Education
Rutgers University; Princeton University.
Rutgers University; Princeton University.
His later work at Lockheed Martin as vice president of Flight Systems from 1989-2002 remained closely linked with National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Chatham, New Jersey, Hinners was one of seven children born to William and Hazel Hinners. His father was an insurance agent, and his mother a homemaker. He earned degrees from Rutgers University (Bachelor of Agricultural Science, 1958), California Institute of Technology (master"s in Geology), and Princeton University (Doctor of Philosophy in Geochemistry, 1963).
After graduating from Princeton, Hinners worked for Bellcomm, a subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph Company that worked closely with National Aeronautics and Space Administration. With Bellcomm he spent the next nine years working on the science of the Apollo program, including making many of the site selections for the Apollo missions.
From 1972 to 1974 he served as National Aeronautics and Space Administration"s director of Lunar Programs and from 1974 to 1979 he was National Aeronautics and Space Administration"s associate administrator for Space Science. In 1979, Hinners left National Aeronautics and Space Administration to become the director of the Smithsonian"s National Air and Space Museum.
He left that post in 1982 to become director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center where he remained for almost 6 years. He then became vice president of Flight System at Lockheed Martin where he remained until his retirement in 2002.
His work at Lockheed Martin was still closely tied to National Aeronautics and Space Administration, including responsibilities for National Aeronautics and Space Administration"s Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Surveyor Program, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Stardust and Genesis Discovery missions, Space (Nuclear) Power Systems and Mission Operations for National Aeronautics and Space Administration/LM planetary missions.
Hinners died of basal-cell carcinoma at the age of 78 in Littleton, Colorado.