1960

• Research groups from Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics moved from Taylor Hall to the newly built Engineering Laboratories Building.

• NASA astronaut Robert L. Crippen graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. He later served as the pilot on STS-1, Columbia, America’s first reusable spacecraft. Crippen’s flight jacket is now on display in the WRW reception lobby. Read more...

• Tsuan Wu Ting and Drs. Byron Tapley, John Westkaemper, W.W. Hagerty, H.J. Plass, Jr., Enrico Volterna, and Percy Miller joined the department faculty.

• The first Ph.D. in the Aerospace Engineering department was awarded to Felix Fenter.

1961

• Dr. Roy Craig joined the department faculty.

1964

• Dr. Byron D. Tapley taught the first orbital mechanics courses at the University of Texas at Austin and began to develop a research program focusing on low-thrust trajectory analysis and optimization. 

• Drs. John Porter and Chintsun Hwang joined the department faculty.

1965

• Drs. Wallace Fowler and Lyle Clark joined the department faculty.

1966

• Dr. Tapley assumed the chairmanship of the department.

• Drs. Eric Becker, David Hull, Richard Ensminger, and Ronald Stearman joined the department faculty.

1967

• The separate Departments of Engineering Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering were combined to become the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics.

• With support from the U.S. Air Force and NASA, the Thin Shell Structures Laboratory was founded by Ronald O. Stearman.

1968

• Drs. Marc Bedford, Victor Szebehely, Eugene Konecci, John Bertin, Paul Russell, and Lawrence Mack joined the department faculty.

1969

• A special edition of Link GAT-1 simulator was delivered to the department. This simulator is presently used in the Flight Simulator Laboratory.

• Dr. Bob E. Schutz joined the department faculty.