect "Air City" on the back of old dispatch sheets. It was, at the time, the largest construction project undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since the Panama Canal. Dedication June 20, 1930 Once the site for the field was selected, a committee decided to name the base after William Millican Randolph, a native of Austin, who, during his 9-year flying career, earned a remarkable record and contributed immeasurably to the progress of aviation. On Feb. 17, 1928, while returning to his duties at Kelly, he crashed his AT-4 on takeoff from Gorman Field, Texas. Ironically, Captain Randolph was serving on the committee to select a name for the new field at the time of his death. Captain Randolph is buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Randolph Field was dedicated June 20, 1930, with an estimated 15,000 people in attendance and a fly-by of 233 planes, possibly the largest assembly of military aircraft in the world. Early in 1931, the School of Aviation Medicine from Brooks Field and the first cadets from the Air Corps Flying School at Duncan Field, then a part of Kelly AFB, began relocating to Randolph.
- The SwRI staff numbered 2,761 employees. Of those, 226 hold doctorates, 428 hold master’s degrees and 767 hold bachelor’s degrees. The Institute received 39 U.S. patent awards, filed 88 invention applications and submitted 79 invention disclosures. The technical staff published 347 papers and gave 348 presentations. President J. Dan Bates, who took office in November 1997. Bates leads more than scientists, engineers, and support personnel in the conduct of almost 1,500 nationally and internationally sponsored projects each year. SwRI was founded in 1947 by Thomas Baker Slick Jr., an oilman-rancher-philanthropist who believed that science and technology are the keys to a better world. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is an independent, nonprofit applied research and development organization. The staff of specialize in the creation and transfer of technology in engineering and the physical sciences. The Institute occupies 1,200 acres in San Antonio, Texas, and provides nearly two million square feet of laboratories, test facilities, workshops, and offices. The staff performed more than $350 million in contract research in 2003. Founder Thomas Baker Slick Jr. - businessman, inventor, oilman, rancher, engineer, philanthropist, peacemaker, adventurer, and visionary.
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “ Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “ Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “ Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “ Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.
- McDermott's Contributions to San Antonio http://www.anbhf.org/laureates/mcdermott.html In a tribute to Robert McDermott recently, Mayor Henry Cisneros of San Antonio stated that "when the economic history of San Antonio in the 1980s is written, the most influential individual will be him (McDermott)" [4]. After his arrival in San Antonio, McDermott was selected as President of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. In this position he initiated the San Antonio Economic Development Council which began a drive to bring business development into San Antonio. When the Hispanic population felt they were not being included, McDermott founded United San Antonio which pulled all the disparate community groups together. In the 1980s he was responsible for getting an undergraduate engineering program at the University of Texas at San Antonio first and later graduate programs in the sciences. With this groundwork laid, he began moving in a formal sense to make San Antonio a biotechnology center for the future. He founded the Texas Research and Technology Foundation, which was established to develop a Texas Research Park. He also helped arrange for the first major gift of $15,000,000 for the park from H. Ross Perot. Today he is regarded as the key influential business leader in San Antonio. In addition to his personal contributions, McDermott believes that USAA should be a corporate good citizen, and it has been so. USAA's Volunteer Corps gave over 30m000 volunteer hours to San Antonio just last year and USA is the city's largest private-sector United Way contributor. Although USAA employees constitute only 2% of San Antonio's work force, they contributed 10% of the total monies collected by United Way. Brigadier General Robert F. McDermott and USAA - Service Plus Ethics Equals Success Dreamers and doers rarely come in the same package. The historical record is replete with figures who seem to have extraordinary vision, but who are unable to make their dreams come into reality. On the other hand, there are many who have been able to execute the ideas of others, but who do not seem to be able to think in broad terms bout the future. Recent historical scholarship placed John F. Kennedy in the first category and Lyndon Baines Johnson in the second. Robert F. McDermott, Chairman and CEO of USAA is one of the rare individuals who have brilliant conceptual ideas an who have been able to put them into operation. The First Career Prior to becoming CEO of USAA, McDermott had already demonstrated these traits while serving on active duty in the Air Force as the first permanent Dean of the newly founded USAF Academy. Upon assuming his position, the new Dean wished to make the Academy a premier undergraduate academic institution, as well as developer of professional military officers and leaders. He wished to attract first-rate applicants chosen without regard to political connections and to challenge them to meet their potential. He introduced sweeping innovations by overcoming opposition from the military establishment, particularly at West Point and Annapolis, political insiders in Washington, and those who wanted no change at all. The changes included introducing over 25 academic majors, setting up cooperative Master's degree programs with outstanding institutions, building a first class library, faculty and staff, and introducing the "whole man" admission program with little regard to political connections. All this resulted in McDermott getting the Air Force Academy accredited by the North Central Association prior to its first class graduating. This was an unheard of accomplishment. When he retired in 1968, the other military academies were already changing curriculum and procedures to match the newest of the academies. At a ceremony at West Point in 1989, the Superintendent of the US Air Force Academy, Lt. General Charles Hamm, referred to McDermott as the Sylvanus Thayer of the twentieth century, crediting McDermott with bringing all US service academies "into the twentieth century" [6]. USAA - The McDermott Infrastructure With his outstanding reputation as an insurance scholar developed through his teaching and two published books, his solid academic preparation including an MBA from Harvard, and his national reputation as a visionary, organizer, leader and manager, he came to USAA as an Executive Vice President in July of 1968. Over the next six months he would observe all facets of USAA's operation and begin formulating his visions for the future of USAA. When he assumed the role of President and CEO of USAA on January 1, 1969, the company was in good shape overall. Serving the auto property and casualty insurance needs of active duty officers since 1922, it had a solid reputation and had penetrated 70% of its potential market. It also provided homeowners insurance in some states and had just begun offering a basic life insurance policy. The members (USAA is actually a reciprocal insurance exchange - a member-owned cooperative if you will) were basically happy and contented with their company. On the face of it, it would not seem that a new man could do a great deal better than was already being done, but McDermott had observed much during his six-month orientation. While the small company was doing well and had assets of $200,000,000, it was doing well with increasing difficulty. Although basically solid financially, the Board had accorded the departing President "special recognition" by raising the annual dividend to all the members to a new high. This put the previous president in a rosy glow, but placed USAA in a hazardous cash position. One of McDermott's first acts was to cancel the "extra" dividend which created immediate unrest among the members, but which was necessary if the company were to get through a temporary financial crisis. It did. In the operating levels of USAA, McDermott noted many problems. The approximately 3,000 employees (over 90% women) did not like the work at all, and the annual turnover rate of 43% made this clear. To initiate a new automobile insurance [policy required 55 different steps at 55 different desks. Some of these simple steps were mind deadening, like pulling staples or unsealing envelops. The operation required moving files up and down seven different floors, and claims and underwriting maintained separate records on each member. At each desk were shelves and bins piled high with records requiring some action or awaiting filing. So confusing was the operation and so many