Dr. Ernst Stuhlingerplayed a small but important role in the race to launch a US satellite afterthe success of Sputnik 1. There was little time to develop and testautomated guidance or staging systems, so Stuhlinger developed a simplespring-powered staging timer that was triggered from the ground. On the nightof January 31, 1958, Stuhlinger was at the controls of the timer when the Explorer1 was launched, triggering the device right on time. He became known as"the man with the golden finger." This satellite discovered the VanAllen radiation belt through a cosmic ray sensor, a felicitous intersectionwith his early physics expertise, included in a science package supervised byStuhlinger.
In 1960, themajor part of ABMA was transferred to NASA, forming the Marshall SpaceFlight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. Stuhlinger served asdirector of the MSFC Space Science Laboratory from its formation in 1960 until1968, and then was MSFC's associate director for science from 1968 to 1975. Among his many other works at Marshall, hedirected early planning for lunar exploration, worked on the ApolloTelescope Mount that produced a wealth of information about the Sun, ledplanning for the three High Energy Astronomical Observatories, and workedon the initial phases of what would become the Hubble Space Telescope.
Stuhlingerspent much of his spare time developing designs for solar-powered spacecraft.The most popular of those designs relied on ion thrusters,which ionize either cesium or rubidium vapor and acceleratethe positively charged ions through gridded electrodes. The spacecraftwould be powered by one kilowatt of solar energy. He referred to the concept asa "sunship". He is considered as one of the pioneers of electricpropulsion. In 2005, he was honored by the Electric Rocket PropulsionSociety, and awarded its highest honor "The Medal for OutstandingAchievement in Electric Propulsion", which was renamed the StuhlingerMedal shortly following his death