James W. Plummer

James W. Plummer

James W. Plummer (born January 29, 1920 in Idaho Springs , Colorado , † January 16, 2013 in Medford , Oregon ) was an American engineer and government official. He was involved in the Corona spy satellite project as program manager of the project at Lockheed and served as the fifth director of the US National Reconnaissance Office from 1973 to 1976 .

As the project manager for Corona, he was not only the system manager responsible for the overall system, but also had extensive powers with the other companies involved (such as Itek for the camera, Eastman Kodak for the film, General Electric for the capsule with which the films were made came back to earth). He was also at times Vice President of Lockheed.

1973 Plummer was by President Richard Nixon to both the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office and the Under Secretary ( Under Secretary ) in the United States Department of the Air Force , the Air Force Office in the US Department of Defense , appointed. Between November 24, 1975 and January 1, 1976, he was the head of this agency.

In 2005 he received the Charles Stark Draper Prize for his participation in Corona with Minoru S. Araki , Francis J. Madden , Edward A. Miller and Don H. Schoessler . In 1995 he was recognized as a corona pioneer by the CIA and in 1989 as a Space and Missile Pioneer by the US Air Force. He was a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics .

Web links

• Obituary (English)
• Biography at the Draper Prize