RARE \"NASA\" Homer E. Newell Jr Hand Signed FDC Dated 1955 For Sale

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RARE \"NASA\" Homer E. Newell Jr Hand Signed FDC Dated 1955:
$299.99

 Up for sale RARE! "NASA" Homer E. Newell Jr Hand Signed First Day Cover Dated 1955. 

ES-8913

Homer

Edward Newell Jr. (March

11, 1915 – July 18, 1983) was a mathematics professor

and author who became a powerful United States government

science administrator—eventually rising to the number three position at

the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA). In the early 1960s, he either controlled

or influenced virtually all non-military unmanned space missions for the free

world. Newell was born March 11, 1915 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He was educated in

the public schools, graduating at the top of his class from Holyoke High in

1932. In a 1980 interview, he recalled that his interest in science arose

from his grandfather Arthur J. Newell, an engineer for a local electrical

equipment manufacturer, who had an extensive private library where Newell

found books also provided the money for his grandson's university education at Harvard University, where he graduated with a

1936 Bachelor of Arts in Math, and a 1937 Master of

Arts in Teaching. He applied for a scholarship to but Harvard did not award it. Instead, he completed his education at

the University of Wisconsin–Madison,

which awarded him a Math Ph.D. in 1940 with Rudolf Langer as thesis advisor. From

1940 to 1944, Newell was an instructor, and then assistant professor of

mathematics at the University of Maryland.

During World War II he also worked as a Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA)

ground instructor in air navigation, taught engineering classes for military

cadets, and briefly taught astronomy. The additional work for the CAA and

military ended in 1944, and Newell, who was unhappy as a professor, applied for

positions at several organizations doing military research. He was offered

a contract position at the Naval Research security section in 1944, and later that year became an NRL

employee. In

1945, the communications security section became the rocket sonde section.

Newell became successively head of the theoretical analysis subsection,

associate head of the section, and by 1947 headed the section; which performed

upper atmosphere research using rockets including NRL's own Viking; mostly launched from the White Sands Missile Range. In

1954, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower assigned NRL

responsibility to launch satellites during the International Geophysical Year (IGY),

Newell was promoted to Acting Superintendent of NRL's Atmosphere and

Astrophysics division, with an additional assignment as science coordinator

for Project Vanguard. In this position, Newell

worked with the National Academy of Sciences to

identify which experiments would be flown on Vanguard satellites. In the

wake of the first two Soviet satellites, and the explosion of the first

Vanguard on the launch pad, one of the experiment packages selected by Newell

was switched to the U.S. Army's Explorer I satellite,

which subsequently discovered the Van Allen radiation belts. Newell played a

significant behind the scenes role in the negotiations which led to the

creation of NASA,

chairing a committee of rocket and satellite experimenters that drafted a

consensus plan for a national space establishment which was presented to

Eisenhower's science advisor, and advising the Senate preparedness

investigating subcommittee. In both roles, Newell—though at this time a senior

DOD administrator—both publicly and privately advocated transfer of space

activities to a separate civilian agency. When the legislation

establishing NASA was passed in 1958, Newell was given credit by his peers,

including Van Allen, who called him "The Spark Plug" for a strong

space science element in NASA Newell joined NASA in 1958, and was

successively assistant director for space sciences (1958-1960), deputy director

of space flight programs (1960-1961), director of space sciences (1961-1963),

associate administrator for space science and applications (1963-1967) and

finally associate administrator of NASA (1967-1974). In 1965, Newell was

awarded the President's

Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service  While

at NASA, Newell drafted the first national plan for unmanned exploration of the

moon and planets, developed NASA's procedure for scientific experiment

selection, and was responsible for NASA's university programs. His

influence peaked in the 1963-1967 period, when his Office of Space Science and

Applications (OSSA) operated effectively as a nearly independent space program,

not only selecting experiments and contracting for satellites and space probes

but also contracting for launch vehicles and acting as the "executive

agent" for space launch for other U.S. and allied agencies. The first

civil weather, communications, and earth resources satellites date from this

period. In 1967, Newell was promoted to the position of associate administrator

of NASA, the third-ranking position in the agency, which he held until his

retirement in 1974. He held this post under four successive NASA

administrators. Among other activities in this position, he traveled to the

Rice Hotel in Houston to meet with disgruntled scientist-astronauts in 1971. Among

the results of that meeting was the assignment of Dr. Harrison

Schmitt as the last human being (and only scientist) to set

foot on the surface of the moon. Newell retired from NASA in 1974. He wrote at

least eight books, one of which, Vector Analysis, (McGraw Hill, NY,1955)

remains in print today. His last book, Beyond the Atmosphere: Early Years of

Space Science (NASA SP-4211), is widely referenced as a historical source.

Newell died on July 18, 1983, leaving behind his wife, four children, eleven

grandchildren, his books and a robust space science program. His name, while

not widely recognized today by non-specialists, was commemorated in the Goddard Space Flight Center's Homer E.

Newell memorial library, and asteroid 2086 Newell.

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