The former head of flight projects at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Giberson was there from the start: he helped create a tracking station for the 1958 launch of Explorer 1, the first U.S. satellite, and confirmed that the tiny probe reached orbit.
In the 1960s, he was the project manager of the Surveyor program, which made soft landings on the moon in preparation for the arrival of the Apollo astronauts. In the 1970s, he managed the Mariner Venus/Mercury project, the first spacecraft to visit two planets, and the Seasat mission that studied the oceans of Earth.
In the 1980s, he was assistant Laboratory director for space flight projects and oversaw all of JPL’s space missions. He retired in 1990. W.E. “Gene” Giberson died August 31 of cancer. He was 76.