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Article: Obituary
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 6, 2009
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Joseph Purcell, 80, a NASA director of the first successful
Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, died Sept. 23 at the College
Manor assisted living center in Lutherville, Md. He was a longtime
Annapolis resident.
Mr. Purcell was among the first group of engineers to join NASA
when it was formed in 1958, after the launch of the first Soviet
Sputnik, and he spent the next 30 years as a project manager at the
Goddard Space Flight Center.
NASA gave him its Distinguished Service Medal for his
contribution to the second Orbiting Astronomical Observatory. It was
launched in late 1968 and operated until 1973, making significant
contributions to ultraviolet astronomy by studying, for the first
time, ...