National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

Volume 35, Number 3 Third Quarter 2018

CELEBRATING NASA’S 

60TH ANNIVERSARY

NASA AND UNIVERSITY 

OF TEXAS AT DALLAS 

REVEAL APOLLO 11 BEHINDTHE-SCENES AUDIO

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS 

AND THE CENTERS

UPCOMING APOLLO 

DIALOGUES WORKSHOP

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
2

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

IN THIS ISSUE:

2 From the Chief Historian

3 NASA and University of Texas at Dallas Reveal 

Apollo 11 Behind-the-Scenes Audio

7 News from Headquarters and the Centers

17 Other Aerospace History News

19 Recent Publications

25 Upcoming Meetings

26 Questioning Kennedy’s Camelot: The Cold War, 

the Space Race, and a Lunar Legacy

28 Astronauts Take Field Trips, Too!

30 In Memoriam

31 Image in NASA History

FROM THE CHIEF 

HISTORIAN

This is different! You may be wondering what happened to NASA History News 

& Notes, but it’s our birthday 

and we’ll be creative if we 

want to. Turning 60, as NASA 

will do on 1 October this year, isn’t an excuse to be 

boring. If anything, it is an incentive to reconsider and 

reinvigorate. Although we are putting a major effort 

into marking NASA’s 60th anniversary, as well as the 

Apollo mission 50th anniversaries that will follow 

immediately afterward, NASA’s History Program isn’t 

only about the past. We need to continue to study our 

history with an eye on how it informs our present and 

future. And...once in a while, we need to shake things 

up a bit. I think that this special NASA 60th birthday 

cover design does just that.

TURNING 60, AS NASA WILL 

DO ON 1 OCTOBER THIS YEAR, 

ISN’T AN EXCUSE TO BE 

BORING. IF ANYTHING, IT IS 

AN INCENTIVE TO RECONSIDER 

AND REINVIGORATE.

Of course, we can always count on our interns to 

bring a fresh perspective to the History Division. This 

summer, Kate Wall and Savannah Jelks have been a 

great team—bringing a new voice to our social media 

accounts, writing blog posts, creating “Apollo for 

Millennials” products, and even writing articles for 

News & Notes. Don’t let the snazzy cover distract you 

from reading the articles in here by Kate and Savannah. 

You don’t want to miss them.

As for me, I’m going to shake things up by being 

brief for a change. (All right, I’m being brief here, but 

maybe not quite so much elsewhere in this issue.) And, 

with our cover for inspiration, maybe I’ll just put on 

a Hawaiian shirt, find a comfy chair in the shade, and 

curl up with my own copy of News & Notes. I hope 

you’re doing the same.

Happy reading and Godspeed NASA for at least 

another 60 years,

William P. Barry

Chief Historian
3

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

NASA AND UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS 

REVEAL APOLLO 11 BEHIND-THE-SCENES AUDIO

Original article edited by Mark Garcia

John Hansen rewires and installs a newly designed and constructed 

30-track read tape playback head.

Much of the world listened to the first EarthMoon conversation at 4:18 p.m. EDT on 

20 July 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin 

landed the Lunar Module Eagle with just 30 seconds of 

fuel remaining. Seconds after touchdown, Armstrong 

radioed, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle 

has landed.” In Houston, Mission Control erupted 

in celebration as the tension broke, and capsule 

communicator (CAPCOM) and future moonwalker 

Charlie Duke offered the retort: “You got a bunch of 

guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again.” You 

can listen to the audio here: https://www.nasa.gov/

wav/62283main_landing.wav.

But the untold story of that momentous 8-day-and3-hour mission by Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael 

Collins was the round-the-clock support provided 

by Mission Control and many communications and 

support locations around the globe. The intrepid trio 

of space explorers lifted off at 9:32 a.m. on 16 July 

1969 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, landed 

on the Moon at 4:17 p.m. on 20 July, and lifted off 

from the Moon at 1:54 p.m. on 21 July. Splashdown 

in the Pacific Ocean occurred at 12:50 p.m. on 24 July.

Hundreds of audio conversations between the flight 

controllers and other teams supporting the mission 

were going on every minute of the mission over an 

intricate intercom system. Multipurpose support 

rooms (MPSRs) coordinated every technical, planning, and management detail and decision with 

Mission Control and Apollo 11 flight directors 

Clifford Charlesworth, Gerry Griffin, Gene Kranz, 

and Glynn Lunney.

The conversations occurred over what are called communications “loops.” NASA fulfilled its responsibility 

to share its work with the American public by releasing the air-to-ground loops between the Apollo 11 

crew and Mission Control to the news media and 

public as they happened.

Until now, however, the recordings of those myriad 

“backroom loops” in which individual experts discussed the details of their systems, and sometimes the 

details of their lives, have been locked away in specially 

built, climate-controlled vaults.

NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) has the only 

functional remaining tape recorder capable of playing 

those approximately 170 remaining tapes. The time 

and effort of converting them to current digital formats was daunting and required the tape deck to be 

modified from being able to handle 2 channels at a 

time to handling the 30 channels on the historic tapes. 

Through a collaborative effort with the University of 

Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas), the conversion finally has 

been completed, and the unique perspective of those 

at the core of supporting humankind’s “giant leap” is 

available for anyone interested to download and listen 

to all 19,000 hours of audio recordings:

• NASA Collection: https://go.nasa.gov/2yFz8zN

• UT Dallas Collection: https://app.exploreapollo.org/

“We’re approaching the 50th anniversary of Apollo, 

and I’m really pleased that this resource is becoming 
4

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

available,” said JSC Director Mark Geyer. “Experience 

is one of the best teachers, so as we continue our work 

to expand human exploration of our solar system to 

go back to the Moon and on to Mars, we stand on 

the shoulders of the giants who made Apollo happen. 

These tapes offer a unique glimpse into what it takes to 

make history and what it will take to make the future.”

Shown is an illustrated example of a conversation detection system; the red dotted box indicates conversation initiation by an environment control system (ECS) engineer, and the blue dotted box indicates 

when the Electrical, Environmental, and Consumables Manager (EECOM) initiates conversation with 

a procedure officer.

“The effort,” said John H. L. Hansen, principal investigator for the effort, is a way “to contribute to recognizing the countless scientists, engineers, and specialists 

who worked behind the scenes of the Apollo program 

to make this a success. These are truly the ‘heroes 

behind the heroes’ of Apollo 11!”

Researchers at the Center for Robust Speech Systems

(CRSS; learn more about them at http://crss.utdallas.

edu/) in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and 

Computer Science (ECS; learn more about them at 

https://engineering.utdallas.edu/) received a National 

Science Foundation grant in 2012 to develop 

speech-processing techniques to reconstruct and 

transform the massive archive of audio into Explore 

Apollo (https://app.exploreapollo.org/), a Web site that 

provides public access to the materials. The project, 

in collaboration with the University of Maryland, 

included audio from all of Apollo 11 and most of the 

Apollo 13, Apollo 1, and Gemini 8 missions.

In addition to the life-and-death drama as the Lunar 

Module Eagle’s computer systems threatened to abort 

the landing, the conversations also provide insight into 

the “humans in the loop” that made 

Apollo possible, including many 

humorous moments. Hansen noted 

one spot in the tapes where two 

NASA flight controllers are working 

with Buzz Aldrin because, for some 

reason, the sensor that measures his 

breathing is not operating properly. 

In the audio spot, they explore a 

number of reasons, ask questions, 

and maybe 10 to 15 minutes go by. 

Finally Buzz, in his own sense of 

humor, tells the NASA staff, “Well, 

if I stop breathing, I’ll be sure to let you know!”

In one example, Aldrin bemoans that fact that so 

much of Earth’s surface is water and asks if Mission 

Control can do anything about it; you can listen to 

him at http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/

audio/a11_t869_hr1u_ch15_buzz_-_turn_the_

earth_a_little.mp3. 

In another, the flight controller responsible for putting 

video on the large screens on the front wall of Mission 

Control offers a channel in which flight controllers 

could view black-and-white video at their consoles 

and is told by flight director Gene Kranz that those 

consoles are to be used for looking at data; you can 

listen to him at http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/

atoms/audio/a11_t876_hr1l_ch8_-_kranz_-_lookin_

at_data.mp3. 

Greg Wiseman, the project’s lead audio engineer for 

JSC’s Communications and Public Affairs Office, said 

the project began in late 2013 and was completed in 

early 2018. That may seem a long time, but considering that there were more than two years of audiotape 

to digitize, it is commensurate with the challenges that 

had to be overcome both with the historic audiotape 

record, which required special environmental storage 

conditions for preservation, and special procedures for 

replaying the tapes without damaging them or destroying the historic assets. He added that Johnson’s Audio 

Control Room continued to support International 

Space Station operations, news briefings, and other 
5

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

productions while collaborating on the Apollo digital 

conversions. Teamwork, he said, and contributions 

from volunteers and students made the accomplishment possible.

Pictured is an example of the computer printout of an audio track sheet of a 30-channel Apollo analog tape showing channel information of all tracks.

“It was a such a daunting task, so many challenges, so 

many problems to solve,” Wiseman said, adding that 

the conversion of the recordings was made possible by 

the many people “who cared about the preservation of 

history and finding a way to release this to the public.”

Wiseman commended Hansen for pushing the project 

forward and using his “brilliant” team of engineers to 

develop a recording system, process the files, create 

transcripts, and find funding for the project. Wiseman 

also recognized the contributions of retiree volunteers, NASA’s Export Control Office, and archivists 

at the National Archives and Records Administration 

(NARA) “who went into a deep dark vault and came 

back with all of these tapes.”

None of the original 30-track audio tapes had been 

completely digitized before. The first major engineering task was to refurbish the more-than-45-yearold SoundScriber 2-track audio playback system to 

support 30-track playback. The team had to design, 

install, and test the new 30-track head that could 

replay all 30-track audiotape channels simultaneously 

and set up a 30-channel digitization system pipeline.

