Harold Masursky

Harold (Hal) Masursky /məˈzɜːrski/ (December 23, 1922 – August 24, 1990) was an American astrogeologist.[1]

Harold Masursky
Masursky at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab; National Geographic Magazine, Voyager and Jupiter Cover Story (Jan 1980)
Born	1922 Fort Wayne, Indiana
Died	1990 Flagstaff, Arizona
Nationality	American
Education	Yale University B.S., M.S.
Known for	Planetary Science
Awards	4 NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals (1972, 1973, 1977 & 1980) Distinguished Service Award, Dept. of Interior (1985) Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Trophy for Lifetime Achievements (1988) G. K. Gilbert Award (1990)
Scientific career
Fields	Geology, Astrogeology
Institutions	NASA, United States Geological Survey

He started his career working as a planetary geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center of the U.S. Geological Survey, in Flagstaff, Arizona.[2] Later, Masursky joined NASA as a senior science member, where he worked in the areas of economic, structural and planetary geology.

He was responsible for the investigation of planetary and lunar surfaces, being interested in finding scientifically valuable landing places. This included the Apollo, where, in the 1960's, he played a major role in choosing landing sites. In the 1970s, he headed the team that mapped the surface of Mars and was once again involved in choosing landing sites, this time for the Viking missions. In the 1980s, he worked with the Voyager program to explore the surfaces of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Masursky worked on numerous space missions and programs including Ranger, Surveyor, Lunar Orbiter, Mariner 9, Pioneer Venus, as well as on the Galileo and Magellan spacecraft.[2]

A key role was his work as the president of the Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union.[3]

In 1985 Masursky was the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award Gold Medal, which is the highest honorary recognition an employee can receive within the Department of the Interior. Quoting from the award, the 1985 USGS Yearbook states: “Harold Masursky, Geologist, for his imaginative leadership in the field of astrogeology which has influenced almost every facet of lunar and planetary exploration since the beginning of the nation's space program.”[4] [5]

A crater on Mars and the asteroid 2685 Masursky were named in his honor. The Masursky Award[6] and the Masursky Lecture[3][7] are named after him as well.