Robert Stoffel, 87; helped build Mars and lunar rovers
DENVER - Robert Stoffel, who went from being a professional photographer to helping to build the Viking Lander that went to Mars, died of leukemia June 12 at his home outside Denver. He was 87.
While working at Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin), Mr. Stoffel helped to design and test components for NASA’s space program.
Among those were the Lunar Rover that carried astronauts and their equipment around on the surface of the moon on Apollo 15 (1971) and Apollo 16 (1972). He helped program the computer on one of the Viking landers, space vehicles that were sent to Mars in 1975.
Mr. Stoffel was a fix-it guy in his neighborhood and was always willing to explain things to his children. “We were almost afraid to ask questions because we’d get more information than we wanted,’’ said his son, Mike of Parker, Colo.
Robert William Stoffel was born near Byers in 1922 and moved with his family to Denver when he was 2 years old.
He studied physics and math at the University of Denver and then enlisted in officers’ training in the Navy. He studied electronics and radar at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and did electronics repair training for the Navy, retiring as a lieutenant commander.
After the service, he went to an electronics school in San Francisco and graduated from the University of Denver, majoring in math and physics.
Mr. Stoffel took over his father’s photography business, the Stoffel Studio in Denver, but sold it in the early 1960s.
“He loved photography, but he had new interests,’’ said his son, Kirk of Elizabeth, Colo.
Mr. Stoffel worked for Lockheed 25 years.
A longtime skier and outdoorsman, he skied and hiked until he was 85 and was a member of the US Senior Ski Team.
