NSG, 13654 byte(s).
The Network Support Group - NSG
Walt Keesey


"I never completed the HISTORY OF THE NSG that I promised you a couple of years back, but this attachment tells a tiny bit of its beginning and gives a tribute to Bill Lauman that was read when he departed the NSG. It may bring a little nostalgia to members of the NSG and even some early station personnel".

Walt
November 2001
The Network Support Group

The Network Support Group (NSG) was initiated by William (Bill) Lauman in 1961 at Langley Research Center in Virginia. I was given orders to report to him there on 1 August 1961. I was the fourth member of the group, which then consisted of just Bill Lauman, Rufus Arrowood, and Warren Jackson. Warren soon left to join the NASA aircraft test group, and later transferred to NASA. The NSG initially was contracted to support the Space Task Group through NASA's Manned Flight Operations Division at Langley. When the MFOD moved to Goddard Space Flight Center in August 1961, the four man Network Support Group moved with it and settled in Building 3. Bob Roeder and Tony Begenwald soon joined the group, as did Mike Stevens, then a Bendix employee already assigned at Goddard on the STADAN program. Under Bill Lauman's tutelage, additional personnel were also transferred from headquarters at Owings Mills to support the Manned Flight Engineering Division. As the group grew and grew, the need for space resulted in a move to Building 5 and then to the University Building in Adelphi, five miles or so from Goddard. The group continued to expand, and parts moved into the nearby Riggs building. Eventually, most of the NSG was consolidated in the Dodge Park Building in Landover, MD. The size of the group grew to over 800. Pictures of Lauman and the Dodge Park Building appear elsewhere on this web site.
(Click here for PHOTOS)

In the late 60's, Bill Lauman was transferred to BFEC Headquarters, by now located in Columbia. He was made a BFEC vice president by the corporation's president, Bob Schaffer. Herman Hill replaced Bill as the new head of the NSG.

The following parody was prepared as a tribute to Bill Lauman and read at his departure luncheon at the Fireside Restaurant in Adelphi. It has a lot of truth in it.

Genesis
(According to the NCG Schedule
)

In the beginning, Lauman created Network Support.

And NASA was without form and document;
And darkness was upon the face of the Network;
Until the spirit of Lauman moved upon the MFOD

And Lauman said, let there be NSG; and there was NSG.
And Lauman saw the NSG, that it was good:
And the NSG divided the Network from the darkness.

And Lauman said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the MFOD,
and let it divide the contractor from the customer."


And Lauman made the firmament and divided the contractors who were
under Operations from the contractors who were under Engineering;
And it was so.
And Lauman called the firmament, "Dodge Park."

And Lauman said, "Let the NSG bring forth the NOG: yielding ad hoc committees after its kind, whose seed is in itself," and it was so.

And the NSG brought forth the NOG, yielding ad hoc committees after themselves;

…And Lauman saw that it was profitable.

And Lauman said, "Let there be documents from the Network Support Group to divide mission from mission; and let there be Mod Briefing Reports, and EI's, and System Reports, and let there be Directives for the stations of the Network," and it was so.

And the NSG made two great Directives: the greater Directive to rule the mission period, and the lesser to rule the non-mission period; it made the Ops Plan for unmanned missions also.

And Lauman shipped them from the firmament of Dodge Park to give light upon the Network:

…And Lauman saw that it created a high incentive fee.

And Lauman said, " Let the NSG bring forth abundantly the moving creatures that hath life, and teams that may fly above the earth to the stations of the Network.

And Lauman created great Sections of every Bendix classifications that moveth, which IR brought forth abundantly, each after his kind;

…And Lauman saw that it was good return upon investment.

And Lauman blessed them saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the rooms in Dodge Park."

And Lauman said, "Let us train a man in my image after my likeness, and let him have dominion over Operations Support."

So, Lauman created Herman Hill in his own image; in the image of Lauman, created the
Hill.
And Lauman blessed him, and said unto him, "Be frugal and mollify, and represent the NSG and subdue it: and have dominion over the engineers and the programmers of the computers and support services, and every living thing that moveth within the NSG."

Thus the Network Support Group was created and all the host of them,
And in the seventh year, Schaefer saw everything that Lauman made, and behold,

…it brought forth a high percentage of sales.

And Lauman ended the work which he had made;

And in the seventh year, he rested!

Amen.

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