records misplaced that a crew of dozens of college students searched for missing records every night in order to return them to where they were needed. Most employees felt that USAA was a good place to start, but few wanted to remain there and a career was unthinkable. The employees had little education and less loyalty to USAA. It was clear to McDermott that if USAA were to be a truly great company, sweeping changes would have to occur. Gathering with him a small number of those he brought on board and a few incumbents, he held a serious long-range planning meeting at the American Management Association's Conference Center in Hamilton, New York to set the future course for USAA. At this meeting and, to a lesser extent, those of the next two years, he began to reveal his goals for the future. On the operational side he challenged USAA to become a "paperless" insurance company, which seemed unreachable at the time. He committed USAA fully to use the newest technology to improve the operation and to make employees' jobs more meaningful. As a result, he was certain productivity would rise. He challenged the company to work through a myriad of state regulations and laws to enable USAA to provide automobile and property insurance to all members in all states. As far as employees were concerned, McDermott wanted sweeping changes to orient employees to provide better and more ethical service to the members. He proposed to accomplish this by developing a "corporate culture" that would provide an ethical, and service-oriented foundation that would permeate the entire company. He instituted the USAA Creed which charged members and employees to serve "each other with integrity and dependability" [25]. The goal in handling auto claims would be not to pay as little as possible and still satisfy the member, but to exercise "the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct while transacting claims business" [24]. Providing timely and responsive service with integrity and ethical conduct would build member faith and strengthen USAA for future growth. Training on ethical conduct became a staple in new employee orientation and all training courses. He even sought a new logo to give the company a more solid and a more modern look. McDermott recognized that a corporate culture in itself would not work without building pride among the employees. He challenged USAA to build new employment incentives including pay and other benefits. He pushed the Board of Directors in the direction of building a new facility to house all of USAA to increase efficiency and to give the employees more pride. Perhaps most important of all, he insisted programs be developed to encourage each employee to grow to his or her maximum potential. During McDermott's first few years, dozens of changes swept over USAA and its employees. The pattern for the larger changes was similar - first the vision, followed by long and short-range plans to accomplish the task. Then specialists, often outside consultants, would help in the development of operational ideas and selection of equipment. At the same time, intelligent, hard-working individuals were placed in charge of the projects and were given latitude to build teams and develop the operation programs. At almost the same juncture, plans were made to train affected employees and to prepare them physically and psychologically for the changes. These efforts tended to bring in innovations more quickly than expected with strong acceptance by the employees themselves. The results were more efficiency, productivity, and pride in a job done better than before. A typical example was the introduction of a computer system designed to produce multi-car policies. Today, all companies issue policies that list all the cars owned by a family. In 1969, each car had its own policy. The administrative work required to produce these policies was labor-intensive and expensive. With the introduction of a multi-car computer software system, all vehicles were listed on one policy. Just this change enabled USAA to increase its productivity enormously, deleting hundreds of manpower spaces in one year. A second benefit of this new system was to spread the auto renewal periods throughout the year. This enabled USAA to level out the workload and make more efficient use of available manpower. Over time, the development of USAA's gigantic information systems continually increased productivity and enabled it to provide better service to the members. At the present time, USAA has the largest IBM facility in the United States in terms of the numbers of transactions completed daily. The statistical growth is shown in Appendix 1, but does not really show what it means to the company today. Whereas issuing a policy in 1969 took 55 steps and an inordinate amount of time, today one Policy Service employee handles the entire transaction using his or her computer screen and the policy is on its way to the member in three days or less. This effort was highlighted recently in the February 13, 1989 issue of Fortune magazine [1]. Today, McDermott's earliest visions of leading-edge technology continue to unfold. Still working toward a "paperless" environment, USAA had been working on the development of imaging techniques. After a short experiment with 3M in 1984, McDermott convinced John Akers, CEO of IBM, to work with USAA in development and execution of the image-processing system. Working as partners, USA and IBM computer specialists and engineers were successful. In late 1988, John Akers came to USAA to cut the ribbon and see the new system in operation. Very simply, a document, such as a police report is given the USAA number and entered into the computer system by a process resembling a data fax to the casual observer. Only in this case the document is stored on an optical disk and is ready for recall at any of USAA's image computer screens in a split second. By the spring of 1989 USAA had all policy service documents on optical disks rendering the millions of pieces of paper expendable. After everything is entered on the optical disks, lost documents and misplaced files will become folklore instead of reality. McDermott's effort in improving his work force and pushing USAA into leading edge technology have combined into what Ed Yourdon called in the February 1989 issue of American Programmer one of the extremely rare "Exemplary Data Processing Organizations" in the country [26]. He pointed out how much "influence an exemplary CEO can have in the creation and motivation of an exemplary data processing organization." Improving the Work Force One of McDermott's earliest visions had been to improve working conditions by developing a new facility able to house all USAA employees under one roof. In 1969 he personally looked over properties. He rejected sites convenient to the city center where most employees lived and selected a site in the undeveloped northwest part of the city. He talked the Board of Directors into authorizing the purchase of 286 acres. He wanted good access for the employees and to build a campus-like setting. He wanted room for growth and did not want others encroaching upon USAA itself or its view. Today, the USAA property sits in the center of the fastest-growing area of the city and the value of the property has escalated like the population of San Antonio. As far as the building itself was concerned, McDermott wanted it to be a place where the employees would be proud and happy to work. He wanted the principal aesthetic costs concentrated on the interior and not the exterior. When completed in 1975, it turned out to be a state-of-the-art building for 1989 and was, and still is, the second largest horizontal office building in the country. All the flooring is "computer flooring" enabling the thousands of miles of computer and telephone wiring to be out of sight and to make internal moves easy and economical. The building has a center spine and on the main floor, three different courtyards where the employees can relax body and mind. Each courtyard has a different theme providing additional aesthetic beauty. The work areas themselves have cubicles including telephones and a computer terminal and are located adjacent to the courtyards for breaks. The building also contains other amenities to increase the comfort of the employees. Included is a company store to purchase sundry items, a ticket counter to purchase discounted tickets to San Antonio attractions, a contract post office, a health clinic, exercise gymnasium and outstanding cafeterias. Getting good employees to come to USAA was only one step. Retention of good employees was the next. To assist in both these tasks, McDermott introduced programs to improve the physical well being and health of the employees and to help them develop to achieve their individual potential as well. Building and maintaining the physical well being of the USAA employees has been a multi-faceted program. In 1972, McDermott convinced the USAA Board of Directors to incorporate a physical fitness center into the new building. The resultant 9,700 square foot center houses lockers, saunas, steam rooms, cardiovascular treadmills and exercise bicycles, a Nordic skier and rowing