Robert J. "Bob" Parks (April 1, 1922 – June 3, 2011) was a US

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

and pioneer in the space program where he was intricately involved and/or directed for some of the most historic and important U.S. unmanned space missions. Over a 40-year tenure at the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

(JPL/NASA), located in Pasadena, California, Parks’ impact was essential to helping the United States lead the world in space exploration. He served as Guidance Engineer fo
Explorer 1
the first successfully launched satellite by the United States. He directed the initial flyby missions to the Moon
Ranger 7
8 and 9 Missions), the first soft landing on the moon ( Surveyor Lunar Lander), the world's first successful mission to another planet ( Mariner 2 to Venus) and initial missions to Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus. Parks concluded his career as Deputy Director of the JPL/NASA and retired in 1987. Some of the awards he received for his work include the

NASA Exceptional Service Medal The NASA Exceptional Service Medal is an award granted to U.S. government employees for significant sustained performance characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability that clearly demonstrates substantial improvement in engineering, ae ...

(1967), the

Stuart Ballantine Medal {{notability, date=February 2018 The Stuart Ballantine Medal was a science and engineering award presented by the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was named after the US inventor Stuart Ballantine. Laureates *1947 - Geo ...

(1967), the Goddard Astronautics Award (1980) and the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award in 1982.

Early life

Robert Joseph Parks was born on 1 April 1922 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California and grew up in Glendale and Balboa Island. His father was petroleum engineer Joseph Burton Parks, his mother was Ruth (Feltz) Parks, and his brother was Jerome W. Parks. He attended California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he played in the backfield on the freshman football team (including one game in the Rose Bowl, Caltech's home field) and was elected to

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

, the honorary engineering fraternity. He graduated with honors in 1944, with a BS degree in electrical engineering. From February 1944 to June 1946 he served with the US Army Signal Corps, including a tour in occupied Europe. During his service, he received considerable additional schooling in electronics and radar at Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Army's Fort Monmouth. He was discharged from the Army as a first lieutenant. While stationed in Austria, he met his future wife Hanne Richter, an interpreter and the daughter of a professor at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. She and Parks would later have three sons. After leaving the army, Parks spent six months at

Hughes Aircraft The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting p ...

before starting work at the

(JPL) in April 1947.

JPL career

During his early years at the JPL, Parks started out as an engineer in the Guidance and Control Section from 1947 to 1950 where he worked with Wernher von Braun in White Sands, New Mexico to develop the guidance systems for the Army's MGM-5 Corporal and MGM-29 Sergeant guided missiles. He then became Section Chief, and from 1956 to 1957 was Division Chief of Research and Development. He was Project Director for the Sergeant missile program from 1957 until June 1960 when the work at JPL was turning from missiles to spacecraft. Starting in May 1960, under Parks' direction, JPL/NASA conducted the world's first spacecraft mission to another planet, the Mariner 2 mission to Venus in 1962; the Ranger 7, 8 and 9 missions in 1964 and 1965, which produced the first close-up photos of the Moon; and the Mariner 4 mission to Mars in 1965. In addition, he was project manager for the Surveyor lunar lander series, the first soft landing on the Moon, the precursor to the Apollo Manned Program in 1965 and 1966. Parks also oversaw Mariner 5 to Venus in 1967; Mariners 6 and 7 to Mars in 1969; Mariner 9 to Mars in 1971; Mariner 10, which in 1973 was the first spacecraft to travel to the planet Mercury; and the JPL portion of NASA's Viking orbiter and lander mission to Mars. In 1978 and 1979, Parks managed the Voyager Project which sent spacecraft to Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus which now has left our Solar System and continues on to this day..... Parks served in various roles at JPL/NASA including Director of the Planetary Programs during the early 1960s Assistant Laboratory Director (ALD) for Lunar and Planetary Projects in 1963. He held this role through various name changes until 1981 when he became JPL/NASA deputy director. In this position he was responsible for the day-to-day management of JPL and for the direction of its technical, administrative, and service activities until his retirement in 1987. Upon his death on June 3, 2011, Bob was recognized by JPL NASA which compiled a documentary film about his career entitled a ''Tribute to a Space Explorer'' which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etfIXJm9Xds

Awards and later life

Parks received numerous awards for his distinguished service at JPL/NASA that include the NASA Public Service Award (1963) and the

(1967). The

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

awarded him its Louis W. Hill Award (1963) and Goddard Astronautics Award (1980). He and his JPL colleague

Jack N. James Jack Norval James (November 22, 1920 – August 7, 2001) was a US rocket engineer who worked for over 35 years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA. His work as a Project Manager for NASA's Mariner program in the 1960s inc ...

were presented with the

(Engineering) from the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

in 1967 for their: "Application of electromagnetic communication to the first successful reconnaissance of Mars by the Mariner IV". In 1973, Parks was elected to the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

for his: "Contributions in radio-inertial guidance, communications methods, systems engineering, and project management of spacecraft and missiles." He was awarded the Caltech Distinguished Alumni Award in 1982. At the time of his retirement from JPL in 1987, Parks was living with his wife Hanne in nearby Balboa Island, California, Orange County. He was survived by his son's John Parks, Rick Parks, and Gary Parks. Parks died aged 89 on 3 June 2011.

References

External links

Biographies of Aerospace Officials and Policymakers, O-S
includes a brief biography of Parks (NASA History Division)

photograph (figure 62) from ''Lunar Impact: A History of Project Ranger'' (1977)

(Munzinger Biographie) {{DEFAULTSORT:Parks, Robert Joseph 1922 births 2011 deaths American aerospace engineers American electrical engineers California Institute of Technology alumni Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA people Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering People from La Cañada Flintridge, California Engineers from California United States Army personnel of World War II