Because much of the tape documented the silence 

between conversations, the team had to develop a 

system to identify when conversations were beginning 

and ending, as well as an active-learning system for 

creating accurate transcripts of the conversations. The 

team also developed a “hot-spot detection” system to 

track speaker sentiment, using things such as laughter, to gain insights into behavior and cohesion of 

the astronauts and support team in Mission Control, 

in addition to a Web-based, interactive Apollo mission life-cycle interaction module aimed at helping 

younger users understand the highly technical content 

of many conversations.

In addition to the 19,000 hours of digitized audio, 

the team produced corresponding transcripts of every 

conversation and linked them to the database of 

digital audio. This process enabled the development 

of metadata that will help researchers comb through 

the hours and hours of audio to find the conversations most important to their area of interest of 

particular projects.

While the processing of the 19,000 hours of tape 

data from Apollo 11 is a significant accomplishment 

that will provide greatly improved access to that mission, those hours represent only 25 percent of the 

audio record for all of Project Apollo. The rest of the 

material—which still remains to be digitized and 
6

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

transcribed—covers the early Apollo test flights in 

orbit around Earth, the two test missions that sent 

Apollo 8 around the Moon in December 1968 and 

put Apollo 10 in orbit around the Moon in May 

1969, the five later Apollo missions that landed on the 

Moon, and the “successful failure” that saw Apollo 13 

crippled by an oxygen tank explosion and required 

Mission Control to use all of the innovation it could 

muster to bring the crew of three home safely to Earth.

THIS NEW COLLECTION IS A TESTAMENT 

TO THE MEN AND WOMEN OF NASA, 

ITS CONTRACTORS, AND SUPPORTERS 

WORLDWIDE, WHO ALL PLAYED A 

ROLE IN ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT 

ACHIEVEMENTS IN HUMAN HISTORY.

The project’s specific goals included developing new 

techniques for robust acoustic processing of noisy 

channels; finding ways to identify when conversations begin in the midst of long sections of silence; 

accommodating speech-pattern variations; improving 

transcript quality; developing “sniffing” techniques to 

automatically characterize the surrounding acoustic 

environments of Mission Control areas and spacecraft; 

and developing a new way to identify and track individual speakers by topics and keywords, the speaker’s state 

of mind, and noise from surrounding environments.

“We have demonstrated the impact of these techniques 

by creating a novel multi-source and multi-scale event 

reconstruction system,” Hansen said. “This project 

brings together the massive multimedia archives of 

one of the best documented events in all of human 

history, the Apollo lunar missions, to create experiential interaction with historical materials so rich that 

they will in some ways exceed what could have been 

experienced by any participant at the time.”

The NASA team involved in the project included a dozen people in JSC’s 

External Relations Office, and the team 

at UT Dallas included a dozen researchers and developers, many of them students and graduate assistants.

This new collection is a testament to the 

men and women of NASA, its contractors, and supporters worldwide, who all 

played a role in one of the most important achievements in human history.

So far, most of those people are identified only by the 

“call signs” for the disciplines they represented in these 

digitized recording and transcripts. But this record 

of their accomplishments and sacrifices as individuals and team members represents a legacy for those 

who will accomplish similarly great achievements 

with newer technologies that someday likely will need 

to be recovered by historians of the future who look 

back and wonder at how so much was accomplished 

with what, by today’s standards, was the technological 

equivalent of stone knives and bearskins.

Learn more about the UT Dallas team’s work on the 

project at https://www.utdallas.edu/news/2017/12/5-

32772_Researchers-Launch-Moon-Mission-AudioSite_story-sidebar.html.

Learn more about the upcoming 50th anniversary of 

Apollo and the men and women who made it happen 

at https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/.

Learn more about NASA’s 60th anniversary and the 

men and women who have played a role in aeronautics and aerospace advancement at https://www.nasa.

gov/specials/60counting/.

This article has been edited for this issue of News & 

Notes. The original version can be found online at 

https://go.nasa.gov/2LMSHIS.
7

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND THE CENTERS

NASA HEADQUARTERS

Washington, DC

History Division

By Bill Barry

You might think that summer in Washington, with the heat and humidity, might be a time for taking 

a slower pace. For the History Division, that couldn’t 

be more wrong. Things have shifted into high gear for 

the upcoming anniversaries—both the NASA 60th 

anniversary on 1 October and the Apollo mission 

50th anniversaries that will begin 11 days later. We 

also rescheduled our History Program Annual Review 

for early August at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility 

(WSTF) near Las Cruces, New Mexico. As usual, we 

continue to push our various publication projects 

through the production process and adapt to the 

comings and goings of our talented interns. On top 

of that, we are working closely with the National Air 

and Space Museum on a December workshop about 

looking at the Apollo program from the vantage point 

of 50 years.

Attendees of the NASA History Program Annual Review, held 7–9 August 2018, pose in front of an Apollo Command Service Module mockup at the NASA 

White Sands Test Facility. (Photo credit: NASA/Reed P. Elliott)

While it seemed like we were doing little more than 

spadework on the upcoming anniversaries for the first 

half of the year, that preparation proved to be vital 

in late June. We had a meeting with the new NASA 

Deputy Chief of Staff, Gabe Sherman, on 20 June to 

outline our anniversary plans. Halfway through the 

meeting, Administrator Jim Bridenstine walked in 

and sat down at the table. It quickly became clear that 

both the Administrator and his key staff are very interested in NASA history, and they wanted to know what 
8

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

resources we needed to implement the plans we have 

developed. As of the time I’m writing this, the wheels 

are being put in motion to deliver more (temporary) 

staff and finances. We are also on the hook to provide 

regular updates to the Administrator’s staff. While 

there is a huge amount of work ahead of us, the strong 

support from our new Administrator and his team is 

very encouraging.

NASA Chief Historian Bill Barry shakes hands following a special presentation by Dave Pippen, former chief of the WSTF Laboratories Office from 

1975 to 1990, during the History Program Annual Review held 7–9 August 

2018. (Photo credit: NASA/Andres Almeida)

We had a truly outstanding Program Review from 7 to 

9 August. The Johnson Space Center (JSC) History 

Office offered to host the event this year and proposed 

that we meet at JSC’s White Sands Test Facility. What 

a great idea that was! The folks at White Sands set 

new standards for hospitality (thanks especially to 

Antonette Sanchez), and we were able to feature a 

couple of guest speakers who could speak about local 

history, both of the region and of the NASA White 

Sands facility itself. In addition to the usual sharing 

of information and mutual consultations, we tried 

a couple of new things this year, including splinter 

sessions for historians and archivists, as well as a “film 

festival” to wrap up our second day of work. The vintage films about the Jet Propulsion Laboratory rocket 

test launches at White Sands after World War II, a 

Johnson Space Center quarterly update film for 

July–September 1968, and NASA’s summary film of 

accomplishments in 1969 took less than an hour but 

gave the group powerful reminders of the accomplishments of our past. But the Program Review wasn’t 

about fun and good food (though we enjoyed some 

of both)—we identified a lot of work to be done over 

the next year. One of the key things that we’ll focus 

on is breaking down stovepipes to make partners with 

other Agency support functions. This won’t be easy, 

but it is clear that it is essential to both us and our 

potential partners.

Progress on our history publications continues to 

come in frustrating fits and starts, but your patience 

with this will soon be rewarded. Our next publication, 

Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 

1958–2018, by Asif Siddiqi, is going to the printer as 

I write this and will be in print in September. If the 

author sounds familiar, you aren’t mistaken. Professor 

Siddiqi wrote a similar volume for us at the turn of 

the century under the title Deep Space Chronicle. This 

new version updates and improves the material from 

that earlier volume and fills in the gap of a very busy 

decade and a half of exploration that has been under 

way since Deep Space Chronicle went to print. I think 

that you will find Beyond Earth an invaluable reference source. Close on the heels of Beyond Earth is 

The Origins of 21st-Century Space Travel: A History 

of NASA’s Decadal Planning Team and the Vision for 

Space Exploration, 1999–2004. This book, by Glen 

Asner, Deputy Chief Historian in the Office of the 

Secretary of Defense (and formerly of the NASA 

History Office), and our own Steve Garber, analyzes 

the complex and sometimes surprising roots of the 

new space policy announced by President George W. 

Bush in the wake of the Columbia accident. This is 

a must-read for anyone interested in space policy. It 

should be in print later this fall.
9

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

More than 40 WSTF employees joined the NASA History Program Annual Review to hear from Dale Owen, 

a former rancher whose land was bought by the U.S. Government in the early 1960s for the creation of 

WSTF. (Photo credit: NASA/Andres Almeida)

Plans for the Apollo Dialogues Workshop jelled over 

the summer (thanks to some incredible support from 

Valerie Neal and her colleagues at the National Air and 

Space Museum). The application deadline to participate in this event on 7 December at the Smithsonian’s 

Ripley Center in Washington, DC, passed at the end 

of August. The planning team (which also includes 

Steve Garber and me at Headquarters and Brian 

Odom at Marshall Space Flight Center) will build 

the schedule of panels and speakers this fall. You’ll see 

that when it comes together on the Workshop Web 

site at https://history.nasa.gov/Apollo50thworkshop/. 

If you aren’t able to participate this year, don’t worry. 

The expectation is that this workshop will kick off a 

number of new research projects looking at the legacy 

of Apollo after half a century from new points of view. 

Keep your eyes open for a followup conference late in 

2019 aimed at getting these new projects (and others, 

we hope) into print.

Finally, I can’t finish off this report without singing the 

praises of the History Division staff. Our outstanding 

Program Review was a team effort by our hosts at White 

Sands, the JSC History Office (John Uri, Jennifer RossNazzal, and Sandra Johnson), and the Headquarters 

team—especially the essential Nadine Andreassen and 

(thank goodness he’s back) Andres Almeida. I am also 

convinced that much of the positive energy buzzing 

around the Program Review was generated by our 

dynamic new Chief Archivist, Robyn Rodgers. We 

have, as always, been lucky to 

have some short-term members 

of the family this summer, our 

interns Kate Wall and Savannah 

Jelks. They both will have started 

their junior years (at St. John’s 

College in Maryland and Union 

College in New York, respectively) by the time you read this, 

but you will see some of their 

work in this newsletter and in so 

many other of our accomplishments of the last several months. 

