Kalamazoo native and 1954 Kalamazoo Central alumnus, Norman Haynes, once the director of Mars Exploration, Jet Propulsion Lab, is a pioneer in the remarkable history of NASA’s planetary exploration. Haynes will be the keynote speaker at the Air Zoo's Discovery Series for Adults at 7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 23. Tickets are $20 members and $25 nonmembers in advance, $30 at the door.
When Mariner 4 launched in November 1964, accomplishing the first flyby of Mars under his direction, Norm Haynes was just five years into what would become a four-decade career leading various elements of interplanetary exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif.
Haynes became the director of Mars Exploration in 1996, a role he held until his retirement in 2000. Along the way, he received numerous honors and recognitions, culminating with the NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal, the agency’s highest honor.
He will recount the hurdles, disappointments, and ingenuity that dotted the path to the triumphant successes of two groundbreaking mission — Mariner 4, which launched in 1964 and captured the first close-up images of another planet; and Voyager 2 in 1989, the first and only flyby mission to Neptune.
