A quarterly electronic publication from the

NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program

January 2000

NCTP Overview

Spinoff

* NASA Commercial

Technology

...From the STI Lead Center NASA History Office

STI Program Plan

...From Ames

...From Johnson

...From Marshall

NASA STI News Other NASA News NCT Program *

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...From the NASA STI Program's Principal

Center

NASA STI Program Included in Agency's Program/Project Leadership Training:

The NASA STI Program has recently been added to the Agency's training program under the Academy of

Program/Project Leadership (APPL). To view this information on the Internet, visit

http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/TRAINING/APPL/HOME.html and click on the "Goldin Nuggets" graphics.

This information is intended to give future program and project managers in NASA additional information

about the services and benefits of using the NASA STI Program. A new bibliography of project management

documents has been added to the STI web page at http://www.sti.nasa.gov, under the "What Is New?" link.

The New STI Account Representative

The STI Account Representative serves as a liaison and facilitator for the NASA Center for AeroSpace

Information and the NASA STI Program Office to a single or group of NASA field centers. The

representative promotes, supports, and maintains an active NASA STI presence at those centers by working

with center STI program staff, scientists, engineers, and program managers to acquire appropriate NASA STI

and to provide them with needed STI products and services

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...STI Program Plan

In part, the NASA STI Program states, "The NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program is an

integral part of NASA's future. The program supports the Agency's missions to communicate scientific

knowledge and understanding to help transfer NASA's research and development to the aerospace and

academic communities.... By ensuring a fast, two-way process of internal and external information exchange,

the STI Program helps NASA avoid duplication of research, time, and cost and to make its wealth of

information available to benefit its customers.... Each Center is responsible for acquiring, tracking, and

producing, or having produced, NASA STI related to their Center mission; and for ensuring that Center STI

reaches the STI Database [at the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information]."

To that end, each NASA Center executes the STI Program mission and objectives by way of a team of

individuals that applies professional publishing standards to all scientific and technical information passing

through its doors. Whether the information will result in a document to be distributed through the traditional

print and mail process or an electronic document available on the Internet--or both--the team is responsible for

making it happen, going through the process step-by-step with each customer. For information about the STI

Program at any NASA Center, visit http://stipo.larc.nasa.gov/sti_link4text.html.

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...From Ames Research Center

NASA's History Program Review to be Held at Ames

Early in the history of NASA, the Agency's History Program began holding periodic meetings with our center

history points of contact and with a group of outside scholars and aerospace professionals to assess the state

of the program. The next program review will be held on February 2-3, 2000 (Wednesday-Thursday) at Ames

Research Center in the San Francisco Bay area.

These annual reviews have been exceptionally important in helping to shape the direction and even the nature

of the NASA History Program. It is an important opportunity to draw together the resources working on

historical issues at NASA, and to reflect on the nature of the program and plan for the future. The proposed

agenda for this program review includes:

Overview of NASA History Program

History Publication Program Status Review

New Projects

New methods of contracting to reduce costs and improve results NASA historical works

Communication Efforts and Staff Support

Anyone who wishes to attend this program review is welcome. For further information please contact the

NASA History Division, Code ZH, Washington, DC 20546, telephone 202-358-0384, fax 202-358-2866,

roger.launius@hq.nasa.gov

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Johnson Space Center

Johnson Space Center Oral History Series

The Johnson Space Center Oral History Series is now housed in the Scientific and Technical Information

(STI) Center as part of the JSC History Collection in the STI Center vault. It consists of 73 linear feet of over

1,000 interviews, which include audio and/or transcribed data, covering all aspects of NASA's human

spaceflight program. This information is captured on reel-to-reel audio tapes, audio cassette tapes, audio CDs,

transcripts (either hard copy or electronic), video tapes, and background information on interviewees.

The series contains information ranging from the Mercury through Shuttle programs. The largest part of the

series consists of oral histories produced by the JSC Oral History Project (OHP). These general interviews

cover each interviewee's career with NASA. In addition to an audio CD of the interview, each of these oral

histories includes a corresponding databook, containing both the transcripts (hard copy and floppy disk) of

the interview and background information on the interviewee. In some cases, VHS copies of the interviews are

also available. In this group is included a subset of audio CDs (with corresponding transcripts) produced to

support the history of The Shuttle Mir (Phase 1) project. There are also audio CDs called "rescues" of earlier

interviews copied from reel-to-reel and cassette tapes.

A small portion of this series consists of audio tapes or hard copies of miscellaneous subjects. These include,

but are not limited to, radio broadcasts, crew debriefings, air to ground data from selected missions, interviews

done by organizations other than JSC and proceedings of anniversaries, symposia, and meetings.

The bulk of non-CD media are taken from interviews done by historians in the process of writing JSC

histories. These are primarily on reel-to-reel or audiocassette tapes. Some include hard copy transcripts of the

audio tapes while others only have transcripts.

The series is organized by medium (i.e., hardcopy, CD, audio tape) and, within each medium, alphabetically

(by interviewee). In some cases the organization is by medium, then by program and then alphabetically by

interviewee. There are also items that are not interviews (e.g., symposia, meetings, speakers, debriefings, etc.).

These are included in "miscellaneous" sections within the series.

For more information on this material contact Glen E. Swanson, NASA Johnson Space Center, Mail Stop

GS-2, Building 12 Room 267, 2101 NASA Road 1, Houston, TX 77058-3696.

Publication

"Before this Decade is Out...," Personal Reflections on the Apollo Program (Washington, DC: NASA

SP-4223, 1999) is a collection of oral histories compiled and edited by Glen E. Swanson of the Johnson

Space Center History Office. This fine collection of oral histories relating to Apollo provides significant

insights on how America successfully went to the Moon.

For further information about this collection, please visit the History Office website at

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/.

