In Memory

Gene Hafele passed away on December 2, 2023.

From 1985 - 1993, Gene supported Shuttle missions as a National Weather Service meteorologist assigned to the Spaceflight Meteorology Group in the Mission Control Center.

Gene's funeral will be at 10:00 AM on Monday, December 11, 2023 at Friendswood Methodist Church, 110 N. Friendswood Drive, Friendswood, TX.      A reception will follow at the church.

Hardie passed away at the age 87, on November 30, 2023

He started in 1964 in the Landing and Recovery Division and retired in 2002 in the Patent Counsel - Technology Transfer Office.

Obituary for Hardie Barr Sr.

Retired NASA astronaut Mary Cleave, a veteran of two NASA spaceflights, died Nov. 27. She was 76. 

NASA obituary from Mary.

Paul passed away on November 16, 2023 at the age of 80. He retired from NASA after a 29-year career at MSC/JSC.

Obituary for Paul

Astronaut Frank Borman died on November 7, 2023 at the age of 95.

He was commander of Gemini 7 and Apollo 8.

Biography of Frank: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Borman 

Astronaut Thomas Mattingly passed away on Oct 31, 2023 at the age of 87.

A veteran of three space flights, Mattingly has logged 504 hours in space, including 1 hour and 13 minutes of EVA (extravehicular activity) during his Apollo 16 flight. He was the command module pilot on Apollo 16 (April 16-27, 1972), was the spacecraft commander on STS-4 (June 26 to July 4, 1982) and STS 51-C (January 24-27, 1985).

Biographical Data on Thomas https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mattingly_thomas.pdf 

Bob passed away on October 22, 2023 at the age of 79.

Bob spent his career at NASA’s Mission Control Center, working on the Apollo, Skylab, Apollo Soyuz, Space Shuttle, and International Space Station programs.

Obituary for Bob Nute

Michael (Mike) J. Manering of LaPorte, TX passed on October 20, 2023 at the age of 65.  He was employed at JSC from May 1988 through December 2012, serving in both the Mission Operations and Engineering Directorates.

There was no public obituary notice or service. 

Jim Richard Bates died on October 13, 2023 at the age of 83. 

Jim’s NASA career began in June of 1962 at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston and culminated in his retirement from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in June 2004.  

Jim was involved in some capacity in every space mission beginning with Wally Schirra’s Mercury mission. He worked flight control positions during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. He headed a team that monitored the Lunar experiments until that program was closed. During Gemini, Jim developed an interest in in-flight experiments and helped set up and worked the experiments console in the control center. This interest became a career long advocacy. He was instrumental in getting the IMAX cameras flown on the Space Shuttle  and in the launch and repair of the Hubble telescope. He led ad hoc teams for such projects as research and improving weather forecasting for missions after the Challenger accident.  Jim acted as a Flight Integration Manager for many Shuttle flights and advocated for numerous experiments that flew on those missions. He did research and advocacy for experiments on the ISS and ended his career as the NASA Project Manager for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) that now is functioning on the ISS. 

Wade Vance passed away on October 10, 2023 at the age of 101. 

Wade came to work for the Space Center in 1963 in the Energy Systems Branch of the Systems Evaluation and Development Division. Until his retirement in 1989 after 26 years of service he worked in the Thermochemical Test Branch of the Propulsion and Power Division/EP6. 

Obituary for Wade Vance.