Robert Lee Porter, of Annandale, Virginia, worked at the Navy Yard and later, the Naval Research Lab, in Washington, DC. He went to work for NASA at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD in 1961. As a machinist at Goddard, Mr. Porter made the cameras that accompanied all space craft on their missions. He loved his work and was very proud of his association with NASA. He retired from Goddard in 1970. In December of 2003, while visiting The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, my dad proudly pointed out three space craft: the Titan, the Echo and the Jupiter, all of which had carried his cameras.
As a point of interest, Mr. Porter and his wife, Arlene were married at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, by the Rev. Peter Marshall. Six years later in 1947, Rev. Marshall became the 57th elected Chaplain of the United States Senate.
An avid golfer, Mr. Porter won the Fairfax County Third Flight Senior's Golf Tournament in 2005 at the age of 90. He died April 19, 2009.
This profile was respectfully and proudly submitted by his daughter, Carolyn Lee Purdy.