T. (Thomas) Keith Glennan was the first Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, established October 1, 1958, under the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. As Administrator, Mr. Glennan headed a staff of scientists, engineers, technicians, and other employees engaged in research and development in aeronautics and space matters. In this position he was a member of the president's National Aeronautics and Space Council. Born in Enderlin, North Dakota, on September 8, 1905, Mr. Glennan earned a degree in electrical engineering from the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in 1927. Following graduation, he worked in the newly developed sound motion picture industry, and later became assistant general service superintendent for Electrical Research Products Company. Mr. Glennan joined the Columbia University Division of War Research in 1942, serving through the war, first as Administrator and then as Director of the U.S. Navy's Underwater Sound Laboratories at New London, Connecticut. For his work he was awarded the Medal of Merit. Following the war Mr. Glennan became an executive of the Ansco Corp., Binghamton, New York, and became the President of the Case Institute of Technology in 1947. While serving as President at Case he also served with the Atomic Energy Commission. He was NASA's Administrator from 1958 until 1961. Mr. Glennan returned to Case in 1961 where he served until he retired in 1966. Although retired, Mr. Glennan spent two years as president of Associated Universities, Inc., an advocacy group for institutions of higher learning. Mr. Glennan died on April 11, 1995, in Mitchellville, MD. Mr. Glennan's portrait was painted by artist Albert Murray of New York.
NASA Media Usage Guidelines
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Image Number: 64-H-2399
Tags: Administrator Albert Murray T. Keith Glennan Glennan
Dr. Hugh L. Dryden was appointed NASA's first Deputy Administrator on August 19, 1958. In the interim after Dr. T. Keith Glennan's resignation and before James E. Webb's appointment, Dryden also served as the agency's Acting Administrator from January 21, 1961 to February 14 of the same year. Additionally, he held the position of Director of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), NASA's predecessor, from 1947 until October 1958. Dr. Dryden was born in Pocomoke City, Maryland on July 2, 1898. He completed both his undergraduate and graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University. Before joining the NACA, he was Associate Director of the National Bureau of Standards, where he had served since 1918. He was Deputy Administrator of NASA until his death in December 1965.
NASA Media Usage Guidelines
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Image Number: GPN-2002-000105
Date: 1950s
Tags: Hugh L. Dryden Dryden NACA NASA
James E. Webb served as the second Administrator for NASA from February 14, 1961, to October 7, 1968. Webb was born on October 7, 1906, in Tally Ho, North Carolina. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of North Carolina, he went on to serve as a pilot in the Marine Corps and later graduated from The George Washington University with a law degree. Webb worked in various positions on Capitol Hill until World War II when he re-entered the Marine Corps. After the war, Webb served as the executive assistant to the Under Secretary of the Treasury before he was appointed Director of the Bureau of the Budget in the Executive Office of the President. During the Truman Administration, Webb served as the Under Secretary of State until he joined the private sector in 1953. As Administrator, he guided the agency through the Apollo years. He retired in 1968 and served on many advisory boards. He died in 1992.
Image Number: 105-KSC-66PC-332
Date:
Tags: Administrator James Webb Truman
George M. Low was appointed NASA's Deputy Administrator in December 1969, serving Administrators Thomas O. Paine and James C. Fletcher. He was also NASA's Acting Administrator between their administrations from September 16, 1970 to April 26, 1971. Following his retirement from the agency in June of 1976, Low became President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York. Low was born in Vienna, Austria, on June 10, 1926 and earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from RPI. His undergraduate education, however, was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the United States Army and became a naturalized citizen. Low was President of RPI until he died on July 17, 1984.
NASA Media Usage Guidelines
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Image Number: LRC-1970-B701_P-01270
Date: January 16, 1970
Tags: NASA George Low Deputy Administrator
Description: Dr. James C. Fletcher served as NASA's fourth Administrator from April 27, 1971, to May 1, 1977 as well as its seventh from May 12, 1986, to April 8, 1989. During his first administration at NASA, Dr. Fletcher was responsible for beginning the Shuttle effort, as well as the Viking program that sent landers to Mars. He oversaw the Skylab missions and Viking probes and approved the Voyager space probe, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. During his second tenure, he presided over the effort to recover from the Challenger accident. Dr. Fletcher died in December 1991 of lung cancer.
NASA Media Usage Guidelines
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Image Number: GPN-2002-000107
Date: Circa 1970
Tags: NASA Viking Hubble Hubble Space Telescope Apollo Challenger 1970s seventies