posted 06-12-2017 08:01 AM               

Charles accepted a civilian position as Chief of the Physics and Astrophysics branch of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal. Wernher Von Braun was technical director at that time; Charles helped him plan and launch Explorer I, the first US satellite. When the Marshall Space Flight Center was founded in 1960, he transferred there and continued to work on satellites and space probes.

In July of 1962, Charles accepted a position as assistant director for science at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge MA, but he continued his close association with NASA and contributed his expertise to the success of the Apollo missions. Eleven years later, Charles moved the family back to Huntsville and became the Director of the Space Sciences Laboratory at the Marshall Space Flight Center, making key contributions to Skylab and the first Space Shuttle flight.

In 1981, he retired from NASA and joined the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He held the titles of Associate Vice President for Research and Director of the Interactive Projects Office when he retired in 2000.

Charles Lundquist (Archivist) has been actively contributing to the dissemination and publication and preservation of space history since his retirement in 1999. Dr. Lundquist has been front-row witness to the American space program and continues actively working to save unique space history documents as Director of the Interactive Projects Office of The University of Alabama in Huntsville.