Easley Blackwood Jr. as "Introducing Easley Blackwood". His father, Easley Blackwood Sr., was a noted contract bridge player and writer. Easley Blackwood Jr. Easley Blackwood (born April 21, 1933) is an American professor of music, a concert pianist, a composer of music, some using unusual tunings, and the author of books on music theory, including his research into the properties of microtonal tunings and traditional harmony. Blackwood was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He studied piano there and was doing solo appearances at the age of 14 with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. After studies at many places (including Yale University, where he earned his
Atlas E/F upper stage gave the vehicle a payload capacity of to a medium Earth transfer orbit. The SGS upper stage, which consisted of two series-burning solid rocket motors, was used on twelve Atlas E/F launches, with early GPS satellites. The first eight used the SGS-1, which could place of payload into a medium Earth transfer orbit, whereas the last four used the more powerful SGS-2. The eighth launch failed. The Star was used to propel most of the other upper stages used on the Atlas E/F, however it was also used in its own right on several launches. A Star-17A was