The University of Texas at Austin
College of Engineering

Timeline: 1960s

Timeline

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.
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.