Our fall interns will be Rachel 

Carollo, a senior at the University 

of Colorado in Boulder, and Will McCormick, a grad 

student at Oklahoma State University. We are so lucky 

to have such energetic, talented, and dedicated interns. 

They inspire me every day—and I’m sure you enjoy the 

fruits of their labors as well.

AMES RESEARCH CENTER (ARC)

Moffett Field, California

Archives Update

by April Gage

Senior scientist Richard Mains supported the archives 

this quarter by lending his substantial subject area 

expertise in the Center’s long-term involvement in 

space life sciences research programs involving investigations in the areas of plant biology, microbiology, 

immunology, muscle and skeletal systems, and cardiovascular systems. Richard led efforts to analyze 

and contextualize nearly 70 cubic feet of material, the 

bulk of which relates to joint U.S.–Soviet/Russian 

biological satellite programs (Cosmos/Bion and 

Foton), which began in the early 1970s and continue 

today. Among his completed tasks, he documented 

Ames contributions to space life sciences from 1965 

to the present and produced a lengthy history of 

the U.S.–Soviet/Russian biological satellite program, 

along with biographies of key project managers and 

biographical sketches of over 50 project personnel 
10

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

from both countries. This information will increase 

understanding of the program and the usability of the 

material, and it will be incorporated into the guides 

for a Biological Satellite Collection and the Biological 

Satellite Oral History Description Project series in the 

Histories of Ames Research Files Collection. Once 

completed, these guides will be published on the 

Online Archive of California and the Ames History 

Archives Web site at https://oac.cdlib.org.

IN JUNE 1940, GEORGE LEWIS 

SUCCESSFULLY CONVINCED 

CONGRESS TO APPROVE 

APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE 

ESTABLISHMENT OF A THIRD 

NACA RESEARCH LABORATORY 

DEDICATED SOLELY TO THE 

ADVANCEMENT OF AIRCRAFT 

ENGINE RESEARCH.

In other activities, April Gage and Danielle K. Lopez, 

with assistance from scientist Edina Blazevic-Levic, 

completed the final phases of two backlogged 

audiovisual materials digitization projects. They 

finished authoring descriptive metadata records for 

187 moving-image and audio recordings, including 

27,200 feet of 16-millimeter film footage. In addition, they chemically tested all of the 16-millimeter 

film to quantify the severity of deterioration. Danielle 

and April also moved forward with a new audiovisual 

materials digitization project. As part of the collections review and selection process, they teamed up 

with subject experts Allan Meyer and Edwin Erickson 

to review 21 cubic feet of in-flight video footage from 

the Kuiper Airborne Observatory. They identified a 

sample set of the most historically significant material 

to reformat. In total, 143 moving-image and audio 

recordings representing various subjects were digitized. The next phases will involve return inspection, 

quality assurance review, and creation of descriptive 

metadata records.

The History Archives moved into the Center 

Operations, Logistics and Documentation Division 

under the management of Darlene Gross this quarter. April is assuming the additional role of Center 

Artifacts Manager.

GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC)

Cleveland, Ohio

By Bob Arrighi

This 28 September marks the 70th anniversary of the 

renaming of the National Advisory Committee for 

Aeronautics’s (NACA) Flight Propulsion Research 

Laboratory to the NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion 

Laboratory in honor of George W. Lewis, the NACA’s 

first Director of Aeronautical Research. It was under 

his leadership that the NACA grew from a young 

agency of 43 staff with a modest laboratory in 

Hampton, Virginia, to a widely respected organization 

advancing state-of-the-art aeronautical research.

The origins of the Cleveland lab (now NASA Glenn 

Research Center) can be traced directly to Lewis. 

During a trip to Germany in the late 1930s to observe 

their government-sponsored aeronautical research 

activities, he concluded that the current efforts of the 

NACA were inadequate to compete. The lack of significant research on aircraft engines was a particular 

national security concern. Lewis was a strong advocate of rectifying the disparity. In June 1940, George 

Lewis successfully convinced Congress to approve 

appropriations for the establishment of a third NACA 

research laboratory dedicated solely to the advancement of aircraft engine research. Ground was broken 

for the NASA Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in 

Cleveland, Ohio, in January 1941.

Lewis was a frequent visitor to the lab during the war 

years (weekly during construction), and he exhibited 

a great deal of personal commitment to ensuring the 

success of the NACA’s work in order to ensure victory. 
11

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

When the war was won, he was keen to return the 

lab to its original intent of pushing the boundaries of 

new engine technology. He encouraged and promoted 

expansion into new areas of research, such as jet engines 

and high-speed flight. Declining health forced him to 

resign his post as Director of Aeronautical Research 

in 1947, but due to his unparalleled knowledge, he 

retained a consulting role. The immense stress he took 

on during the war had taken its toll, though—he died 

on 12 July 1948, less than a year after his resignation. 

George Lewis spent the entirety of his professional 

career with the NACA and was universally recognized 

an adept leader, a skilled engineer, and gracious to 

all he met. He was awarded the 

prestigious Guggenheim Medal 

in 1936 and was elected to the 

National Academy of Sciences 

in 1945.

According to Center records, 

a resolution to rename the 

laboratory in his honor was 

approved by the NACA Main 

Committee within days of 

his death. A short ceremony 

marking the official renaming 

was held to coincide with the 

annual inspection in September. 

A bronze plaque bearing his 

likeness was unveiled following a brief eulogy. Two of his 

sons, Harvey Lewis and George 

Lewis, Jr., went on to work at 

the Center bearing his name.

The renaming of the lab in 

honor of George Lewis was the 

second name change for the 

Center. When the NACA was 

absorbed into the new space 

agency, it was renamed a third 

time to “NASA Lewis Research 

Center.” In 1999, the Center 

was renamed yet again to 

“NASA John Glenn Research 

Center at Lewis Field.”

Pictured is George W. Lewis, Director of Aeronautical Research.

GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (GSFC)

Greenbelt, Maryland

By Holly McIntyre

Here in Greenbelt, Maryland, at Goddard Space Flight 

Center, we’ve been so busy building our own Center 

archives from scratch that we haven’t even taken the 

time to introduce ourselves or our program to the 

space history community! The Goddard Space Flight 

Center is swiftly approaching its 60th anniversary, and, 
12

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

while our Center has decades of advancements and 

contributions in the fields of engineering, technology, 

and science to celebrate, we’re a little embarrassed 

to say that we haven’t had an archive on Center to 

capture our rich legacy...until now.

The NASA Goddard Archives preserve and provide 

access to historically, culturally, and technologically 

significant material relating to Goddard Space Flight 

Center in order to ensure that the scientific exploration, 

innovative practices, and technological advancements 

of our generations of Goddardites are not lost to time.

Meet Our Team

Holly McIntyre is the 

Center Archivist for 

Goddard Space Flight 

Center. She has a master 

of library science with a 

specialization in archives 

from the University of 

Maryland’s iSchool. Before 

coming to NASA, Holly 

worked at the National 

Archives and Records 

Administration as both a conservator technician and 

an archivist.

At Goddard, Holly is busy building the Archives’ collection through appraisal and accessioning tasks. She 

also leads the team in processing, digitizing, and digital preservation initiatives. She has 11 years of federal 

archival experience.

Christine Stevens is an 

Archives Pathways Intern 

at Goddard Space Flight 

Center. She graduated 

from the University of 

Delaware with a bachelor of arts in history and 

is currently pursuing 

her master of library 

and information science 

through the University of Alabama Online. Christine 

helps to appraise, process, and digitize records at the 

Goddard Archives. 

Jess Deibert is a current 

Archives Pathways Intern 

at Goddard. She received 

her bachelor of arts in 

English from Susquehanna 

University and is a current master of library 

and information science 

student at the University 

of Maryland, set to graduate in December 2018. 

Currently, she is working on processing a collection 

of donated material from William “Bill” Isley, an early 

Goddard engineer.

Our team is in the midst of several large projects that 

span a variety of archival functions. We are excited to 

share our progress with you so stay tuned!

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC)

Houston, Texas

By John Uri

The JSC History Office resumed planning for the 

resurrected NASA History Program Annual Review, 

which was held 7–9 August 2018 at the NASA White 

Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Our 

hosts at White Sands were as happy and eager to host 

us as we were to visit their facility, and we thank them 

for all their efforts in planning for the meeting and 

ensuring its success.

We continue to expand our extensive oral history 

collection. With the change of Center leadership at 

JSC, we completed interviews with outgoing Center 

Director Ellen Ochoa just days before her retirement 

and with new Center Director Mark Geyer within a 

month of his assuming the position. There are plans 

to follow up with regular interviews in the coming 
13

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

years. Historians Sandra 

Johnson and Jennifer 

Ross-Nazzal traveled to 

Huntsville, Alabama, to 

interview former NASA 

Acting Administrator 

Robert Lightfoot, and a 

followup interview was 

conducted in July. We 

are also conducting a 

series of interviews with 

members of the team who 

performed the cryogenic 

thermal vacuum testing 

of the James Webb Space Telescope here at JSC in 

2017. An interview was conducted in July with former 

Langley Research Center Director and former NASA 

Acting Deputy Administrator Lesa Roe, who is now 

Chancellor of the University of North Texas system. 

The transcripts of the interviews will be uploaded 

to the JSC History Portal once the subjects have 

approved them for release.

WE ARE ALSO CONDUCTING A 

SERIES OF INTERVIEWS WITH 

MEMBERS OF THE TEAM WHO 

PERFORMED THE CRYOGENIC 

THERMAL VACUUM TESTING OF 

THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE HERE AT JSC IN 2017. 

