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Voyager's First Science Meeting

Oct. 27, 2016
In this archival image from December 1972, the science steering group for a mission then-known as Mariner Jupiter Saturn 1977, later renamed Voyager, met for the first time at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

This archival image was released as part of a gallery comparing JPL's past and present, commemorating the 80th anniversary of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 31, 2016.

In December 1972, the science steering group for a mission then-known as Mariner Jupiter Saturn 1977 -- later renamed Voyager -- met for the first time at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They are gathered on the steps in front of the administration building (180).

The mission was so named because it was planning to send Mariner-class spacecraft to Jupiter and Saturn. It was renamed Voyager a few months before the launch of the twin spacecraft in August and September 1977.

This photo shows principal investigators and team leaders for the science experiments and several others from the project and NASA who attended the first meeting. In the first row: Radio Science Subsystem Team Leader Von Eshleman, Project Scientist Edward Stone, Project Manager Harris (Bud) Schurmeier, Mission Analysis and Engineering Manager Ralph Miles, Magnetometer Principal Investigator Norman Ness, NASA Planetary Program Office Deputy Director Ichtiaque Rasool, Robert Soberman (who was proposed to be the principal investigator of the Particulate Matter Investigation, which was not confirmed) and an unidentified member of the NASA Office of Space Science. In the second row: Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer Principal Investigator Rudolf Hanel, Planetary Radio Astronomy Principal Investigator James Warwick, Ultraviolet and Spectrometer Principal Investigator A. Lyle Broadfoot. In the third row: Low-Energy Charged Particles Principal Investigator Stamatios (Tom) Krimigis, Cosmic Ray Subsystem Principal Investigator Rochus (Robbie) Vogt, NASA Outer Planets Missions Program Manager Warren Keller, Imaging Science Subsystem Team Leader Bradford Smith and Photopolarimeter Principal Investigator Charles Lillie. In the fourth row: Plasma Investigation Principal Investigator Herbert Bridge, Spacecraft Systems Manager Raymond Heacock, NASA Outer Planets Missions Program Scientist Milton (Mike) Mitz and Science Manager James Long.

JPL is a division of the Caltech in Pasadena, California.