Air Force Space and Missile Pioneer - Col Edward F. Blum

Air Force Space Command Public Affairs

11/27/2012 - PETERSON AFB, COLO.  -- As we celebrate Air Force Space Command's 30th Anniversary we recognize individuals who played a significant role in the history of the Air Force space and missile programs - our Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers ...

Colonel Edward F. Blum was responsible for the engineering and development of the Research Missile(RM)-81 or Agena upper-stage vehicle, the first successful spacecraft designed to serve a wide variety of on-orbit programs, beginning with the world's first reconnaissance satellite. He oversaw the design and development of all the Agena subsystems--propulsion, electrical power, attitude control, stabilization, telemetry communications and control, as well as recovery equipment aboard aircraft. He established the production line that turned out more than 260 Agenas used by Discoverer/Corona and other National Reconnaissance Office programs, NASA's Lunar Orbiter and Mariner interplanetary probes and other space projects.