In 1960, Mr. Geer was made Branch Head of Systems Engineering Branch, consisting of 60 specialists and engineers working on systems and controls.
In 1961, Mr. Geer was named Associate Chief of the Flight Vehicle and Systems Division, Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. He was responsible for directing and reviewing the design and development work of the three Branches of this Division covering mechanical, structural, dynamic analysis, reliability, qualification testing of spacecraft systems and subsystems. Included are considerations of thermal balance, life support, cryogenics, hypergolic, hydrogen peroxide and cold gas control systems, deployment devices, structures, dynamic vehicles and reentry and orbiting payloads.
In January 1964, Mr. Geer was named Chairman of the Scout Vehicle Design Environmental and Quality Control Committee which consisted of 10 members to review the relationship among design, environment, quality control, testing and operations on the reliability of the total Scout Vehicle System. In September 1964, he was appointed Chairman of the structural, mechanical, electrical and pyrotechnic committee to review the related systems of the Pegasus Project. In 1965, Mr. Geer was appointed Chairman of a committee to review the systems, reliability and operational status of the Explorer Injun IV spacecraft. On Project Fire, he participated in the design and flight reviews of the spacecraft and directed the design and review of the tracking telespectrograph. On the Lunar Orbiter Spacecraft, Mr. Geer participated in all the Preliminary and Critical Design reviews.
Mr. Geer retired from NASA in December 1981. Since retiring from NASA, he worked with Martin-Marietta, Baltimore and Fluidyne Engineering of Minneapolis, MN. He retired again in 2004 and currently resides in Hampton, Virginia with his wife, Beverly H. Geer, and remains active in church and community life.
Updated March 26, 2007
Steve Garber, NASA History Web Curator
For further information E-mail histinfo@hq.nasa.gov