In a contribution to recognizing upcoming anniversaries of significant space events, the JSC History 

Office is working with the JSC External Relations 

Office (ERO) on a continuing series of articles posted 

on www.nasa.gov and JSC’s Facebook and Twitter 

accounts. Abstracts of the articles appear online in 

JSC’s newsletter Roundup Today. The articles highlight 

the anniversaries of less-celebrated events and people 

who were nevertheless crucial to achieving the Moon 

landing within President Kennedy’s timetable. We sincerely thank our colleagues at Ames, Armstrong, the 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Kennedy, Marshall, 

and Stennis, who have all contributed in significant 

ways to these articles. The May issue of Stennis Space 

Center’s newsletter, Lagniappe, included an article 

jointly authored by JSC, Marshall Space Flight Center, 

and Stennis Space Center regarding modifications and 

testing of the Saturn V after the Apollo 6 flight to clear 

the rocket for its first crewed mission. Working with 

ERO management, the History Office authored special articles for Black History Month, Women’s History 

Month, and Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

The JSC History Office 

continues its effort to publish Jennifer Ross-Nazzal’s 

book Making Space for 

Women, in collaboration 

with the JSC University 

Research, Collaboration 

and Partnership Office. 

The manuscript is currently undergoing peer 

review at Texas A&M 

University Press.

In June, Jennifer RossNazzal supported a meeting at the University of 

Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) organized by JSC 

Archivist Mark Scroggins. A visiting delegation of the 

Japan Library Fair and Forum Organizing Committee, 

an affiliate of the American Library Association, 

requested a tour of the UHCL Library and information about the JSC History Collection held there. 

Jennifer provided an overview of the ties between 

UHCL and JSC.

The History Office team is working with Safety and 

Mission Assurance IT and Knowledge Management 

Office specialists to relocate the History Office Portal 

to a more convenient server. Concurrently, spring and 

summer interns have been upgrading the look and feel 

of the Portal. These changes will provide the History 

Office with greater control over content updates to the 

site and a more modern look to the site. We hope to 

complete the revamp of the portal and release a new 

look soon. 

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER 

(MSFC) 

Huntsville, Alabama

By Brian Odom

The Marshall history office has been busy over the past 

quarter preparing for the celebration of NASA’s 60th 

anniversary and working on several other important 

products. On 16 June, the office participated in the 
14

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

“NASA in the Park” event in downtown Huntsville. 

The event included several exhibits and information booths highlighting the work currently under 

way at NASA as well as over the past decades. Over 

6,000 visitors attended the event. During this past 

quarter, Marshall Historian Brian Odom attended 

the Alabama Bicentennial Teacher Summer Institute, 

where he spoke on MSFC’s role in the Civil Rights 

Movement. The lecture was part of that program’s 

“Alabama Goes to Space” sessions.

A delegation of the Japan Library Fair and Forum Organizing Committee visits the Neumann Library at the University of Houston–Clear Lake.

Billie Robertson discusses her career at Marshall during the Saturn 

Program during a recent oral history interview.

THE EVENT INCLUDED SEVERAL 

EXHIBITS AND INFORMATION 

BOOTHS HIGHLIGHTING THE 

WORK CURRENTLY UNDERWAY 

AT NASA AS WELL AS OVER 

THE PAST DECADES. OVER 

6,000 VISITORS ATTENDED 

THE EVENT.
15

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

Charlie Cooper stands in front of the original prototype of the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at Marshall Space Flight Center in 1967.

An initiative is now under way in the office to digitize a large number of audio recordings from the 

Apollo-Saturn era, including several speeches by 

Dr. Wernher von Braun, a Summer Lecture Series 

from 1964, and Saturn Program reviews. A related 

recent project involved uploading several recently digitized 16-millimeter films to MSFC’s YouTube channel. These films include the majority of the Quarterly 

Saturn Film Reports, President Eisenhower’s dedication of the Center in September 1960, and films 

from numerous other projects from the Saturn rocket 

to the Hubble Space Telescope. A related project 

involves the digitization of 70-millimeter footage from 

the launches of several Apollo missions. Currently, 

the office is recording a series of video interviews 

with Marshall retirees intended to capture personal 

memories of Marshall during the Apollo program. 

One recent interview was with Billie Robertson, who 

started her career as a mathematician with the Army 

in 1952.

Over the course of the last several months, Jordan 

Whetstone in the Marshall Archives has been working 

primarily on transcribing a series of interviews conducted with several Marshall retirees who began their 

careers with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency before 

transferring to NASA in 1960. All aspects of the launch 

vehicle are covered, from development to the emotions 

felt following the launch of Apollo 11 and the return 

of astronauts from the Moon. Important topics discussed include technical challenges confronted during 

the Saturn program, relationships formed between 
16

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

contractor and civil service teams, and what it was 

like to be a part of such a monumental mission. These 

interviews, once fully transcribed and edited, will be 

made available on the NASA Marshall History Office 

Web page at https://history.msfc.nasa.gov.

The Marshall History Office is also hosting one intern 

this summer, Jessica Brodt. Jessica is a Ph.D. student at 

the University of Alabama and is currently researching 

the history of Marshall’s Neutral Buoyancy Simulator 

(NBS), the 75-foot-diameter, 40-foot-deep water 

tank and now National Historic Landmark utilized 

by NASA from 1968 to 1997 to assist engineers in 

developing hardware for missions including Skylab, 

Hubble, and the International Space Station. Jessica’s 

research will support a future history of the NBS facility. Jessica is also assisting with several anniversary-related activities at the Center.

STENNIS SPACE CENTER (SSC)

Stennis Space Center, Mississippi

By Jessica Herr

Pictured is the first site test at the Mississippi Test Facility.

On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched 

Sputnik into low-Earth orbit. Four years later, they 

put the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin. The United 

States had its eye on the big prize, though. The United 

States was going to the Moon.

The space race morphed into the Moon race, and the 

then–Mississippi Test Facility was a very important 

factor in the United States’ reaching the Moon. NASA 

needed a place to test the large rocket engines and 

stages needed to carry humans to the Moon.

In August 1961, an ad hoc committee of members 

from NASA Headquarters and Marshall Space Flight 
17

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

Center began the work of 

finding a suitable location 

for a new facility. There were 

several variables to consider 

since the rockets would be 

assembled at the Michoud 

Assembly Facility outside 

of New Orleans, Louisiana, 

and launched from Cape 

Canaveral, Florida. Ideally, 

NASA needed a facility that 

would lie between these 

two places, be away from 

a densely populated area 

because of the noise associated with testing rocket 

engines, have access to both 

waterway and highway, 

have a mild climate so testing could conceivably be done year-round, and have 

supporting communities nearby.

Several already-existing facilities were in the running, 

but the committee kept coming back to a marshy, pine 

tree–covered area along the Pearl River in Mississippi. 

The Pearl River site was the winner.

On 25 October 1961, 

NASA announced that a 

rocket engine test site would 

be established in Hancock 

County, Mississippi. The 

site, then known as 

Mississippi Test Operations, 

would test the Saturn 

rockets that would launch 

the Apollo missions to the 

Moon. Construction would 

begin as soon as possible.

Just five years later, on 

the misty morning of 23 

April 1966, there was a 

loud cracking sound and 

a large flame lit up the 

A-2 Test Stand for the first 

time. Hard work done all night led to ignition of the 

Saturn V second-stage rocket engines.

The test lasted for 15 seconds. Less than a month later, 

a full-duration static firing of the Saturn V stage was 

conducted. The Apollo program was gearing up for 

human lunar missions. The space race was on, and the 

United States had just pulled ahead.

THE SPACE RACE MORPHED 

INTO THE MOON RACE, AND 

THE THEN–MISSISSIPPI 

TEST FACILITY WAS A VERY 

IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE 

UNITED STATES’ REACHING 

THE MOON. NASA NEEDED A 

PLACE TO TEST THE LARGE 

ROCKET ENGINES AND 

STAGES NEEDED TO CARRY 

HUMANS TO THE MOON.

OTHER AEROSPACE HISTORY NEWS

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS

Apollo Dialogues Workshop: New Perspectives on 

Spaceflight in Society

Convening Friday, 7 December 2018, 8:30 a.m.–

5 p.m. at the Smithsonian Institution Ripley Center on 

the National Mall in Washington, DC.

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on 

the Moon offers an opportunity to reflect on what 

we know about the Apollo era and its legacies, what 

we still need to learn, and how we may best record 

and interpret the significance of spaceflight in society today and into the future. We invite colleagues 

whose research and writing extend our understanding 

of Apollo, the Apollo era, human spaceflight, future 

space, and related areas to join together in assessing 

the current state of the field, suggesting new lenses 

for analysis and interpretation, and considering new 

paths for future scholarship.
18

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

We seek to engage 50 to 100 participants representing

• a mix of senior, mid-career, and emerging scholars 

and writers;

• participants within and beyond the disciplines of 

space history and the history of science and technology, including other fields in the social sciences 

and humanities; and

• journalists, writers, and other non-Ph.D. historians 

who present history in well-researched forms in 

the print and broadcast media, documentary and 

feature films, popular literature, and the arts.

We plan to make travel grants up to $500 to graduate 

students and others with demonstrable need.

We also hope to catalyze new research leading to a 

second workshop in late 2019 and resulting in a publication before the Apollo 17 anniversary in 2022.

Please share this announcement with others who 

might be interested. Updates and an agenda 

will be posted online at https://history.nasa.gov/

Apollo50thworkshop/.

2018 FELLOWSHIP IN AEROSPACE 

HISTORY RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED

The 2018 Fellowships in Aerospace History, supported 

by NASA, have been awarded to Lisa Ruth Rand, 

Ingrid Ockert, and Rebecca Perry. Rand is working 

on her first book, titled Space Junk: A History of 

Waste in Orbit. Invoking the history of science, politics, and archaeology, Rand argues that the rise in 

popular awareness of space junk at the beginning of 

the Space Age paralleled and informed the ascent of 

mainstream environmentalism.