Johnson Space Center Internships Available

The Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, is seeking summer interns for 2000 to participate in an oral

history project. Established by Johnson Space Center in 1996, the Oral History Project has a primary goal to

research and interview individuals involved in the exciting and challenging space programs of yesterday and

today. Oral history interviews with government and contract managers, engineers, scientists, technicians,

astronauts, administrators, and others are conducted and recorded in state-of-the-art digital audio and/or video

formats for archiving to be made available to researchers and authors.

Apply to: Human Resources Office, Johnson Space Center, Mail Code: AH3, Houston, TX 77058-3696,

Telephone: (281) 483-35266.

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Marshall

New Publication from Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA SP-4313, "Power to Explore: A History of Marshall Space Flight Center 1960-1990," by Andrew J.

Dunar and Stephen P. Waring is presently being printed. Copies are expected in early to mid-January. This

title will be available for sale from the Government Printing Office (GPO)

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/sale.html.

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NASA History Office

An Answer to a Y2K Misconception

Because of this confusion regarding the actual millennium date, an international coalition of astronomers,

scientists, science writers, publishers and journalists, historians, university professors, and many other people

are seeking to correct misconceptions. They have developed a manifesto, which they are communicating

throughout the world, arguing that the third millennium does not begin in year 2000, but rather in 2001. If you

wish to join this common effort to explain this issue to the public, check out the web site below. It is located at

http://manifiesto2000.astrored.org/index-en.html.

If you have comments, write to the organizers of this effort at manifiesto2000@astrored.net

Symposium on Space Policy at the Millennium to be Held

The History Office at NASA Headquarters pleased to announce that on March 23, 2000, the NASA History

Division will co-sponsor with Syracuse University a small symposium entitled, "Space Policy in the

Twenty-first Century: New Directions." It will take place at Syracuse University's Greenberg House, 2301

Calvert Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

Featured presentations and speakers will include:

"Search for Life," Christopher Chyba, SETI Institute

"Astropolitics-Governing the Space Regime," Daniel Deudney, Johns Hopkins University

"Monitoring Earth's Environment: Implications for Policy," Ronald Diebert, University of Toronto

"The Future of Space Commerce," Scott Pace, Rand Corporation

"Humans in Space," Debora VanNijattan, University of Windsor

This symposium is open to the public, but seating will be limited to 50 participants. For further information

please contact the NASA History Division, Code ZH, Washington, DC 20546, telephone 202-358-0384, fax

202-358-2866, roger.launius@hq.nasa.gov.

NEW NASA HISTORY PUBLICATION

The fourth volume of Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space

Program, Volume IV, Accessing Space (Washington, DC: NASA SP-4407, 1999), under the general

editorship of John M. Logsdon, is also now available. This work consists of approximately 150 key

documents, introduced by headnotes and essays dealing with launch vehicle technology from the birth of

NASA to the present.

For more information regarding all publications available through the NASA History Office, visit the NASA

History Office website at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/.

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The NASA Commercial Technology

Program... An Overview

The NASA Commercial Technology Program encompasses a national network of specialized centers and

organizations that assist U.S. businesses and industry in accessing, utilizing and commercializing

NASA-funded research and technology. The organizations work closely with each other to provide a full

range of technology transfer and commercialization services and assistance. The NASA Commercial

Technology Network (NCTN) consists of the Commercial Technology Organizations at each of the NASA

field centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC), the six

Regional Technology Transfer Centers (RTTCs), NASA Tech Briefs, UNISPHERE, and other specialized

organizations and services. All are dedicated to fostering dual-use technology partnerships and the transfer

and commercialization of NASA-sponsored research and technology.

The NCTN provides access to a wide variety of information resources that can be searched and consulted for

research and technology, patents, technical expertise, and R&D facilities, as well as for technology partnering,

licensing, and commercialization opportunities. In addition to serving as an integrated information resource,

the NCTN is developing into an electronic marketplace for NASA-sponsored technology, facilitating

communications, transactions, and partnerships between NASA and the U.S. private sector.

Visit the NCTN website at http://www.nctn.hq.nasa.gov for more information on the NASA Commercial

Technology Program and the members of its network.

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Spinoff

Spinoff 1999 Now Available

Spinoff 1999 is available now in both hardcopy and on the Internet. Those interested in viewing it on the web

can visit http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinoff1999/index.htm

Interested parties may also receive a free copy of Spinoff 1999 by contacting the National Technology

Transfer Center (NTTC) at http://www.nttc.edu or (800) 678-6882

About Spinoff

NASA's premier publication, Spinoff, features over 40 companies annually that have successfully utilized

NASA technology in commercial products and processes. The main purpose of the publication is to generate

greater awareness of the practical benefits resulting from the nation's investment in aerospace research and

development.

Each year NASA distributes tens of thousands of Spinoffs through trade shows, conferences, and special

requests. The Spinoff website, located at http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinoff.html, includes a searchable

database with an entry for every article, as well as manufacturer information for articles published since 1986.

Online versions of Spinoff 1996, 1997, and 1998 can also be accessed through this site.

The Spinoff publication focuses on NASA's contributions to areas in the private sector, including health and

medicine, transportation, public safety, home and recreation, environment and resources, computer technology,

and industrial productivity.

The Spinoff team welcomes new information regarding companies with successfully transferred NASA

technology into the development of a commercial product. If you know of any companies that have done so,

please contact the Spinoff editors, Ms. Zoë Rush, at zrush@sti.nasa.gov, telephone (301) 621-0244, or Mr.

David Ferrera, at dferrera@sti.nasa.gov, telephone (301) 621-0242.

To receive a printed copy of Spinoff, please contact the National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) at (800)

678-6882 or visit the NTTC website at http://www.nttc.edu.

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