machines. Two professional exercise physiologists monitor the individual exercise programs. Almost 2,000 employees participate in the center's programs. Outside the building are 35 acres devoted to fitness activity areas which include five miles of jogging trails winding through the trees, a multi-purpose soccer field, softball fields, basketball and volleyball courts, and tennis courts. All are equipped with lights for evening use. This year almost 3,000 employees participated in various intramural sports leagues. The fitness and athletic program is balanced by a first-class health service staff and program. Its eight registered nurses provide a complete health-oriented program for employees. Among the programs conducted are brown-bag health seminars, free allergy and flue immunizations, on-site mammograms, free diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol testing and an annual Health Fair. The Health Services staff also provides smoking cessation training which was of significant help when McDermott phased in a "no smoking" policy in all USAA buildings. At the present time, smoking is authorized in only a few lounges and a small section of the cafeterias, with the goal to eliminate all smoking by the end of 1990. Free comprehensive physical examinations are provided to employees over 50 years of age. Confidential employee counseling is also provided. In 1980 alone, the counselors served over 3,000 employees. Part of the counseling service also includes information on area childcare facilities. Other wellness incentives include low-priced "Treat Yourself Right" menus in the cafeteria which encourage good eating habits and a full-time safety director who insures employees have safe working areas and equipment. One result of the employees perceiving that USAA cares for them and that USAA is actually making things healthier and safer for them, is USAA's absentee rate which is 45% below the national average. Helping individuals meet their potential have been the highly successful USAA education and training programs. Soon after McDermott arrived at USAA, he decided to centralize training and education and brought on board a professional educator to do it. McDermott's programs had two great impacts. First, there was visible improvem But there are many ways insurers' costs can be reduced through more efficient operation, and through more effective advocacy of health and safety programs. Some companies, like USAA in San Antonio, operate much more efficiently than the industry average. According to NICO (National Insurance Consumer Organization -a Nader group) auto insurance rates would drop by an average of 17% nationally if all companies were as efficient as USAA. And USAA provides a 14% dividend to its cooperative owners [11]. In testimony before the same committee, Harvey Rosenfield, the author of California's Proposition 103 also had positive words for USAA in contrast to other insurers: Moreover, a huge portion of the premium dollar goes to waste and inefficiency on a massive level. For example, according to Best Aggregates and Averages (1988) 23 cents of every dollar of auto insurance Fireman's Fund wrote in 1987 went to claims adjustments and defense lawyers' fees and 28.9 cents went to agent's commissions, executive salaries and other overhead expenses. Contrast that with USAA, a company which itself does exceptionally well in the insurance business and is appreciated by its customers for its excellent service. It paid 12.3 cents per premium dollar to its lawyers, and 6.9 cents per dollar to overhead [15]. USAA has continued to provide service to its members with integrity and distinction, but also has consistently made profits to protect the members' interests and to keep products at a level as inexpensive as possible. In Appendix 1 is a chart which dramatizes the tremendous growth in USAA under General McDermott from the end of 1968 to 1988. As this article goes into publications, the dramatic growth has continued in all the areas noted. For example, USAA's owned and managed assets now exceed 16 billion dollars and USAA has almost 13,000 employees. A National Leader for Automobile Safety McDermott has long been a proponent of vehicle safety. For over a decade he has worked with automobile manufacturers, insurance institutes, private sector businesses, local and national politicians, and the media to secure improved automobile safety equipment and better safety legislation for the country. To this end, he has also initiated two separate safety campaigns, one in 1982 and one nt in the service USAA could provide to its members because of the improved education and training the employees received. Second, was the great morale factor it proved to be. McDermott began off-duty educational programs offered in USAA facilities and paid 100% tuition reimbursement for employees attending colleges and university courses. It did not stop there. He also paid for professional development courses leading to professional designations such as CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter) and CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter). McDermott's centralized training concept has provided USAA with a broad diversity of training from entry-level training for claims and policy service personnel to management development courses to make technical personnel ready to assume supervisory positions. The Management Information Seminar provides senior managers a forum to learn about other divisions of the company and to mingle with other senior USAA executives and senior managers. The result is a free flow of ideas across divisions to help all the diverse elements be of maximum benefit to each other. USAA Growth and Diversification In the first long-range planning meeting at Hamilton, New York, McDermott had set out his vision of growth for USAA. The first order of business was to strengthen and expand the Property and Casualty business which was the heart of the company. Developing the ethical and service policy and strengthening the employees were critical parts of the foundation for growth as was development of computer systems to support the growth and improved service. USAA expansion in the Property and Casualty area had two parts - expanding the geographical area in which USAA could sell insurance and capturing a larger portion of the targeted market. When McDermott arrived, USAA could sell auto insurance in 48 of 50 states, but was able to sell homeowner policies in only 31 of 50 states. As a reciprocal insurance exchange that sold only to military officers this was a problem. When officers were ordered to states where USAA could not sell, membership suffered. McDermott established a corporate legal staff and charged it with getting USAA licensed for both lines in all states. With this underway, he initiated USAA's first corporate marketing staff and charged it with bringing in more members. The combination of the two initiatives resulted in USAA being licensed for auto and homeowner policies in all states, and as of the end of 1988, the penetration of the active duty officer market had reached 97%. When one eliminates those who can not be insured, such as those stationed in Warsaw Pact countries, and those without cars, USAA has close to 100% of those active-duty officers it is willing to insure. Today USAA is the 6th largest private automobile and homeowners insurer in the United States. From the beginning, McDermott combined his own sixth sense with those of members' desires to diversify USAA and add lines he believed could be supported. One of the key innovations was his decision to offer automobile and homeowners insurance to children of members through a new USAA subsidiary. With USAA Board of Directors' support, the program went into full swing and is now the fastest growing portion of the Property and Casualty business at USAA. At the end of 1968, USAA had only a small life insurance program in addition to the property and casualty insurance. As result of formal and informal surveys of members, McDermott wished to expand USAA offerings. Under the original bylaws, this was prohibited and so he had to convince the USAA Board of directors to change them to permit diversification. By virtue of his own persuasion and the desires of the membership, the Board reluctantly agreed. Its reluctance stemmed from the tradition-bound mind-set of those wishing to sell property and casualty insurance only. In 1968, USAA stood 504th among American life insurance companies in terms of life insurance in force, but that was soon to change. At that time, USAA offered only whole life insurance policies. Over the years other products were added to the line, and the life insurance ranking climbed slowly at first and then with increasing intensity. Now the USAA Life Insurance Company offers a full range of life insurance products an has added a number of health insurance products as well. In 1976, a line of annuities was also added. Today USAA stands 55th in national raking based on the dollars of ordinary life insurance in force. Success in life insurance led to further entries into the financial services area. Under the USAA Investment Management Company (IMCO), begun in 1983, 12 no-load