Ed Stone, Space Trailblazer And Former Director Of JPL, Has Died

Topline:

Why now: Stone died on Sunday, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was 88 years old.

Leading JPL: In 1991, Stone became director of JPL and led the organization until 2001. His tenure included landing NASA’s Pathfinder mission with the first Mars rover, Sojourner, and launching the NASA- European Space Agency mission.

Keep up with LAist.

If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.

Subscribe

His role with Voyager: Stone is best known for his work on NASA’s longest-running mission, Voyager. The spacecraft launched in 1977 and is still exploring deep space, making it the most distant human-made object in space.

“Ed took humanity on a planetary tour of our solar system and beyond, sending NASA where no spacecraft had gone before. His legacy has left a tremendous and profound impact on NASA, the scientific community, and the world,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Stone’s other missions: Stone served on nine NASA missions as principal investigator or a science instrument lead. He studied the Sun and cosmic rays from the galaxy. Stone was one of the few scientists involved with the missions that has come closest to the Sun and one that has traveled the furthest from it.

Stone also taught physics at Caltech in Pasadena.

Go deeper: Learn more about JPL’s Voyager Mission four decades since it left Earth.