James Slattin Martin, Jr. (1920-06-21 – 2002-04-14) was project manager

Project manager

A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project, typically relating to construction industry, architecture, computer networking, telecommunications or software...

 for the Viking program

Viking program

The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts, an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface...

.

Biography

As Viking 1

Viking 1

Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission, and until May 19, 2010 held the record for the second longest Mars surface mission of 6 years and 116 days .- Mission :Following...

 landed on Mars, Martin hung up on a call from President Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

, telling him that he was "busy right now" and to call back in three hours. The President called back three hours later at which time Martin, along with then-NASA Administrator Jim Fletcher

James C. Fletcher

James Chipman Fletcher was the president of the University of Utah from 1964 to 1971. He also served as the 4th and 7th Administrator of NASA, first from April 27, 1971, to May 1, 1977, and again from May 12, 1986, to April 8, 1989 and also worked at BPP.-Biography:Born in Millburn, New Jersey,...

, briefed him on the landing.