ROBERT F. BRODSKY Biography: Dr. Robert F. Brodsky, retired from TRW Space and Technology (1980–1988) and the University of Southern California (1981– 1996), is a Fellow of AIAA and a national Outstanding Aerospace Educator Award winner. His 46-year career in aerospace started in 1949 at Sandia Corporation, where he was responsible for the aerodynamic design of most of our early atomic bombs and the first H-bomb. He was Chief of Aerodynamics at Convair/Pomona and was Chief Engineer of Space-General and Paris-based Manager of European Operations for Aerojet–General. Before TRW, where he was a Senior Systems Engineer/Program Manager and Director, Technology Planning, he was Professor and Head of the Aerospace Engineering Department at Iowa State University (1971–1980), where he introduced pioneering courses in Space Systems Design and Principles and Techniques of Remote Sensing and set down the bases for degreed programs in the new field of astronautics. He was Adjunct Professor of Aerospace Engineering at USC from 1981–1996, and continues as Prof. (ret.) of Astronautics and Space Technology. He holds a B.M.E. from Cornell University (1946), an M.S. in Math from the University of New Mexico, a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from NYU, and a doctor of science in engineering degree from NYU (1950). He served in the U.S. Navy in WWII. He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Engineering and Science, and Who’s Who in American Education, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the states of California (Mechanical Engineering) and Iowa (Aerospace Engineering). He is presently engaged as an author, a consultant, and a lecturer. His first book, On the Cutting Edge, appeared in October 2006 (Univ. of Nebraska Press / Amazon.com). He continues to be active in AIAA. He was Chair of the L.A. Section in the 1980s and served on three Technical Committees: Space Systems, Space Transportation, and Deceleration. He is author of numerous technical papers and has lectured extensively on remote sensing systems. Abstract: On the Cutting Edge; Space Engineering Adventures in the 1960s The advent of exploitation of our new prowess in space flight opened up both the imaginative minds of the pioneers as well as the coffers of a government embarking on cold war one-upmanship with the USSR. No company took better advantage of this environment than Aerojet–General and its newly founded subsidiary, Space–General. 22 The author, first in his capacity of Head of the Technical Staff of the AGC Space Division in Azusa and then as Chief Engineer of SGC in El Monte (1959–1971), got a first-hand immersion in the beginnings of space. He has just written a book, On the Cutting Edge, which covers highlights of his career from the late 1940s to the present. The proposed talk will discuss some unusual projects undertaken in the 1960s that are covered in the book. They will include: bidding on the Saturn S-2 Stage; building the OV-3, an early Air Force satellite; the reentry paragliders, IMP, and FIRST; the Surveyor moon walker; an early experiment in sea launch of the Aerobee sounding rocket; and delivery problems of the first DSP sensor systems.