Edgar Maurice Cortright (July 29, 1923 – May 4, 2014) was a scientist and engineer, and senior official at the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding th ...

(NASA) in the United States. His most prominent positions during his career were Director of NASA's

Langley Research Center The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, United States of America, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. It directly borders Langley Air Force Base and the Back River on the Chesapeake Bay. LaRC has fo ...

, and Chairman of the Apollo 13 Review Board which investigated the explosion that occurred during the

Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...

spaceflight in 1970.

Education

Cortright was born on July 29, 1923 in

Hastings, Pennsylvania Hastings is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,278 at the 2010 census. Geography Hastings is located in northwestern Cambria Count ...

, a coal mining district in the west of the state. His family moved to the Philadelphia area where he attended high school.''Oral History Transcript: Edgar M. Cortright''
Interviewed by Rich Dinkel at Hampton, Virginia. 1998-08-20. He earned a B.S. followed by an M.S. in aeronautical engineering at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

in 1947 and 1949.''Biographical Data Sheet: Edgar Maurice Cortright''
NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Retrieved: 2011-04-11. At RPI, he was roommates with George Low (who would go on to become NASA Administrator, and later President of RPI). He attended the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)

Nuclear Engineering Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of breaking down atomic nuclei ( fission) or of combining atomic nuclei (fusion), or with the application of other sub-atomic processes based on the principles of n ...

School in 1957. Much later, in 1975, he got a Doctor of Engineering degree from Rensselaer (this was during the time while he was Director at NASA Langley). Cortright gained membership to the Stephen Van Rensselaer Society of Patroons, people who have donate $1 million or more to Rensselaer.

Family

His parents were Janet Pearsall Cortright and Edgar Maurice Cortright Sr. He had a sister, Janet, who died before him, and a brother, David. He married Beverly Jane Hotaling in 1945 and she died in 2012. Their children were Susan and David, and Cortright had three grandsons at the time of his death.

Career

Cortright enlisted in the United States Navy in September 1941 where he was a Lieutenant. He went on to work at the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory (now the Glenn Research Center) at NACA, in Cleveland, Ohio. There, he held the positions of Aeronautical Research Scientist (1948); Head of Small Supersonic Tunnels Section (1949–1954); and Chief, Eight-by-Six-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel Branch (1954–1958).

NASA

He joined the newly formed NASA agency (successor to the NACA) as a founding member in 1958 and worked at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. where he was Chief of Advanced Technology (1958–1959); Assistant Director for Lunar and Planetary Programs, Office of Space Flight Programs, (1960–61); Deputy Director for Space Science and Applications (1961–1963); Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications (1963–1968); and Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Manned Space Flight, (1968). He was awarded the

NASA Distinguished Service Medal The NASA Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award that can be bestowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States. The medal may be presented to any member of the federal government, including both milita ...

in October 1967. He was Director of the Langley Research Center in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

from 1968–1975. Following the spacecraft explosion during the Apollo 13 spaceflight in April 1970, Cortright was appointed chairman of the Apollo 13 Review Board which was established to investigate the cause of the accident. The Board reported its findings to NASA in June 1970.''Report Of Apollo 13 Review Board''
NASA, 1970-06-15.

After NASA

Cortright left NASA to become Corporate Vice President and Technical Director at Owens Illinois Corporation from 1975–1979. He also held the positions of Senior Vice President for Science and Engineering (1978) and President (1979–1983) at Lockheed-California Company in Los Angeles, California. He died from a stroke in Palm City, Florida, on May 4, 2014, aged 90.''Former Langley Center Director Edgar Cortright Dies''
NASA Press Release, 2014-05-05.''Edgar M. Cortright''
Langley Legacies, 2014-05-07.''Obituary: Dr. Edgar Cortright''
TC Palm, 2014-05-06.

References

External links

''NASA Biographical Data Sheet: Edgar Maurice Cortright''

''Oral History Transcript: Edgar M. Cortright''
Lengthy interview of Cortright.

See Chapter 12: The Cortright Synthesis.

Compiled and Edited by Edgar M. Cortright, 1968.

Edited by Edgar M. Cortright, 1975. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cortright, Edgar Maurice People from Cambria County, Pennsylvania Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Center Directors of NASA Langley Research Center 1923 births 2014 deaths People from Palm City, Florida