mutual funds were added over time, each tailored to different member desires and needs. Some of them include money market, growth, tax-exempt, international and precious metals funds. Today, USAA stands 34th in national mutual fund group ranking. In addition to the mutual funds, a real estate division has offered Real Estate Limited Partnerships. Among the youngest of the financial services offerings, the Real Estate Division turned a profit in 1988 and has great future promise. USAA also added a Discount Brokerage, which now numbers 38,000 active accounts and handles stock transfers for IMCO, cutting USAA costs. Almost from his arrival at USAA, McDermott had wanted to open a bank, but various rules and regulations prohibited insurance companies from doing so. In the early 1980s, deregulation of financial institutions and other legal and regulatory provisions made it seem possible for USAA to open a savings and loan institution. In October of 1983, a window of opportunity opened and McDermott moved quickly. On December 30, 1983, USAA capitalized its new savings and loan with $20,000,000 and opened in a renovated trailer building on the USAA property. USAA members joined at a rapid rate. One pundit at the time pointed out that USAA members felt very strongly about the integrity of USAA and its backing of the savings and loan since they sent money to a trailer pointed at the Mexican border. Today, only six years later, the USAA Federal Savings Bank has over $1 billion in assets and has received top marks from independent raters [7]. Another sign of USAA members' strong faith in USAA and what it backs is the USAA Federal Savings Bank's experience with the MasterCard. USAA sent 240,000 pre-approved credit card applications to members. Industry experts predicted that 10-12% might be a reasonable return based on USAA reputation. In the first couple of months, USAA members returned applications to establish a return rate of over 50%. Today over 1 million USAA MasterCards are in use, and USAA's national standing is fifth in sales volume for all institutions issuing a MasterCard. USAA purchased another financial institution in Utah in 1988 and opened the FDIC-insured USAA Federal Savings Association with a gold MasterCard following shortly thereafter. In 1988, in another McDermott innovation, USAA opened the USAA Towers, a luxury retirement center in San Antonio. The 23-story, $75,000,000 building has won high ratings from the retired community and the retirement industry. Many of the strides McDermott has made in the financial services area have produced accolades from members and have received praise from a variety of respected financial institutions. In 1987, the Nilson Report and NBC's Today Show proclaimed the USAA MasterCard as the number one buy in the country. Many of the mutual funds have been praised as excellent investments in national publications such as Fortune and Money. The USAA Federal Savings Bank was given ICD Financial Publishing's first-ever "perfect" rating for an institution with assets of over $50,000,000[7]. USAA Life Insurance Company has received A.M. Best A+ rating since 1975 and the Property and Casualty Division for much longer [2]. The success of all of these USAA programs has been due to the excellent relationship of mutual trust and confidence built up between USAA and its members based on the ethical conduct and integrity of the customers and the company itself. "Service to the Member" is the watchword continually espoused in USAA and is the clearest expression of USAA's positive relationship with its members. That "Service to the Member" philosophy implanted by McDermott has continued during USAA's rapid growth, and a key element of that service is member contact. As a direct-writer, USAA relies primarily on telephone and postal communication with its members. Over the years, McDermott has guided the staff to a communications status - technologically and from the standpoint of efficiency - that ensures members have fast and direct contact with USAA. In 1969, about 99% of USAA's member contact was by mail. Today USAA relies more on the immediacy of telephone contact. Its employees receive about 17.8 million calls a year, and average daily phone volume is about 65,000 calls. With over 1,000 lines, USAA is the largest single point of termination for WATS lines in the country. Still, USAA continues to rely heavily on use of the mail. It is the nation's largest direct mailer in terms of sales volume and fifth largest internationally. A staff of more than 450, full- and part-time, handle approximately 27 million incoming and 73 million outgoing pieces of mail annually. Technology, combined with employee morale and esprit de corps, ensures USAA members receive the best possible communications service [21]. How well USAA is doing in providing service to its members can be measured in a number of ways. The steady growth of USAA and success of its diversification efforts are surely one measure. Another are surveys USAA administers to members which show great member satisfaction. It would be easy to write off USAA's surveys of its own members, but the findings have been confirmed in a number of other places by different institutions. For example, the October 1988 issue of Consumer Reports picked USAA as one of the best three companies in the nation in terms of service. The other two were much smaller firms [20]. This was the 4th such judgment by Consumer Reports over the past 20 years [16, 17, 18, 19]. USAA had the best record in the state for both homeowners and private auto insurance in terms of the fewest number of complaints per one thousand policyholders [14]. The Arizona Insurance Department had the same findings for USAA personal lines insurance [23]. In an industry categorized as a "service Industry", USAA is clearly one of the national leaders due to the leadership of Robert McDermott. In its January 21, 1985 issue, Business Week selected 50 leaders who were representative of the new corporate elite. Of the 9 selected in the "service Gurus" category, McDermott was the only CEO of an insurance firm selected [13]. In the July 25, 1988, Forbes, McDermott said in an interview with Toni Mack that , "if you put service number one, everything else will follow," and so it has [8]. Most recently USAA was among 101 companies singled out in the 1989 book The Service Edge by Ron Zemke with Dick Schaaf [27]. In his foreword to the book, Tom Peters said that the 101 companies described will hopefully have "good management at the top, and throughout any firm, to appreciate just what an unstinting dedication to service can amount to - and to challenge each and every one of us about making such a commitment in our own outfits" [27]. It is clear that providing great service to its own members, USAA has caught national attention as well. McDermott's leadership qualities, within and outside the insurance industry, and his concern for community and country were also reflected in a Best of Business Quarterly interview that appeared in the journal's Spring 1987 issue [5]. Fiscal Management Providing great service has not been done without consideration of the bottom line. USAA has consistently maintained the lowest cost/expense ratio in the insurance industry and has paid dividends to members every year. In the aftermath of the insurance revolt in California in the November 1988 election, consumer advocate Ralph Nader testified before the House Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Competitiveness Subcommittee on December 6, 1988.Although Nader excoriated the insurance industry, he had positive testimony for USAA. He stated:
- Get to know your community, be a part of this city’s rich culture, and help San Antonio to: Identify and create meaningful and high paying jobs; Develop and attract cutting-edge, vibrant and long-lasting industries; Shape a world-class education system that prepares and inspires students to achieve their highest aspirations; Enhance San Antonio’s transportation system to move people efficiently; Diversify our energy and water portfolios so that we continue to enjoy low-cost energy and water while being good stewards of our environment; Create an extraordinary downtown that bustles with great restaurants, theaters, museums and residents; Foster a vibrant arts scene throughout San Antonio, and Accomplish these goals while urging San Antonians to live healthier and longer lives.
- Get to know your community, be a part of this city’s rich culture, and help San Antonio to: Identify and create meaningful and high paying jobs; Develop and attract cutting-edge, vibrant and long-lasting industries; Shape a world-class education system that prepares and inspires students to achieve their highest aspirations; Enhance San Antonio’s transportation system to move people efficiently; Diversify our energy and water portfolios so that we continue to enjoy low-cost energy and water while being good stewards of our environment; Create an extraordinary downtown that bustles with great restaurants, theaters, museums and residents; Foster a vibrant arts scene throughout San Antonio, and Accomplish these goals while urging San Antonians to live healthier and longer lives.