The History of Science Society has awarded the 2018–

19 fellowship to Ingrid Ockert of Princeton University. 

Ockert will dive deeper into her dissertation, titled 

The Scientific Storytellers: How Scientists, Journalists, 

and Actors Brought Science onto American Television, 

1948–1980, exploring the behind-the-screen connections between television specialists, museum professionals, educators, and scientific experts.

The Society for the History of Technology has awarded 

the 2018–19 fellowship to Rebecca Perry of the 

University of Virginia. Perry’s research will explore the 

origins and work of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s 

(JPL) Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL), in 

addition to the men and women who created 

computer-generated images and films for the Voyager 

missions and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos television series, as 

well as other influential scientific visualization projects 

from 1977 to 1990. The work will culminate in a 

publication titled Filming the Future: Planetary Voyages 

and Computer Graphics at NASA/JPL.

The fellowships are open to applicants who already hold 

a doctoral degree in history or a closely related field, as 

well as those who have completed all course work 

for a doctoral degree-granting program. Preference is 

given to scholars in early stages of their careers. NASA 

provides funds to the American Historical Association, 

the History of Science Society (HSS), and the Society 

for the History of Technology (SHOT) to allow each 

association to award a fellowship.

Congratulations to all recipients. 

For more information on how to apply, visit https://

www.nasa.gov/content/nasa-history-office-fellowships.
19

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Compiled by Chris Gamble

The Saturn System Through the Eyes of Cassini, by 

NASA (12th Media Services, March 2018). Over a 

period of 13 years, the Cassini spacecraft captured 

about 450,000 spectacular images within the Saturn 

system, providing new views of the “lord of the rings” 

and a plethora of iconic images. To honor the art and 

science of Cassini, this book was developed collaboratively by a team from NASA’s Planetary Science 

Division (PSD), NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

(JPL), and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI). 

While these images represent the tip of the iceberg—

each telling a story about Saturn and its mysterious 

moons—our hope is that the mission will inspire 

future artists and explorers. The sheer beauty of these 

images is surpassed only by the science and discoveries 

they represent.

Locomotive to Aeromotive: Octave Chanute and 

the Transportation Revolution, by Simine Short 

(University of Illinois Press, 2013). Aviation researcher 

and historian Simine Short brings to light many previously overlooked facets of Chanute’s professional 

and personal life. In the late 19th century, relatively 

few people considered engineering as a profession 

on par with law or medicine, but Chanute devoted 

much time and energy to the newly established professional societies that were created to set standards 

and serve the needs of civil engineers. Though best 

known for his aviation work, he became a key figure 

in the opening of the American continent by laying 

railroad tracks and building bridges, experiences that 

later gave him the engineering knowledge to build the 

first stable aircraft structure.

Gemini Flies—Unmanned Missions and the First 

Manned Mission, by Dave Shayler (Springer-Praxis, 

March 2018). This book introduces the crucial threestep test program employed by Project Gemini, covering the short uncrewed orbital flight of Gemini I that 

tested the compatibility of the launch vehicle, spacecraft, and ground systems; the uncrewed suborbital 

flight of Gemini II to establish the integrity of the 

reentry system and protective heat shield; and finally 

the three-orbit crewed evaluation flight of Gemini III, 

christened Molly Brown by her crew. The book recalls 

that third mission orbit by orbit, using mission transcripts, postflight reports, and the astronauts’ own 

account of their historic journey.

Space Radiation and Astronaut Safety (SpringerBriefs 

in Space Development), by Erik Seedhouse (Springer, 

April 2018). This brief explores the biological effects of 

long-term radiation on astronauts in deep space. The 

text concisely addresses the full spectrum of biomedical consequences from exposure to space radiation 

and goes on to present possible ways to mitigate such 

dangers and protect astronauts within the limitations 

of existing technologies.

Foreword to Spaceflight, by Michael L. Ciancone 

(Apogee Books, April 2018). This book provides a 

long-anticipated update to the author’s acclaimed 

book The Literary Legacy of the Space Age. This update 

offers a resource for book collectors and historians 

alike through hundreds of annotated entries that 

identify books published before Sputnik on what the 

author refers to as “speculative non-fiction” related to 

the use of rockets for spaceflight. It contains entries 

for titles published in Danish, Dutch, English, French, 

German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, and 

Russian. Most notable in this edition is the inclusion 

of colorful images of the covers of many of the entries. 

In addition, the author (along with Professor Asif 

Siddiqi) has provided a unique annex of Russian titles 

published in the former USSR.

Antarctica: Earth’s Own Ice World, by Michael 

Carroll and Rosaly Lopes (Springer-Praxis, May 

2018). In 2016, scientist Rosaly Lopes and artist 

Michael Carroll teamed up as fellows of the National 

Science Foundation to travel to Mount Erebus, the 

world’s southernmost active volcano, in Antarctica. 

The logistics of getting there and complex operations 

of Antarctica’s McMurdo Station echo the kinds of 
20

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

strategies that future explorers will undertake as they 

set up settlements on Mars and beyond. The bulk 

of this story delves into Antarctica’s infrastructure, 

exploration, and remote camps, culminating on the 

summit of Erebus. There, the authors explored the 

caves and ice towers on the volcano’s flanks, taking 

photographs and generating original art depicting 

scenes in Antarctica and terrestrial analogs on other 

planets and moons.

Chasing New Horizons: Inside Humankind’s First 

Mission to Pluto, by Alan Stern and David Grinspoon 

(Picador, May 2018). Chasing New Horizons is the story 

of the men and women behind the New Horizons 

mission to Pluto. Told from Dr. Alan Stern’s insider’s 

perspective as the mission’s principal investigator, this 

book is a riveting story of scientific discovery and of 

how far humanity can go when people focused on a 

dream work together toward their incredible goal.

Everything You Know About Space Is Wrong, by Matt 

Brown (Batsford, May 2018). In this book, Matt Brown 

brings you a compendium of facts about our planet, 

the universe, and everything in between. Thanks to 

popular sci-fi films and TV shows, there have been 

many misconceptions about the cosmos—from traveling through wormholes to blowing up asteroids. In 

Everything You Know About Space Is Wrong, the reader 

will find a plethora of myths, legends, and misquotes 

that have shaped the way we view the universe today.

Into the Extreme: U.S. Environmental Systems and 

Politics Beyond Earth, by Valerie Olson (University 

of Minnesota Press, May 2018). Into the Extreme is 

the first book-length, in-depth ethnography of U.S. 

human spaceflight. This book discusses how outer 

space contributes to the scope and scale of today’s 

natural and social environments. With access to 

spaceflight worksites ranging from astronaut training 

programs to life science labs, Valerie Olson examines 

how U.S. experts work within the solar system as the 

container of life and as a vast site for new forms of 

technical and political environmental control.

Stennis Space Center (Images of America), by 

Cindy Donze Manto (Arcadia Publishing, May 

2018). Originally known simply as Mississippi Field 

Operations, Stennis Space Center arose from the dissolution of two towns and several surrounding communities that had served the lumber industry since the 

1800s. Its sole purpose was to static-test the free world’s 

most powerful rockets after they arrived by barge via the 

Pearl River. Spurred on by an intense Cold War race to 

the Moon, NASA battled mud, mosquitoes, and snakes 

as it cleared the way for its colossal test stands for the 

Apollo program. When completed, the A and B Test 

Complexes towered between 200 and 400 feet high, 

the tallest structures in the state of Mississippi in 1965. 

Dr. Wernher von Braun, the first Director of Marshall 

Space Flight Center, was fond of saying that “to get to 

the Moon, we will have to go through Mississippi to get 

there!” Today, Stennis Space Center is NASA’s largest 

propulsion test complex and also home to a diverse 

collection of resident agencies: federal, military, private, 

local, national, and international.

Above and Beyond: Exploring the Business of Space, 

by Louis Brennan, Loizos Heracleous, and Alessandra 

Vecchi (Routledge, May 2018). This book provides 

an overview of the business of space and its distinctive competitive dynamics. The book explores the 

commercialization of space, taking the reader on a 

journey from the era of the space race up to the present 

and beyond. 

The Moon (Kosmos), by Bill Leatherbarrow (Reaktion 

Books, May 2018). Drawing on many years of practical observation, the author provides an insight into 

the history and evolution of this enthralling astronomical body. He describes how and why the study of 

the Moon has evolved, particularly in the age of the 

telescope, and offers an overview of developments in 

lunar science since the advent of the Space Age. The 

author also provides advice on how to make your own 

observations of the Moon. 

Satellite-Based Earth Observation: Trends and 

Challenges for Economy and Society, edited by 

Christian Brünner, Anita Rinner, Georg Königsberger, 

and Hannes Mayer (Springer, May 2018). This book 

focuses on the topic of trends and challenges with 

regards to satellite-based Earth observation. Speakers 
21

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

include legal experts in the field and representatives 

from institutions such as the European Space Agency, 

the European Space Policy Institute, academia, and 

the private sector.

The Sun: Images from Space, edited by Amherst 

Media (Amherst Media, May 2018). The Sun: Images 

from Space contains extraordinary beauty, with over 

130 incredible, detailed images of our Sun taken 

from space. These images come from Solar Dynamics 

Observatory (SDO) Mission instruments in conjunction with other various instruments. Taken from space, 

these images were assembled using data collected by 

NASA and its partners, showing our Sun as it has not 

before been revealed to us here on Earth, 93 million 

miles away. See the coronal mass ejections, electric 

currents, magnetic fields, the solar wind, the photosphere, the chromosphere, the corona, and the hot 

plasma soup.

