Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Hocking, W. M..
Current and future Precise Time and Time Interval (PTTI) programs at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the evolution of frequency and time requirements over past years within the various NASA satellite tracking networks are described. A brief history of the network development is also given.
The evolution of the Minitrack Network, the first worldwide satellite tracking capability (1957-1962), into the Satellite Tracking and Data Acquisition Network (1960-1966) is described. Attention is also given to the Mercury Network, which became operational in 1961, was the foundation for the Manned Space Flight Network, and supported the Gemini and Apollo missions. The development of the NASA Communications Network, which began to take shape in the early 1960s, is described. An account is also given of the way in which all these functions began playing together (1965) and were consolidated in the early 1970s as the Space Tracking and Data Network.