Bob left California in 1966 while working for TRW Systems, Inc. As you are probably aware, he worked in the the heat and thermal section of the company providing assistance to NASA and the Manned Spacecraft Center. I'm providing some links to documents he was involved in and you can see the credits at the beginning of each one. Needless to say, I think my father was a great man and the smartest man I've ever known (of course, I am biased).
The first document I found has Bob's signature of approval. The man that prepared the document, Tom Mobley, was a good friend of Bob's and they toyed around building custom motorcycles together. They would also go out to a local bar down by Hwy 146 in Seabrook to drink beer and play pool. As a young 13 year old, I had babysitting jobs twice for Tom and his wife Myra while they went out with Bob and Joan.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19700032975/downloads/19700032975.pdf
The next document is what I like to call "The Bible of Spacecraft Thermal Technology". The credits list Bob as the author. I call it this because the document is referenced by many people in their masters and doctoral thesis's along with other material circulated worldwide. Bob Payne is also listed as an author, although he was Bob's boss.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19750022410/downloads/19750022410.pdf
The document was reformatted here:
The document was referenced in workshops presented by Nasa:
https://tfaws.nasa.gov/TFAWS12/Proceedings/Form%20Factors%20Grey%20Bodies%20and%20Radks%20Course.pdf
Here are examples of people who have cited the document in their studies or otherwise:
https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/204068/1/PhDThesis_LJacques_2016_12_02.pdf
https://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/23328/1/tesi.pdf
https://ouci.dntb.gov.ua/en/works/lmxdWRB4/
Of course, I don't expect you to read any of this material, I just thought you would find some of Bob's work interesting. Especially considering that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were able to reenter the earth's atmosphere in a vehicle that was created using the very theories presented in those types of documents.
I've mentioned several names in this email and each name brings back memories. Neil Armstrong's son Eddie and Bob Payne's son Robert were both a year older than me, but we ran into one another frequently. There was one day when Buzz Aldrin took his son Andy (my age and grade), me, and Vance Brand's ( https://www.nasa.gov/people/vance-d-brand/) son Patrick to Astroworld. It was there I played my first video game. The first video game invented, the simple paddle game named "pong". The console was big as a washing machine!
Well I'll wrap up but not without thanking you again for replying to my email, and more importantly, being such a wonderful friend to Bob and Joan. They loved you like a son. They considered your friendship with them as a treasure and you brought tremendous joy into their lives. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.