Happy 69th Birthday Atlas Rocket!

Happy 69th Birthday to the Atlas rocket! The Atlas rocket has an unmatched legacy of evolution across all these years and 691 missions. I'm proud to have been a part of that history by working on everything from the Atlas E, Atlas/Centaur, Atlas I, II, III, and V, and into the early days of Vulcan before I retired. 

I have to laugh, at the "young" age of the Atlas. When I first started working on the Atlas rocket, everything at work felt so old -- the ancient wooden desks with peoples' names carved in them, the bathroom stalls without doors, four people packed into a single office cubicle -- that I assumed the Atlas was older than I was. Not so!   

Something worth noting: In this confusing world of corporate pac-man, I worked for four different companies, but with the same group of highly competent and congenial people, while supporting Atlas development and operations over the decades. We launched everything from communications, GPS, weather and spy satellites, to Mars and other planetary reconnaissance missions. Big congratulations to the current team keeping the streak alive!