Life on Mars: What To Know Before We Go, by David 

A. Weintraub (Princeton University Press, May 2018). 

This book tells the story of the quest to answer one of 

the most tantalizing questions in astronomy: does life 

exist on Mars? The author tells why, of all the celestial 

bodies in our solar system, Mars has beckoned to us 

the most. He traces how our ideas about life on Mars 

have been refined by landers and rovers, terrestrial and 

Mars-orbiting telescopes, spectroscopy, and even a 

Martian meteorite. 

Astrobiology, Discovery, and Societal Impact 

(Cambridge Astrobiology), by Steven J. Dick 

(Cambridge University Press, May 2018). New discoveries in astrobiology, including thousands of planets 

around distant stars, have increased the likelihood of 

finding life beyond Earth. Astronomer and historian 

Steven J. Dick examines the philosophical, theological, and societal implications of such a discovery. He 

presents the remarkable and often surprising results in 

easily accessible language.

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated History of 

America’s Legendary Mach 3 Spy Plane, by James C. 

Goodall (Schiffer Military History, May 2018). The 

legendary SR-71 Blackbird spy plane was, and still 

is, the world’s only operational Mach 3 aircraft. It 

was designed, built, and tested by Lockheed’s famed 

“Skunk Works.” This new book covers all 50 Blackbirds 

built, from the first flight in 1962 to the last in 1999.

A Galaxy of Her Own: Amazing Stories of Women in 

Space, by Libby Jackson (Harper Design, June 2018). 

Filled with beautiful full-color illustrations, this 

groundbreaking compendium honors the amazing 

true stories of 50 inspirational women who helped fuel 

some of the greatest achievements in space exploration 

from the 19th century to today—including human 

“computers” Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson, as 

well as former NASA Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson, 

the record-holding American biochemistry researcher 

who has spent the most cumulative time in space.

Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the 

Earth, by Adam Frank (W. W. Norton & Company, 

June 2018). Astrophysicist Adam Frank traces the 

question of alien life and intelligence from the ancient 

Greeks to the leading thinkers of our own time. He 

shows how we as a civilization can only hope to survive climate change if we recognize what science has 

recently discovered: that we are just one of 10 billion 

trillion planets in the universe, and it is highly likely 

that many of those other planets host or have hosted 

technologically advanced alien civilizations. Moreover, 

according to Frank, each of those civilizations must 

have faced the same challenge of civilization-driven 

climate change. The book poses what may be the largest question of all: What can the likely presence of life 

on other worlds tell us about our own fate?

Mars Owners’ Workshop Manual: From 4.5 Billion 

Years Ago to the Present (Haynes Manuals), by David 

M. Harland (Haynes Publishing U.K., June 2018). 

From early telescopic observations, through the dawn 

of the Space Age, to today’s quest for life on Mars, 

this book explains the history of humanity’s study 

and analysis of the planet using orbiters, landers, and 

rovers, as well as following the discovery of water ice 

below the planet’s surface. Harland also explores how 

modern-day science has furthered our understanding 

of Mars.
22

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

Catching Stardust: Comets, Asteroids and the Birth 

of the Solar System, by Natalie Starkey (Bloomsbury 

Sigma, June 2018). Icy, rocky, sometimes dusty and 

still mysterious comets and asteroids are among the 

solar system’s very oldest inhabitants, formed within 

a swirling cloud of gas and dust in the area of space 

that eventually hosted the Sun and its planets. This 

book tells the story of these enigmatic celestial objects, 

revealing how scientists are using them to help understand a crucial time in our history: the birth of the 

solar system and everything contained within it.

Frontiers of Space Risk: Natural Cosmic Hazards & 

Societal Challenges, edited by Richard Wilman and 

Christopher J. Newman (CRC Press, June 2018). This 

book brings together diverse perspectives on current 

and emerging themes in space risk, covering both the 

threats to Earth-based activities arising from space 

events (natural and humanmade) and those inherent 

in space activity itself. Drawing on the latest research, 

the opening chapters explore the dangers from asteroids and comets, the impact of space weather on critical technological infrastructure on the ground and in 

space, and the more uncertain threats posed by rare 

hazards farther afield in the Milky Way.

Earth View: Extraordinary Images from the 

Landsat NASA/USGS Satellites, by Tim Dedopulos 

(Carlton Books Ltd., June 2018). Using over 200 

high-definition satellite images from NASA’s Landsat 

satellite program, this book takes the reader on a 

journey of discovery around the globe, revealing in 

stunning detail the extraordinary geological features, 

humanmade structures, and natural wonders that can 

only be viewed from above. Reaching across all continents and including the most remote glaciers, volcanic 

fields, shifting sands, and frozen wastelands, it inspires 

a fresh perspective of our world.

The Earth: NASA Images from Space, edited by 

Amherst Media (Amherst Media, July 2018). This 

collection includes over 180 images compiled from 

instrument data of NASA and their world-class collaborators. Some of these instruments are sensitive 

to the visual range of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Other instruments record other wavelengths, such 

as ultraviolet and infrared. Colors are assigned to 

portions of data. Details of Earth from above show 

forest fires, floods, hurricanes, parks, cloud formations, 

the great cities of the world, sleepy backwaters, reefs, 

oceans, glaciers, snow-capped mountains, archaeological sites, and transportation highways.

From Habitability to Life on Mars, edited by Nathalie 

A. Cabrol and Edmond A. Grin (Elsevier, July 2018). 

Throughout the book, the authors show how the investigation of terrestrial analogs to early Martian habitats 

under various climates and environmental extremes 

provides critical clues to understanding where and 

how to search for biosignatures on Mars. The authors 

present an introduction to the newest developments 

and state-of-the-art remote and in situ detection 

strategies and technologies that are being currently 

developed to support the upcoming ExoMars and 

Mars 2020 missions.

It’s a Question of Space: An Ordinary Astronaut’s 

Answers to Sometimes Extraordinary Questions, by 

Clayton C. Anderson (University of Nebraska Press, 

July 2018). Having spent over 150 days on his first 

tour of the International Space Station, retired astronaut Clayton C. Anderson has fielded thousands of 

questions over the years about spaceflight, living in 

space, and what it is like to be an astronaut. This 

book gathers Anderson’s answers to these questions 

and more.

Russia’s Posture in Space: Prospects for Europe 

(SpringerBriefs in Applied Sciences and Technology), 

by Marco Aliberti and Ksenia Lisitsyna (Springer, July 

2018). This book discusses the evolution of Russian 

space activities with a focus on their international 

cooperation strategy. This analysis is carried out in 

relation to the evolution of the domestic and international dynamics that have been impacting the 

country’s direction in space, with the ultimate goal 

of providing an assessment of their impact on current 

and foreseeable Europe-Russia space relations.

European Access to Space: Business and Policy 

Perspectives on Micro Launchers (SpringerBriefs in 

Applied Sciences and Technology), by Matteo Tugnoli, 
23

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

Martin Sarret, and Marco Aliberti (Springer, July 

2018). This book provides an analysis of the dynamics 

of the global launch service market associated with 

small satellites by placing a particular focus on its 

unfolding trends and future outlook. From an economic perspective, the emergence of numerous microlauncher initiatives on top of already-existing launch 

solutions for small satellites raises questions about the 

specific nature and size of the small-satellite market 

that will—or could—be addressed by these emerging 

launch services offerings.

Honest Vision: The Donald Douglas Story: Timeless 

Leadership Lessons from an Engineering Mind and 

Aviation Icon, by Julie Boatman Filucci (Aviation 

Supplies and Academics, Inc., July 2018). Through 

this book, the author explores the life of Donald Wills 

Douglas, founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company, a 

genius innovator and engineer. What inspired Douglas 

to envision a commercial airliner when aviation was in 

its infancy? What key elements to his leadership style 

led Douglas Aircraft Company to success? What secret 

came to light that likely contributed to the downward 

spiral of that same business? The book brings into 

focus a facet of a momentous time in world history, 

illuminated by one man’s drive to make the skies available to all.

India China Space Capabilities: A Comparison, by 

Sanjay Kumar (Vij Books India, August 2018). This 

book brings out the key features of China’s space 

program, its future trajectory, and how it can impact 

India’s national interest. It further suggests options for 

India on how the nation can secure its geopolitical 

economic interests and security concerns without getting into a space race with China.

Apollo Mission Control: The Making of a National 

Historic Landmark, by Manfred von Ehrenfried 

(Springer-Praxis, August 2018). This book describes 

the history of this now-iconic room that represents 

America’s space program during the Gemini, Apollo, 

Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, and early Space Shuttle eras. 

It is now a National Historic Landmark and is 

being restored to a level that represents the day the 

flight control teams walked out after the last lunar 

landing missions.

The Journey to Moonwalking: The People Who 

Enabled Footprints on the Moon, by Kenneth Thomas 

(Curtis Press, October 2017). This is the story of 

human efforts, specifically the innovation, struggle, 

and sacrifice carried out by otherwise ordinary men 

and women, that culminated in the spacesuit that 

made the first human surface explorations of the 

Moon possible.

Space Safety and Human Performance, edited 

by Barbara Kanki, Jean-Francois Clervoy, and Gro 

Sandal (Butterworth-Heinemann, November 2017). 

During spaceflight, human performance can be deeply 

affected by physical, psychological, and psychosocial 

stressors. Endorsed by the International Association 

for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS) and 

drawing on the expertise of the world’s leading experts 

in the field, this book is primarily centered on humans 

on board spacecraft but also covers operators of control centers on the ground and behavioral aspects of 

complex organizations, thus addressing the broad 

spectrum of space actors.

Spaceport Earth: Legendary Launch Pads, Long-Shot 

Upstarts, and the Remaking of American Spaceflight, 

by Joe Pappalardo (The Overlook Press, November 

2017). Aerospace journalist Joe Pappalardo has witnessed rocket launches around the world, visiting 

every working spaceport in the United States. In 

his book Spaceport Earth, Pappalardo describes the 

rise of a plethora of private companies in the United 

States and how they are reshaping the way the 

world is using space for industry and science—and 

creating spaceports.

