Homer Joseph Stewart

Homer Joseph "Stewie" Stewart (August 15, 1915 – May 26, 2007) was an American aeronautical engineer, rocket propulsion expert, and Caltech professor, who pioneered the first American satellites.

"He also conducted research in wind-driven energy, using his knowledge of fluid flow to construct with von Kármán a turbine known as 'Grandpa's Knob.' Built in the mountains of Vermont in the late 1930s, the machine generated up to a megawatt of power and operated through World War II in cooperation with a local electrical company. The project was abandoned after the war, in part because of the easy availability of cheap fossil-fuel energy."

With a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1936, Stewart matriculated at Caltech.

"Stewart, von Kármán, and others began testing rockets in a rugged foothill area of the San Gabriel Mountains forming the nucleus of the research group that would evolve into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, according to Caltech."

In 1938, two years before earning his Ph.D., he became a Caltech faculty member.

He taught aeronautics and meteorology, for many years dividing his time between teaching at Caltech and research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Except for his two-years with NASA, Stewart remained on Caltech's faculty from 1938 until 1980, when he retired as emeritus professor of aeronautics.

In 1940 Stewart graduated from Caltech with a Ph.D. in aeronautics.

"He was chief of JPL's liquid propulsion systems division when JPL and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, now the Marshall Space Flight Center, developed and launched Explorer I on Jan. 31, 1958 — the first U.S. satellite to reach orbit."

In 1958 NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was formed as a response to the USSR's 1957 launch of Sputnik 1.

From 1958 to 1960, Stewart took a two-year leave of absence from Caltech to serve as NASA's director of planning and evaluation.

He was in charge of calculating and analyzing the exhaust velocities required to lift rockets to their planned orbits.

In addition to contributing to the development of the WAC Corporal, MGM-29 Sergeant, and Jupiter-C rockets, he helped prepare for Pioneer 4 and the preliminary planning of the Apollo Moon missions.

He also recommended Cape Canaveral as a launching site.

In 1959 Stewart and Wernher von Braun testified to Congress concerning the Soviet spacecraft and missile capabilities.

Stewart was the chair of a committee formed to give advice on satellites to the US federal government.

In 1970 he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal.

At his death, Homer J. Stewart was survived by two daughters, one son, and two grandchildren.