- Defense Secretary Charles Wilson
- http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8 October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born » Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “ Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “ Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building. http://todayinspacehistory.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/october-4-1957-the-russians-launch-sputnik/ LG SPUT IMAGE « October 3, 1962 - Sigma 7 launches into orbit, Mercury-Atlas 8October 5, 1929 - Astronaut Richard Gordon, Jr., is born »October 4, 1957 - the Russian’s launch Sputnik Ads by GoogleSputnik Huge selection, great deals on Sputnik items. Yahoo.com3D Earth Screensaver Watch Realistic Animated 3D Earth On Your Desktop. Free Download! www.CrawlerTools.com/3DEarth The modern space age was birthed on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet’s launched the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, Sputnik. Wikipedia says: “ Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. The satellite was 58 cm (about 23 in) in diameter and weighed approximately 83.6 kg (about 183 lb). Each of its elliptical orbits around the Earth took about 96 minutes. Monitoring of the satellite was done by Amateur radio operators. The first long-range flight of the R-7 booster used to launch it had occurred on August 21 and was described in Aviation Week. Sputnik 1 was not visible from Earth but the casing of the R-7 booster, traveling behind it, was.” Quotes: “ Both countries [Russia and the United States] knew that preeminence in space was a condition of their national security. That conviction gave both countries a powerful incentive to strive and compete. The Soviets accomplished many important firsts, and this gave us a great incentive to try harder. The space program also accomplished another vital function in that it kept us out of a hot war. It gave us a way to compete technologically, compete as a matter of national will. It may have even prevented World War III, with all the conflict and fighting focused on getting to the moon first, instead of annihilating each other. There’s no evidence of that, but as eyewitness to those events, I think that’s what happened.” - American astronaut Scott Carpenter quoted in Into that Silent Sea (p. 138). ___________________ www.globalsecurity.org/.../imint/u-2_tt.htm U-2 Product SS-6 / Sputnik Launch Pad, Baikonur TOP of LAUNCH IMAGE Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff However, another event that occurred in the Soviet Union in 1960 is generally recognized as the single greatest disaster in the history of rocketry. The event was not directly related to manned space flight, but to the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In the early days of space flight, both the US and Soviet space programs were very much intertwined with the development of ICBMs. These vehicles were designed to launch nuclear warheads over great distances, leaving no part of the world safe from the threat of nuclear destruction. However, the technologies pioneered for these weapons of war served a secondary purpose of providing the first generation of rockets for space exploration. Sputnik on the launch pad being prepared for liftoff In fact, the early flights of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin in the USSR as well as those of Explorer I and John Glenn in the US were all conducted using modified ballistic missiles. The primary Soviet launch vehicle of the period was the R-7 rocket, modified versions of which are still used even today for most Russian space flights. The R-7 was originally developed as an ICBM under the direction of Sergei Korolev, the Soviet Union's pre-eminent rocket designer of the day. The R-7 successfully completed a number of test flights between 1957 and 1959, including launching the first two artificial satellites. While only four examples of the R-7 were ever deployed as ballistic missiles from 1960 to 1968, the same basic design has remained in use throughout the Russian space program. Modern variants of the R-7 continue to launch satellites as well as manned Soyuz flights, and the type had achieved a success rate of nearly 98% in over 1,600 launches by the year 2000. _____________ Apollo 17 http://www.phys.ncku.edu.tw/~astrolab/mirrors/apod/ap031109.html Apollo 17 _ 1 http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/GPN-2000-001876.jpg Apollo 17 _ 2 Apollo 17 launch, December 17, 1972: http://xpda.com/junkmail/junk162/junk162.htm Mars http://whyfiles.org/194spa_travel/images/mars.gif Moon http://www.rc-astro.com/php/phpthumb/cache/phpThumb_cache_rc-astro.com_srcfadbb9057f0dac8e921d1bffc3590ce0_par0ddf367c5f01d9ba090bf356b6761f52_dat1168633826.jpeg Kennedy http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.gif November 21, 1963 Dedication Ceremony of the New Facilities of the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas http://www.historicaldocuments.com/JohnFKennedysLastSpeech.htm SPACE TEAMS MCD KANE Toursit Russian http://science.qj.net/Microsoft-billionaire-joins-ISS-bound-Russian-space-flight/pg/49/aid/88814 U.S. software mogul Charles Simonyi became the world's fifth space tourist - "space flight participant," as officials call them - to go into orbit. Simonyi, who helped developed Microsoft Word, paid US$ 25M for the opportunity to join the crew of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-10. The 58-year-old Hungary-born billionaire is making a 12-day round trip to the International Space Station (ISS). Joining him on the trip were Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov of the 15th ISS crew. The spacecraft Simonyi and the Russian cosmonauts lifted off from the Bainokur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:31 P.M. local time (1:31 P.M. EDT). They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday. Simonyi will be treating the current occupants of the ISS to a gourmet meal three days after arriving at the space station. The meal will be held in honor of Cosmonauts' Day, the Russian holiday commemorating Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 space flight. Everybody else mentioned who prepared the meal so we won't. Suffice to say, she's famous, knows her way around a house, and looked good in orange. In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV) ___________ Tito http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1310822.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F106174681002B4CEC415A5397277B4DC33E MIR http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/images/inset-LucidS-5-large.jpg http://csatweb.csatolna.hu/tagok/csa/mars/rover.jpg RICHS TECHNOLOGY CAMERA - BODY HAWKING http://gozerog.com/images/Hawking_001.jpg Public Domain. Suggested credit: NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration via pingnews. KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Noted physicist Stephen Hawking (center) enjoys zero gravity during a flight aboard a modified Boeing 727 aircraft owned by Zero Gravity Corp. (Zero G). Hawking, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is being rotated in air by (right) Peter Diamandis, founder of the Zero G Corp., and (left) Byron Lichtenberg, former shuttle payload specialist and now president of Zero G. Kneeling below Hawking is Nicola O'Brien, a nurse practitioner who is Hawking's aide. At the celebration of his 65th birthday on January 8 this year, Hawking announced his plans for a zero-gravity flight to prepare for a sub-orbital space flight in 2009 on Virgin Galactic's space service. Additional information from source: No copyright protection is asserted for this photograph. If a recognizable person appears in this photograph, use for commercial purposes may infringe a right of privacy or publicity. It may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by NASA employees of a commercial product, process or service, or used in any other manner that might mislead. Accordingly, it is requested that if this photograph is used in advertising and other commercial promotion, layout and copy be submitted to NASA prior to release. Source Physicist Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA) Date April 27, 2007 at 22:11 Zero Gravity's price tag for the daylong tour is $2,950, which includes preflight training and a postflight party. From the Go Zero G Website: The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly like Superman can now be yours. Train with an expert coach, board our specially modified aircraft, G-FORCE ONE, and experience the unforgettable. Experience zero gravity the only way possible without going to space. Parabolic flight is the same method NASA has used to train its astronauts for the last 45 years and the same way Tom Hanks floated in Apollo 13. Book a seat on one of our regular flights conveniently based in Las Vegas, Nevada and at the Kennedy Space Center, near Orlando, Florida. The aircraft is also available for charter flights anywhere in the United States for groups, incentive trips, parties or team building.