Apollo Program Development Plan, edited by Robert 

Godwin (Collector’s Guide Publishing, November 

2017). This book describes President John F. Kennedy’s 

plan to land humans on the Moon as the plan was 

summarized for a very limited number of people who 

were highly placed in the organizational structure.
24

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

The Planets: Photographs from the Archives of NASA, 

by Nirmala Nataraj (Chronicle Books, November 

2017). This volume offers a rich visual tour of the planets in our solar system. More than 200 photographs 

from the archives of NASA are paired with extended 

captions detailing the science behind some of our cosmic neighborhood’s most extraordinary phenomena.

Unveiling Galaxies: The Role of Images in Astronomical 

Discovery, by Jean-René Roy (Cambridge University 

Press, November 2017). In this book, the journey of 

understanding galaxies is told through the lens of the 

evolving use of images as investigative tools. Initial 

chapters explore how early insights developed in line 

with new methods of scientific imaging, particularly 

photography. The volume then explores the impact of 

optical, radio, and x-ray imaging techniques. The final 

part of the story discusses the importance of atlases of 

galaxies: how astronomers organized images in ways 

that educated people, promoted ideas, and pushed for 

new knowledge. By examining developments in imaging, this text places the study of galaxies in its broader 

historical context, contributing to both astronomy 

and the history of science.

Picturing the Cosmos: A Visual History of Early Soviet 

Space Endeavour, by Iina Kohonen (Intellect Ltd., 

December 2017). Space is the ultimate canvas for the 

imagination, and in the 1950s and ’60s, as part of the 

space race with the United States, the solar system was 

the blank page upon which the Soviet Union etched 

a narrative of exploration and conquest. In this book, 

drawing on a comprehensive corpus of rarely seen 

photographs and other visual phenomena, the author 

maps the complex relationship between visual propaganda and censorship during the Cold War.

Discovering the Cosmos with Small Spacecraft: 

The American Explorer Program, by Brian Harvey 

(Springer Praxis, December 2017). Explorer was the 

original American space program and Explorer 1 its 

first satellite, launched in 1958. Sixty years later, the 

Explorer satellite program is the longest continuously 

running space program in the world, demonstrating 

to the world how we can explore the cosmos with 

small spacecraft. Almost a hundred Explorers have 

already been launched. The book gives an account 

of each mission and its discoveries, breaking down 

the program into its main periods of activity as well 

as examining the politics and debate on the role of 

small spacecraft in space science. It introduces the 

launchers (Juno, Thor, etc.), the launch centers, the 

ground centers, and key personalities like James Van 

Allen, who helped develop and run the spacecraft’s 

exciting programs.

A Fire To Be Lighted—The Training of American 

Astronauts from 1959 to the Present, by Tyler Peterson 

(Collector’s Guide Publishing, December 2017). 

From the selection of the Mercury astronauts in 1959 

to the International Space Station missions of the 21st 

century, the training sequence has met the challenges 

of preparing astronauts for flight far more often than 

it has failed. This book draws on interviews with 19 

astronauts and Johnson Space Center instructors, as 

well as sources ranging from books, to articles, to technical reports and archival documents.

V2—The A4 Rocket from Peenemünde to Redstone, by 

Murray Barber (Crecy Publishing, December 2017). 

Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, rare 

personal accounts, and interviews conducted with 

personnel associated with the A4/V2 program, rocketry expert Murray R. Barber traces the origins of 

the V2 and presents a detailed view of the research 

conducted at the secret, experimental rocket-testing 

facility at Kummersdorf West and the vast, infamous 

base at Peenemünde.

Our Germans: Project Paperclip and the National 

Security State, by Brian E. Crim (Johns Hopkins 

University Press, December 2017). Drawing on 

recently declassified documents from intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the Federal Bureau 

of Investigation (FBI), and the State Department, this 

book examines the process of integrating German 

scientists into a national security state dominated by 

the armed services and defense industries.

History of Rocketry and Astronautics, Vol. 47, edited 

by Tal Inbar, American Astronomical Society (AAS) 

History Series, vol. 47, International Academy 
25

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

of Astronautics (IAA) History Symposia, vol. 35 

(AAS/Univelt Inc., 2017). This book contains the 

proceedings of the 49th History Symposium of the 

International Academy of Astronautics, Jerusalem, 

Israel, 2015.

History of Rocketry and Astronautics, Vol. 48, edited 

by Pablo de Leon, AAS History Series, vol. 48, IAA 

History Symposia, vol. 36 (AAS/Univelt Inc., 2017). 

This book contains the proceedings of the 50th 

History Symposium of the International Academy of 

Astronautics, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2016.

Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost 

Space Shuttle and Her Crew, by Michael Leinbach 

and Jonathan Ward (Arcade Publishing, January 

2018). In the aftermath of the STS-107 Space Shuttle 

Columbia tragedy, people and communities came 

together to help bring home the remains of the crew 

and nearly 40 percent of the Shuttle, an effort that was 

instrumental in piecing together what happened so 

the Shuttle Program could return to flight. Bringing 

Columbia Home shares the deeply personal stories 

that emerged as NASA employees looked for lost 

colleagues and searchers overcame immense physical, logistical, and emotional challenges and worked 

together to accomplish the impossible.

Mission Control Management: The Principles of High 

Performance and Perfect Decision Making Learned 

from Leading at NASA, by Paul Sean Hill (Nicholas 

Brealey Publishing, January 2018). This former 

Director of Mission Operations at NASA shows how 

to combat management weaknesses, lead stellar teams, 

and pull off miracles in your workplace using lessons 

from Mission Control.

Testbeds, Motherships and Parasites: Astonishing 

Aircraft from the Golden Age of Flight Test, by 

Frederick Johnsen (Specialty Press, January 2018). 

Covered in this book are scores of aircraft of all 

types converted for use as “flying laboratories” to test 

engines, wings, cockpits, and aerodynamic devices, all 

in the name of aviation progress. Also included are 

the “parasite” aircraft carried aloft to be launched and 

recovered by their mother ships.

Disclaimer: The History Division wishes to thank volunteers Mike Ciancone and Chris Gamble, who compiled 

this section for us. Please note that the edited descriptions 

here have been derived by Chris and Mike from promotional material and do not represent an endorsement 

by NASA.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The annual meeting of the Oral History Association 

will be held 10–14 October 2018 in Montreal, 

Canada. Visit http://www.oralhistory.org/annualmeeting/ for more details.

The annual meeting of the Society for the History of 

Technology will be held 11–14 October 2018 in St. 

Louis, Missouri. Visit https://www.historyoftechnology.

org/ for more details.

The Mutual Concerns of Air and Space Museums 

Conference will be held 2–6 November 2018 in 

Pima, Arizona. Visit https://airandspace.si.edu/events/

mutual-concerns for more details.

The annual meeting of the American Historical 

Association will be held 3–6 January 2019 in 

Chicago, Illinois. Visit https://www.historians.org/

annual-meeting for more details.

The 2019 American Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics (AIAA) SciTech Forum will be held 

7–11 January 2019 in Orlando, Florida. Visit https://

scitech.aiaa.org for details.
26

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

QUESTIONING KENNEDY’S CAMELOT: 

THE COLD WAR, THE SPACE RACE, AND A LUNAR LEGACY

By Savannah N. Jelks, Summer 2018 NASA History Intern

1 John F. Kennedy, “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs,” 25 May 1961, available at http://www.presidency.ucsb.

edu/ws/?pid=8151.

2 John F. Kennedy, “Moon Speech—Rice Stadium,” Rice University, 12 September 1962, available at https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.htm.

On 25 May 1961, President John F. Kennedy stood before a joint session of Congress, delivering a “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent 

National Needs.” In his message, Kennedy argued for 

Congress to provide the funding for the nation to be 

able to meet its goal of putting a man on the Moon 

and to invest in the space program to make such an 

event possible. Only a few years prior, on 4 October 

1957, the Soviet Union had launched the world’s first 

artificial satellite, Sputnik. U.S. President Eisenhower 

had signed into law the National Aeronautics and 

Space Act establishing NASA on 29 July 1958. As the 

United States was preparing to make Alan Shepard the 

first human in space, the Soviet Union was already a 

step ahead. On 12 April 1961, the Soviets launched 

Yuri Gagarin on an orbital flight aboard Vostok 1. 

Shepard’s launch aboard the Mercury-Redstone 3 

capsule occurred three weeks later, on 5 May 1961. 

The United States was once again one step behind in 

the space race. In light of this development, Kennedy 

argued that it was more important than ever to fund 

the fledgling American space program:

For while we cannot guarantee that we shall 

one day be first, we can guarantee that any 

failure to make this effort will make us last.... 

But this is not merely a race. Space is open to 

us now.... I believe that this nation should 

commit itself to achieving the goal, before this 

decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon 

and returning him safely to the Earth.1

Over a year later, on 12 September 1962, President 

Kennedy spoke again, this time from Rice University 

in Houston, Texas. Again, he urged the nation to consider its role in the space race:

We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go 

to the Moon in this decade and do the other 

things, not because they are easy, but because 

they are hard, because the goal will serve to 

organize and measure the best of our energies 

and skills.2

Kennedy’s words resonated with the nation and with 

history. Even today, he is remembered as the leader 

who asked the nation to send a man to the Moon 

Alan Shepard prepares for his Freedom 7 mission in 1961. (Photo 

credit: NASA)
27

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

“before this decade is out.” His personal and political desires for a lunar landing propelled decades of 

spaceflight and lunar activity, lasting long after his 

death in 1963. But as John Logsdon wrote in his book 

John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon, Kennedy’s 

feelings about NASA, lunar exploration, and the 

Soviet Union may have been more complex than they 

initially appeared.

President Kennedy speaks about the U.S. role in space at Rice University 

in 1962. (Photo credit: NASA)

According to Logsdon, Kennedy had very little interest 

in space issues as a Senator or during his presidential 

3 John Logsdon, John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010), p. 21.

4 John F. Kennedy, “The President’s News Conference of April 21, 1961,” available at https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/

JFKWHA-027.aspx.

