Marjorie Rhodes Townsend Papers (Ms1986-003)

Marjorie Rhodes Townsend Papers (Ms1986-003)

Archives of American Aerospace Exploration (AAAE)

Science and Technology

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration--Officials and employees.

Marjorie Rhodes Townsend was the first women to earn an engineering degree at The George Washington University, receiving her Bachelor of Electrical Engineering in 1951. After eight years at the Naval Research Laboratory, she moved to National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center in 1959, where she worked until 1980. Townsend was project manager for three Small Astronomy Satellites (SAS, 1966-75) and for Applications Explorer Missions (1975-76), and later had responsibility for all advanced mission planning for future scientific and applications satellites as well as NOAA's meteorological satellites. Townsend's papers focus on her professional career in aerospace engineering at NASA and include some of her later consulting work, mainly consisting of correspondence, meeting notes, project documents, and publications that Townsend wrote or that relate to her work. There are also materials about her numerous speaking engagements and articles about Townsend's professional accomplishments.

Townsend, Marjorie Rhodes,

1961/1994

For more information about Marjorie Rhodes Townsend and this collection, see "An Office of One’s Own: Women Professionals in the Special Collections" on the "In Special Collections @Virginia Tech" blog.

Ms1986-003

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Marjorie Rhodes Townsend Papers, Ms1986-003 - Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.

Special Collections, Virginia Tech