- Dear Mr.Brazell: Thank you for your e-mail. I joined the Southwest Foundation for biomedical Research in October 1958. I am still active in my research at this wonderful research institution. As you may have noted from SATAI records my research work is in the area of steroid hormones. My contributions are in the immunodignostic area of steroid hormones and the role of steroid hormones in cancer chemotherapy. Hope this information is helpful. Sincerely, P.N.Rao, Ph.D http://www.sfbr.org/pages/organic_cv.php?u=22 v in 2003, SFBR scientists published their success in transplanting human cancer cells and tumors in the Monodelphis , marking the first time that human cancers have been able to grow and metastasize in another animal with an active immune system.
- “ This Nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it.” --John F. Kennedy, Nov 21, 1963 Shortly after its creation in 1958, NASA was greatly in need of medical expertise relating to the effects of the space environment on man. With the School of Aviation Medicine (SAM) [later School of Aerospace Medicine (SAM)] moving to Brooks Air Force Base (AFB) in 1959, NASA hired SAM to perform research and experiments relating to medical issues for manned spaceflight. At this time, the Department of Space Medicine at SAM was focused on a set of ambitious research goals relating to the protection of astronauts from the harsh space environment. Initially on a contract basis, SAM performed three projects for NASA.
- Lieutenant Colonel Edward White During the third revolution, he carried out the first extra vehicular activity in the United States manned space flight program. He was outside Gemini 4 for 21 minutes, and became the first man to control himself in space during EVA with a maneuvering unit. he was named as one of the pilots of the AS-204 mission, the first 3-man Apollo flight. Lieutenant Colonel White died on January 26, 1967, in the Apollo spacecraft flash fire during a launch pad test at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
- Apollo 11 was the spaceflight which landed the first humans, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr, on Earth's Moon on July 20, 1969, The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' begins its ascent to rendezvous with the Command/Service Module 'Columbia' after its successful lunar landing, 21st July 1969. Picture taken from the Columbia. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images) The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' begins its ascent to rendezvous with the Command/Service Module 'Columbia' after its successful lunar landing, 21st July 1969. Picture taken from the Columbia. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images) The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' begins its ascent to rendezvous with the Command/Service Module 'Columbia' after its successful lunar landing, 21st July 1969. Picture taken from the Columbia. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images) The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' begins its ascent to rendezvous with the Command/Service Module 'Columbia' after its successful lunar landing, 21st July 1969. Picture taken from the Columbia. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images). The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' The Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' begins its ascent to rendezvous with the Command/Service Module 'Columbia' after its successful lunar landing, 21st July 1969. Picture taken from the Columbia. (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images)
- http://www.honoraryunsubscribe.com/william_a._mallow.html 1973 – First Patent at SwRI Foam product from sodium silicate 38 Patents Joined permanetly in 1961 A polymer chemist at the Southwest Research Institute, Mallow enjoyed working on practical problems. He showed M&M-Mars how to keep peanut butter from gunking up the molds at M&M candy factories. He helped Bette Nesmith Graham (mother of "The Monkees" guitarist Michael Nesmith) perfect the formula for her invention, "Liquid Paper". He consulted on projects from Space Shuttle protective tiles to fake dinosaur skin -- and invented clumping cat litter. Mallow retired from SwRI in 1998, but continued to dabble in materials: most recently, he worked on the "Mobility Denial System" -- a slippery spray that could be used to disable enemy troops without injury or death. He died July 30 in San Antonio from leukemia. He was 72. v
- Gordon Peterson wrote ARC' innovate network operating system. John Murphy, ARCNET chief architect, continues to be amazed about the diverse application for the technology he developed.
- http://www.excimernet.com/MPRKbody.htm The discoverer of a vision-enhancing technique used in LASIK surgery Among his more important contributions was his discovery of photo refractive kertectomy (PRK), a technique that uses laser energy to resurface the eyeís cornea to produce improved vision. U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine's Radiation Sciences Division. During his career-long tour here Taboada pioneered the development of special devices, made several important scientific discoveries and advanced scientific understanding of concepts with futuristic applications. Among his more important contributions was his discovery of photo refractive kertectomy (PRK), a technique that uses laser energy to resurface the eye's cornea to produce improved vision. Taboada later developed a one-of-akind instrument (patent pending) to measure the haze or loss of transparency that develops in the cornea after a PRK procedure. Among Air Force research discoveries Taboada made that will be the focus of his entrepreneurial investigations is the fascinating future possibility of creating "bionic" human vision.
- The Palmaz Stent ® The stent has dropped the occurrence of death due to heart disease from nearly 500 per every 100,000 Americans in 1970 to less than 200 per every 100,000 today. IP Worldwide magazine recently named the Palmaz Stent ® among the 10 patents that have changed the world. Each year, at least 2 million stents are placed in patients worldwide. Dr. Palmaz is a professor of radiology at the Health Science Center. one of the world's most successful medical devices http://www.uthscsa.edu/mission/article.asp?id=73 Magazine ranks Palmaz stent among '10 Patents that Changed World' by Amanda Gallagher The revolutionary Palmaz® stent, invented by Julio Palmaz, M.D., is listed as one of the '10 Patents That Changed the World' in the August issue of IP Worldwide magazine. Stents are now used in 2 million patients annually to repair clogged arteries near the heart and elsewhere in the body. Dr. Palmaz gained a U.S. patent on the stent in April 1988. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted approval for use in cardiac arteries in 1994. Related Stories
