From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United States Air Force general
Forrest Striplin McCartney
[1]
(March 23, 1931 ? July 17, 2012) was a
United States Air Force
lieutenant general
and former director of
NASA
's
John F. Kennedy Space Center
.
McCartney was born in
Fort Payne, Alabama
. He graduated from
Gulf Coast Military Academy
in 1949, received a
Bachelor of Science
degree, in
electrical engineering
, from
Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn
in 1952. He earned a master's degree, in
nuclear engineering
, from the
Air Force Institute of Technology
in 1955, and also graduated from the
Armed Forces Staff College
.
McCartney received his commission through the
Reserve Officer Training Corps
, and entered the regular air force in 1952. In May 1959, he was assigned to the Satellite Control Facility in
Sunnyvale, California
and worked on the
CORONA program
deploying and operating the nation's first spy satellites for the
National Reconnaissance Office
.
[1]
McCartney was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant general
on May 1, 1983, which is the rank at which he eventually retired. In 1986 he was selected, by
NASA Administrator
James C. Fletcher
, to be the fourth director of the Kennedy Space Center. McCartney held this position from August 31, 1986, until December 31, 1991.
McCartney died in
Palm Bay, Florida
, on July 17, 2012, after a short illness.
[2]
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