Rodger Doxsey, one of space telescope team's first leaders, dies at 62
The Hubble Space Telescope's science team in Baltimore has lost one of its original leaders, a physicist whose comprehensive knowledge of the complex observatory helped keep its science operations running smoothly, and astronomers' discoveries rolling in.
Rodger Doxsey, head of the Space Telescope Science Institute's Hubble Mission Office, died of cancer Tuesday after entering an area hospice over the weekend. The Towson resident was 62.
"Rodger was the heart and soul of Hubble here at the Institute," said STScI's director, Matt Mountain. "He ... knew everything about the space telescope, from the smallest anomaly to the breadth of the extraordinary science delivered by the telescope he had worked with for over 28 years."
Dr. Doxsey was hired in 1981, nine years before the telescope was launched. The institute's director at the time, Riccardo Giacconi, recruited him to be the mission operations scientist.
Ken Sembach, Hubble project scientist at the institute, said Dr. Doxsey "was involved in the operations of this telescope, and on a day-to-day basis ran those operations, for the better part of ... almost 20 years in orbit.
"He was responsible for ... all the work necessary to support the science operations, planning and scheduling, the calibration of the data, the building of the science mission specifications and all the commanding necessary to tell the instruments what they needed to do," Dr. Sembach said.
Dr. Doxsey worked with the Goddard Space Flight Center on the development of new science instruments. He also hired many of the institute's employees. "He had a real knack for being able to see what people's skills were, and to match them up with the needs of the observatory," Dr. Sembach said.
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Rodger Doxsey, head of the Space Telescope Science Institute's Hubble Mission Office, died of cancer Tuesday after entering an area hospice over the weekend. The Towson resident was 62.
"Rodger was the heart and soul of Hubble here at the Institute," said STScI's director, Matt Mountain. "He ... knew everything about the space telescope, from the smallest anomaly to the breadth of the extraordinary science delivered by the telescope he had worked with for over 28 years."
Dr. Doxsey was hired in 1981, nine years before the telescope was launched. The institute's director at the time, Riccardo Giacconi, recruited him to be the mission operations scientist.
Ken Sembach, Hubble project scientist at the institute, said Dr. Doxsey "was involved in the operations of this telescope, and on a day-to-day basis ran those operations, for the better part of ... almost 20 years in orbit.
"He was responsible for ... all the work necessary to support the science operations, planning and scheduling, the calibration of the data, the building of the science mission specifications and all the commanding necessary to tell the instruments what they needed to do," Dr. Sembach said.
Dr. Doxsey worked with the Goddard Space Flight Center on the development of new science instruments. He also hired many of the institute's employees. "He had a real knack for being able to see what people's skills were, and to match them up with the needs of the observatory," Dr. Sembach said.