Biography
Martin was born in Washington, D.C., on June 21, 1920. He earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1942. He later completed the Harvard Graduate School of Business Middle Management Program. From 1942 to 1964, he worked for Republic Aviation Corporation, assuming greater responsibility first as assistant chief technical engineer, then chief research engineers and, finally, as manager of space systems requirements. Martin joined NASA’s Langley Research Center in September 1964 as assistant project manager for Lunar Orbiter. The five successful Lunar Orbiter missions provided significant new information about the Moon’s surface and a wealth of photographic detail that stood as the definitive source of lunar surface information for years. In recognition of his contribution to this project, Martin was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1967. On June 23, 1967, Langley Director Floyd Thompson announced the appointment of James S. Martin, Jr., as manager of the capsule bus system, thereby forming a project management organization to control all Voyager-related activities at Langley. This role migrated to project manager for NASA's Viking Program for landing and orbiting Mars (1975–1982). As Viking 1 landed on Mars, Martin hung up on a call from President Ford, telling him that he was "busy right now" and to call back in three hours. The President called back three hours later at which time Martin, along with then-NASA Administrator Jim Fletcher, briefed him on the landing.References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, James Jr. 1920 births 2002 deaths NASA people University of Michigan College of Engineering alumni Deaths from cancer in Maryland Harvard University alumni