- http://www.perftech.com/Bios.html For over 25 years, PerfTech's core management group has worked together, producing innovative technology, creating industry standards, inventing new applications, and filing dozens of patents among the senior management team. The PerfTech team has consistently identified the needs and services vital to successful technology applications. Their scope and depth of experience allow customers to gain the best of both worlds: innovation and expertise. Rod Frey, President and Acting CFO : Rod has 23 years of Information Systems, Finance, Product Management, Operations, and General Management experiences. He started his career with a multi-national/high-technology corporation, Raychem, where he held positions in IS management, business planning, Group Controller and in his final three years as General Manager of a 300 employee offshore subsidiary. He joined Performance Technology in early 1993 where he became responsible for Finance, Operations, HR and Administration. Once Performance Technology was acquired by Bay/Nortel Networks, Rod became the San Antonio site’s General Manager and also took on Product Management directorship for other Nortel Networks products/locations. Rod holds BS degrees in Computer Science and Finance from the University of California, Berkeley and at California State University, Hayward. Lewis Donzis, Vice-President, Chief Technical Officer : Lewis Donzis, a founding member of Performance Technology in 1985, has been a key figure in the varied history of the team. Beginning his career as an Advanced Product Development engineer at Datapoint Corp. in 1977, Lewis went on to serve as a lead developer at Performance Technology, inventing and developing the products that have made this team so successful. Lewis’ prescience in identifying the Internet phenomenon in 1991 and subsequent education of the team in Internet technology led to the definition of the product that produced the successful acquisition of the company by Nortel/Bay Networks in 1996. At PT and subsequently Bay Networks and Nortel Networks, Lewis led a team of senior engineers who produced cutting-edge, industry-leading products that won recognition from many industry publications including over 8 PC Magazine Editors' Choice awards and is an inventor on ten patents related to that technology. Jonathan Schmidt, Executive Vice-President, Business Development : Jonathan has enjoyed a prolific career in the technology industry. He began developing state-of-the-art data and image communications systems as a senior engineer at Frederick Electronics (Plantronics) Corporation in 1966. He later became Vice President of Advanced Product Development at Datapoint Corporation (1969-1985), where his core product development group created the industry's first commercial LAN (ARCNET) and network operating systems and supported a business with 10,000 employees worldwide. Jonathan became the first Datapoint officer to travel internationally, helping the company develop relationships that later contributed more than half of the firm's global revenue. As co-founder of Performance Technology in 1985, his technical leadership earned a number of industry accolades that included Inc. Magazine's "Entrepreneur of the Year Award." Jonathan defined and played a key role in the design of Performance Technology's products, and established a number of lucrative distribution channels in Europe. After the acquisition of Performance Technology by Bay Networks/Nortel in 1996, Jonathan served as a senior strategist at both Bay Networks and Nortel Networks. Over the course of his impressive career, Jonathan has lived and worked in various countries around the world, has learned several foreign languages, has long served on the boards of innovative high-tech companies in the US and abroad, and has authored numerous patents for technology products and services. Jonathan holds both a BA and MA in Mathematics from the University of Michigan. Shellie Rosser, Sales Consultant : Founder and president of SR Consulting, Shellie Rosser brings more than 20 years experience in the cable television technology business, where she has been instrumental in the successful introduction of new technologies for the leading suppliers in the cable industry. Shellie's corporate background includes start-up Narad Networks, where she served as VP Market Development and VP Marketing, developing demand-creation programs and managing all aspects of the company’s marketing department. As Senior VP Sales for ICTV, she led that company’s rollout of interactive television technology. At Antec (now Arris Interactive), she helped establish the company’s leadership in fiber optics in her roles as VP Marketing and VP Communications. She also managed Antec’s activities in terminal devices as VP Subscriber Systems and VP New Business Development. Her cable television career began in sales, where she was Account Executive for General Instrument (now Motorola), and later, Director of Corporate Accounts for Pioneer Communications of America. Shellie has served on numerous cable association foundations, boards and committees throughout her career, including Women In Cable and Telecommunications, CTPAA, CTAM, NCTA, and the FCC Advisory Committee on Advanced Television. In 1995 Shellie was recognized for her contributions to the cable industry with the prestigious NCTA Vanguard Award for Young Leadership. A long time member of the SCTE, she was inducted in the Cable Pioneers Club in 2002. Shellie earned her BBA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Executive Management Program certification at the Kellogg School of Northwestern University. John Murphy, Senior Engineer : John has a wide range of experience, having worked at Motorola, Telex, and Singer, before joining Datapoint Corporation in the mid-1970s. John is known throughout the industry as the inventor of ARCNET, the world’s first commercial Local Area Network (LAN) topology, and has been honored by NASA for its use on the Space Shuttle. He also developed the Associated Index Method allowing high-speed ad hoc database searches, the first multi-user LAN-connected spreadsheet, high-performance, high-reliability server software, local area networking operating systems including their LAN communications protocols, and the firmware and BIOS for the first production Instant Internet for which he was awarded multiple patents. John holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Henry Donzis, Senior Engineer : Henry joined Datapoint in 1974 and invented the first Local Area Network to be implemented on a broadband medium. He holds a patent on the facet-to-axis correction of the first LAN-connected laser printer and he also participated in the development of the first LAN optical link. Joining the initial Performance Technology team in 1985, he was responsible for producing tape backup systems, data conversion utilities, the first 16-bit ARCNET hardware, and an emulator for UNIX to be used by all Ford dealers in the UK. He developed the prototype and holds a patent for both the client and server of the first LAN-to-Internet gateway (Instant Internet), and his hardware expertise and development of automated manufacturing systems were critical to the success of the Instant Internet product line. Henry holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an MS in Computer Science and System Design from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Peter Baron, Graphical Design Engineer : Peter joined PT in 1988 after starting his professional career with Citibank of Canada, where he was system administrator of their Datapoint systems. After joining PT Peter spent several years programming on various products and quickly gravitated toward designing user interfaces, and has become the team’s lead GUI designer. Peter holds a BS degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. Rhonda Grimm, Marketing/Product Manager : Rhonda joined the PT team in 1985 as a technical writer and has accumulated 16 years of experience in product marketing, sales, and product management. Rhonda was instrumental in developing marketing materials and executing successful product launches for a number of PT product lines as well as developing and managing focused inside-sales organizations. At Bay Networks and Nortel Networks she became a core team leader in product introductions/product management and has had extensive experience in developing close relationships with key/lead customers. She holds a BA in Literature from Tulane University and an MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Maria Johnson, Administrative Office Manager : Maria joined PT in 1990 after many years in the customer service industry. She has developed a very broad background involving many activities within the company and continues to support the team with valuable administrative services. Maria develops and maintains relationships with a number of key service vendors providing the company a very flexible growth model.