5 Logsdon, John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon, p. 151.

6 Ibid., p. 155.

campaign. His investment in the space program had 

little to do with personal curiosity about the solar 

system or pushing the boundaries of technology, but 

rather a burning political desire to beat the Soviets on 

some front of the Cold War. By the time Kennedy was 

elected president, NASA had developed a 10-year plan 

that identified dates for various mission milestones, 

including Project Mercury (1961–62) and a “manned 

flight to the Moon”3 (beyond 1970). Kennedy’s close 

involvement with NASA did not begin until the 

Soviet launch of Sputnik, and it was not until a press 

conference on 21 April 1961 that Kennedy publicly 

stated reaching the Moon as a goal: “If we can get 

to the Moon before the Russians, we should.”4 The 

administration had set its course.

Between the successful launch of Sputnik and the Bay 

of Pigs incident, the United States needed a more 

optimistic goal to create a sense of patriotism in the 

face of the Cold War. Logsdon argues that Kennedy 

pointed the nation toward the goal of a lunar landing, 

not necessarily for the challenge, but possibly because 

leaving the Moon to the Soviets was unthinkably 

chilling. Kennedy’s successive tour of NASA facilities and his speech at Rice only encouraged him, 

and indeed the nation, to ask, “How soon can we 

get [to the Moon]?”5 When Kennedy approached 

NASA Administrator James Webb in July 1962 about 

whether the lunar landing program was one of NASA’s 

top priorities, Webb had to admit that it was only “one 

of the top priority programs.” Kennedy stressed that 

sending astronauts to the Moon was vitally important 

for international political reasons. “This is, whether 

we like it or not, in a sense a race,”6 he emphasized. 

Kennedy was willing to sideline other NASA programs, but he was not willing to let the United States 

come in second place again.
28

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

What would have happened to the Apollo program 

had Kennedy not been assassinated is impossible to say. 

What Logsdon does suggest is that “backing off being 

the first to the Moon did not seem to be on Kennedy’s 

mind in November 1963. In remarks he planned to 

deliver in Dallas on 22 November, Kennedy would 

have said, ‘the United States of America has no intention of finishing second in space.’”7

7 Ibid., p. 219.

It is important to recognize and remember Kennedy 

not just as a singularly minded visionary with a competitive goal, but as a man torn between the pros and 

cons of a lunar landing program and a brewing Soviet 

relationship. Kennedy’s ambitious proposal to the 

nation not only sparked America’s entrance into the 

space race, but also helped propel years of forward 

thinking and inspired a generation to fulfill his goal of 

landing an American on the Moon.

President John F. Kennedy, NASA Administrator James E. Webb, and Vice 

President Lyndon B. Johnson are shown at Launch Complex 34 at the 

Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex in 1962. (Photo credit: NASA)

President John F. Kennedy honors astronaut John Glenn after his historic 

first crewed orbital flight on Friendship 7 in 1962. (Photo credit: NASA)

ASTRONAUTS TAKE FIELD TRIPS, TOO!

By Kate Wall, Summer 2018 NASA History Intern

Astronaut: a job title that includes the potential to 

escape Earth’s grasp and spend time in space. It’s such 

a unique opportunity that it’s no wonder that, in the 

nearly six decades since space became accessible to 

humans, countless people have declared, “When I 

grow up, I want to be an astronaut.”

To many students stuck in classrooms and adults stuck 

in cubicles, the prospect of going to space became 

additionally appealing once astronauts began taking “field trips” to various places throughout North 

America. Beginning in January 1963—in preparation 

for completing President Kennedy’s Moon landing 

directive—Gemini and Apollo astronauts took several 

Geology Field Trips (GFTs). The men underwent geologic field training led by the U.S. Geological Survey’s 

Branches of Astrogeology and Surface Planetary 

Exploration with the express intent of turning them 

into competent lunar scientists.

For nearly 10 years (January 1963–November 1972) 

leading up to and encompassing the first and subsequent Apollo lunar landing missions (Apollo 11–17), 

astronaut crews trained to explore the Moon using 
29

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

the only otherworldly environments they had access 

to on Earth. To simulate the lunar surface, they utilized impact craters and crater-like terrains in Arizona, 

Idaho, California, and Hawaii, as well as volcanic fields 

and calderas in Mexico, Alaska, Oregon, and Iceland. 

Locations in Canada, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, 

and Texas, among others, offered supplementary landscapes to provide the astronauts with crash courses 

in the geology necessary for adequately observing, 

navigating, and sampling the surface of the Moon. 

GFTs included visits to the Lowell Observatory and 

Kitt Peak National Observatory, both in Arizona, to 

observe the Moon through telescopes.

GFTs were also used to go beyond familiarization and 

recognition of the lunar terrain. The trips were an 

opportunity to simulate lunar extravehicular activities 

(EVAs), practice using tools and collecting samples, 

undergo survival training, and use new-and-improved 

communication systems. The simulated EVAs 

included wearing the large, rectangular Life Support 

System (LSS) backpacks that would be worn over the 

astronauts’ spacesuits. Doing so allowed the astronauts 

to experience and practice moving and operating with 

the backpacks on, just as they would on the Moon. 

For the crews of Apollo 15, 16, and 17, Lunar Roving 

Vehicles (LRVs) were also present on the field trips. 

Using the LRV was a necessary piece of training for 

these missions, as they would be used to cover and 

sample greater areas of the Moon than could easily be 

covered on foot.

Apollo 17 Lunar Module pilot Harrison “Jack” Schmitt 

was the only professional geologist to go to the Moon. 

While completing his own GFT training, Schmitt 

used his geological expertise and his unique geologist’s 

perspective to help bring the other astronauts up to 

speed. In his opinion, field work would make the biggest impact on how successfully the astronauts would 

be able to execute their roles as the front-runners in 

lunar geology. In his own words, the goal of the field 

trips was to “expose them to as many different geological experiences as we possibly could. Get them out in 

the field—don’t let them sit in the classroom.”

The field trips made an impact, and the six Apollo 

missions that landed on the Moon returned with a 

combined total of about 2,200 individual lunar samples. Who knows? Maybe the success of astronaut 

field trips on Earth could convince schools to keep 

up their own field trips, just like the overall success of 

astronauts in space can convince people that they want 

to be astronauts, too.

Astronauts Dave Scott (left) and Jim Irwin of Apollo 15 sit in a Lunar 

Roving Vehicle (LRV) simulator called “Grover” at the rim of a crater in the 

Cinder Lake crater field in Arizona. (Photo credit: NASA/JSC)

Apollo 17 crewmembers Harrison “Jack” Schmitt (left) and Gene Cernan 

stand on the rim of Lunar Crater in Nevada wearing LSS backpacks during 

an EVA simulation. (Photo credit: NASA/JSC)
30

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

IN MEMORIAM

Lunar geologist and exploration advocate Paul Spudis died of complications from lung cancer on 

29 August 2018 at age 66. Spudis was a senior scientist 

at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and his extensive 

research career was devoted primarily to our Moon. 

He served as deputy leader of the Clementine project, 

a spacecraft that orbited the Moon in 1994 to demonstrate new technologies and increase our understanding 

of our nearest celestial neighbor. “I had always wanted 

to be part of a lunar mission, and for the first time 

I had an intimate connection to the little spacecraft 

orbiting the moon, 400,000 kilometers away,” Spudis 

said in an undated NASA interview posted online.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced 

Spudis’s death at the 29 August meeting of the 

National Advisory Council (NAC). He and several 

other NASA officials gave tribute to the late lunar 

scientist. “Since we’re talking about the Moon, and 

this is the NAC, I would tell you that he would be 

thrilled that we’re talking about it. We need to move 

forward for him and all of the other people who have 

worked so hard to getting us where we are.” 

Pictured is lunar geologist and exploration advocate Paul Spudis. (Photo 

credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute)

For more on Spudis’s life and career, visit his “In 

Memoriam” page on the Lunar and Planetary 

Institute’s Web site at https://www.lpi.usra.edu/

features/083018/paul-spudis. 

A NASA interview with Paul Spudis is available here: 

https://go.nasa.gov/2LDZ93R.

NASA HEADQUARTERS HISTORY DIVISION 

STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION

William Barry bill.barry@nasa.gov

Chief Historian 202-358-0383

Andres Almeida andres.almeida@nasa.gov

Editor 202-358-1319

Nadine Andreassen nadine.j.andreassen@nasa.gov

Program Support Specialist 202-358-0087

Colin Fries colin.a.fries@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0388

Stephen Garber stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov

Historian 202-358-0385

Robyn Rodgers robyn.k.rodgers@nasa.gov

Chief Archivist 202-358-2798

Elizabeth Suckow elizabeth.suckow-1@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0375

Savannah Jelks savannah.n.jelks@nasa.gov

Summer Intern 202-358-2577

Kate Wall katharine.l.wall@nasa.gov

Summer Intern 202-358-0680

Rachel Carollo rachel.a.carollo@nasa.gov

Fall Intern 202-358-0680

Will McCormick william.l.mccormick@nasa.gov

Fall Intern 202-358-2577
31

Volume 35, Number 3 3rd Quarter 2018

IMAGE IN NASA HISTORY

The NACA shield and wings logo is replaced on 1 October 1958, the day NASA officially began 

operations. With the new NASA insignia still in the 

making, the Centers had to make do by painting 

over or replacing the “C” in “NACA” with the “S” 

in “NASA.” Today, this door at Armstrong Flight 

Research Center (then known as the High-Speed 

Flight Center) boasts the NASA “meatball” insignia, 

but the NASA seal was the immediate successor to the 

NACA logo.
CREATED AND PRODUCED BY:

Andres Almeida, Newsletter Editor

Lisa Jirousek, Editor

Michele Ostovar, Graphic Designer

Trenita Williams, Mail Coordinator

Carl Paul, Distribution

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