posted 01-28-2016 04:09 PM            

Dr. Born in his own words was "a Navigator. I like true things," he said when we first spoke in 2014, and he had both the faith in both his personal and professional circles, that they would find the answers needed to meet the many challenges that would arise in his career and life.

Getting to know Dr. Born was like getting to know a community. From our first email to his last personal note, Jan. 13, 2016, his words were about connecting and updating others, making positive change, and having fun doing it, as he reflected on his work with Tom Duxbury, Team Leader of the Viking Phobos/Deimos Encounter Team, "We had a heck of a good time!"

And though his own accomplishments were many, and deep, as he gave glimpses into his complex theories and formulas, he was almost passé about his own accomplishments. Not just humble, though he was, but almost surprised and dismissive as he would move quickly on to the next thing he and his peers and students were working on... a frequent theme of which was "the betterment of all mankind," He was part of something bigger than himself and focused on the future, not the past, and that was true in each project he tackled.

And though each challenge he faced would have been daunting to many — figuring out how to get into the right orbit around Mars using optical navigation, deep dips within 46 kilometers of Deimos with his peers, choosing students for Graduate work — he kept his cool. When I asked him how he did it all, he admitted there was a lot of pressure, but again, he returned to friendship. "It all worked out. We all ended up friends."

His outlook was positive, energized, even as he struggled with his health. He was truly in his element, as a Teacher, Advisor, and Mentor "It's the worlds greatest profession... being a Professor. I love my students." And so did they, his students speaking of him as both Mentor and Friend.

posted 01-28-2016 04:12 PM               

...he then spent two years as an engineer at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston working on the Apollo Program. His next job was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. While there he worked on the Mariner 9 Project, the Viking Missions to Mars, the Seasat Project, and various inter-planetary missions.

This was an exciting time in space exploration. Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet and the Viking missions safely landed two spacecrafts on the surface of Mars.

He served as Geophysical Evaluation Manager for the Seasat Project which flew the first suite of ocean-observing microwave sensors. During this time, he also served as supervisor of the Precision Orbit Determination Group which was responsible for navigating earth and inter-planetary missions.

George was instrumental in the design and implementation of the TOPEX/Poseidon oceanographic mission. This was a joint project between NASA and the French space agency, CNES.