Harry Dornbrand

Harry Dornbrand (November 10, 1922 – May 8, 2022) was an American aerospace engineer, and a leading figure in the development of satellite technologies during the early space race era. He served as Vice President, then President of Fairchild Industries Space and Electronics division, Vice President of Fairchild Industries (the parent corporation), and President of American Satellite Corporation, a Fairchild subsidiary. The technologies and projects he developed and managed for Fairchild and NASA in the 1960s and 1970s were critical for the advancement of satellite technology worldwide and pioneered new applications like geosynchronous satellite television broadcasting and orbital scientific experimentation. He was a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 1974 he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for his success managing the ATS-6 satellite program.

Early life Harry was born in Brooklyn on November 10, 1922, to a family of Jewish European immigrants. His father Morris, age 9, arrived on Ellis Island in 1899 from Rohatyn, in what was then Austria. Like his father Mechal, Morris worked as a seasonal sweatshop machine operator, sewing pockets on vests in Lower Manhattan during the era of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Harry enrolled at City College as a student of engineering, and graduated in 1944 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. During his time at City College he ran a campus network for delivery of The New York Times.

After graduating he enrolled in the United States Navy and was sent to the Moffett Field Naval Air Station to do research for NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The ATS-6 satellite was the most powerful telecommunications satellite of its time, the first Direct Broadcast Satellite, the first educational satellite, and the first 3-axis stabilized spacecraft in geostationary orbit, among other accolades. It received high praise from NASA, and in 1975, Dornbrand along with other chief Fairchild representatives including Wernher von Braun demonstrated its ability to aim broadcast signals at any part of the United States, a technological breakthrough at the time.

NASA originally commissioned a seventh satellite in the ATS series, but despite the construction of an ATS-G prototype, the project was never completed. In a 1976 article of the Fairchild World journal, Dornbrand said that due to the success of ATS-6 and "because the ATS-6 satellite gives promise of lasting for many more years than originally expected, NASA cancelled the second spacecraft". ATS-G (the second satellite) sat for some years in a Fairchild lot, and was later donated to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Personal life Dornbrand died in Rockville, Maryland, on May 8, 2022, at the age of 99. He is survived by his wife Mildred, three children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Publications Technical specifications for the ATS-6 satellite written by Harry Dornbrand. NASA Technical Reports. Infrared Defrosting and Deicing, 1952. Worldcat. Theoretical and Experimental Study of Vortex Tubes, 1950. Worldcat.

Awards For his work with NASA leading the ATS-6 project, Dornbrand received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest honor awarded to a non-government employee by that organization.

Harry Dornbrand (second left) and John Thole (second right) receive the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and NASA Distinguished Service Medal (respectively) for their work managing the ATS-6 satellite.