- http://www.perftech.com/Bios.html For over 25 years, PerfTech's core management group has worked together, producing innovative technology, creating industry standards, inventing new applications, and filing dozens of patents among the senior management team. The PerfTech team has consistently identified the needs and services vital to successful technology applications. Their scope and depth of experience allow customers to gain the best of both worlds: innovation and expertise. Rod Frey, President and Acting CFO : Rod has 23 years of Information Systems, Finance, Product Management, Operations, and General Management experiences. He started his career with a multi-national/high-technology corporation, Raychem, where he held positions in IS management, business planning, Group Controller and in his final three years as General Manager of a 300 employee offshore subsidiary. He joined Performance Technology in early 1993 where he became responsible for Finance, Operations, HR and Administration. Once Performance Technology was acquired by Bay/Nortel Networks, Rod became the San Antonio site’s General Manager and also took on Product Management directorship for other Nortel Networks products/locations. Rod holds BS degrees in Computer Science and Finance from the University of California, Berkeley and at California State University, Hayward. Lewis Donzis, Vice-President, Chief Technical Officer : Lewis Donzis, a founding member of Performance Technology in 1985, has been a key figure in the varied history of the team. Beginning his career as an Advanced Product Development engineer at Datapoint Corp. in 1977, Lewis went on to serve as a lead developer at Performance Technology, inventing and developing the products that have made this team so successful. Lewis’ prescience in identifying the Internet phenomenon in 1991 and subsequent education of the team in Internet technology led to the definition of the product that produced the successful acquisition of the company by Nortel/Bay Networks in 1996. At PT and subsequently Bay Networks and Nortel Networks, Lewis led a team of senior engineers who produced cutting-edge, industry-leading products that won recognition from many industry publications including over 8 PC Magazine Editors' Choice awards and is an inventor on ten patents related to that technology. Jonathan Schmidt, Executive Vice-President, Business Development : Jonathan has enjoyed a prolific career in the technology industry. He began developing state-of-the-art data and image communications systems as a senior engineer at Frederick Electronics (Plantronics) Corporation in 1966. He later became Vice President of Advanced Product Development at Datapoint Corporation (1969-1985), where his core product development group created the industry's first commercial LAN (ARCNET) and network operating systems and supported a business with 10,000 employees worldwide. Jonathan became the first Datapoint officer to travel internationally, helping the company develop relationships that later contributed more than half of the firm's global revenue. As co-founder of Performance Technology in 1985, his technical leadership earned a number of industry accolades that included Inc. Magazine's "Entrepreneur of the Year Award." Jonathan defined and played a key role in the design of Performance Technology's products, and established a number of lucrative distribution channels in Europe. After the acquisition of Performance Technology by Bay Networks/Nortel in 1996, Jonathan served as a senior strategist at both Bay Networks and Nortel Networks. Over the course of his impressive career, Jonathan has lived and worked in various countries around the world, has learned several foreign languages, has long served on the boards of innovative high-tech companies in the US and abroad, and has authored numerous patents for technology products and services. Jonathan holds both a BA and MA in Mathematics from the University of Michigan. Shellie Rosser, Sales Consultant : Founder and president of SR Consulting, Shellie Rosser brings more than 20 years experience in the cable television technology business, where she has been instrumental in the successful introduction of new technologies for the leading suppliers in the cable industry. Shellie's corporate background includes start-up Narad Networks, where she served as VP Market Development and VP Marketing, developing demand-creation programs and managing all aspects of the company’s marketing department. As Senior VP Sales for ICTV, she led that company’s rollout of interactive television technology. At Antec (now Arris Interactive), she helped establish the company’s leadership in fiber optics in her roles as VP Marketing and VP Communications. She also managed Antec’s activities in terminal devices as VP Subscriber Systems and VP New Business Development. Her cable television career began in sales, where she was Account Executive for General Instrument (now Motorola), and later, Director of Corporate Accounts for Pioneer Communications of America. Shellie has served on numerous cable association foundations, boards and committees throughout her career, including Women In Cable and Telecommunications, CTPAA, CTAM, NCTA, and the FCC Advisory Committee on Advanced Television. In 1995 Shellie was recognized for her contributions to the cable industry with the prestigious NCTA Vanguard Award for Young Leadership. A long time member of the SCTE, she was inducted in the Cable Pioneers Club in 2002. Shellie earned her BBA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Executive Management Program certification at the Kellogg School of Northwestern University. John Murphy, Senior Engineer : John has a wide range of experience, having worked at Motorola, Telex, and Singer, before joining Datapoint Corporation in the mid-1970s. John is known throughout the industry as the inventor of ARCNET, the world’s first commercial Local Area Network (LAN) topology, and has been honored by NASA for its use on the Space Shuttle. He also developed the Associated Index Method allowing high-speed ad hoc database searches, the first multi-user LAN-connected spreadsheet, high-performance, high-reliability server software, local area networking operating systems including their LAN communications protocols, and the firmware and BIOS for the first production Instant Internet for which he was awarded multiple patents. John holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Henry Donzis, Senior Engineer : Henry joined Datapoint in 1974 and invented the first Local Area Network to be implemented on a broadband medium. He holds a patent on the facet-to-axis correction of the first LAN-connected laser printer and he also participated in the development of the first LAN optical link. Joining the initial Performance Technology team in 1985, he was responsible for producing tape backup systems, data conversion utilities, the first 16-bit ARCNET hardware, and an emulator for UNIX to be used by all Ford dealers in the UK. He developed the prototype and holds a patent for both the client and server of the first LAN-to-Internet gateway (Instant Internet), and his hardware expertise and development of automated manufacturing systems were critical to the success of the Instant Internet product line. Henry holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an MS in Computer Science and System Design from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Peter Baron, Graphical Design Engineer : Peter joined PT in 1988 after starting his professional career with Citibank of Canada, where he was system administrator of their Datapoint systems. After joining PT Peter spent several years programming on various products and quickly gravitated toward designing user interfaces, and has become the team’s lead GUI designer. Peter holds a BS degree in Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. Rhonda Grimm, Marketing/Product Manager : Rhonda joined the PT team in 1985 as a technical writer and has accumulated 16 years of experience in product marketing, sales, and product management. Rhonda was instrumental in developing marketing materials and executing successful product launches for a number of PT product lines as well as developing and managing focused inside-sales organizations. At Bay Networks and Nortel Networks she became a core team leader in product introductions/product management and has had extensive experience in developing close relationships with key/lead customers. She holds a BA in Literature from Tulane University and an MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Maria Johnson, Administrative Office Manager : Maria joined PT in 1990 after many years in the customer service industry. She has developed a very broad background involving many activities within the company and continues to support the team with valuable administrative services. Maria develops and maintains relationships with a number of key service vendors providing the company a very flexible growth model.
- Whyville has its own system of self governance
- 1993, Engineering Award for Video Toaster 2003, Emmy Engineering Award for LightWave 3D 10 Emmy Visual Effects awards went to productions that used LightWave as their 3D tool of choice in past 10 years. 2001, Both Emmy® VFX category winners, Star Trek: Voyager and Frank Herbert's Dune. 2002, Series VFX Emmy winner Enterprise: Broken Bow, and then both categories again in 2003, for the series Firefly and the movie Children of Dune; and in 2004 Enterprise: Countdown and Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination-Beyond Conspiracy. Tim Jenison, founder and chief technology officer of NewTek, is considered the visionary force behind the desktop video revolution. Jenison founded NewTek in 1985, and led in the development of a series of highly successful products including DigiView, the first video digitizer for a computer; DigiPaint; the Amiga Video Toaster, which provided broadcast-quality video editing and special effects in one complete solution for under $5,000; the Amiga Video Toaster Flyer, which provided quality nonlinear video editing capabilities, affordably; LightWave 3D®; Calibar; and more recently Inspire 3D, Aura, and the new VT[3]. Before founding NewTek, Jenison attended Iowa State University, then pursued a career in the music industry. He began tinkering with and inventing things when he was just a child - an aptitude he put to good use at NewTek.
- Tom Nader 2003, 130 commercials 2004, 100+ commercials
- Get to know your community, be a part of this city’s rich culture, and help San Antonio to: Identify and create meaningful and high paying jobs; Develop and attract cutting-edge, vibrant and long-lasting industries; Shape a world-class education system that prepares and inspires students to achieve their highest aspirations; Enhance San Antonio’s transportation system to move people efficiently; Diversify our energy and water portfolios so that we continue to enjoy low-cost energy and water while being good stewards of our environment; Create an extraordinary downtown that bustles with great restaurants, theaters, museums and residents; Foster a vibrant arts scene throughout San Antonio, and Accomplish these goals while urging San Antonians to live healthier and longer lives.