National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

FROM

THE CHIEF 

HISTORIAN

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

While there are many positive 

developments in the 

world of NASA history, as we head into 

this summer two things weigh heavily upon me. 

The first is the mixed blessing of chief archivist 

Jane Odom’s retirement. Jane’s remarkable 

contributions have certainly earned her a long 

and happy retirement. (See the article to your 

right.) But, finding a person to carry on her 

legacy will be a significant challenge. With 

restrictions on hiring at Headquarters and the 

unique skill-set required of the chief archivist, 

I anticipate an extended gap in coverage of the 

chief archivist duties. Jane’s delight at moving 

on to new challenges with vigor, health, and 

youthful energy is an inspiration to us all. So, I 

find myself greeting this news with very mixed 

emotions—and the realization that changes, 

even positive changes, are never without 

their drawbacks.

The more troubling topic on my mind is the 

decision by the leadership of the Johnson 

Space Center (JSC) to eliminate funding 

for the Center’s history office. As with many 

FAREWELL CHIEF ARCHIVIST JANE ODOM

by Bill Barry

After 17 years of outstanding service as NASA’s chief archivist, Jane Odom retired on 31 May 2016. Hired by then-NASA Chief Historian Roger 

Launius, Jane started work at NASA Headquarters on 6 June 1999. She came to 

NASA with a wealth of experience dealing with complex archival challenges and 

managing high-pressure situations. 

Just prior to moving to 300 E Street SW 

(home of NASA Headquarters), Jane 

worked on Capitol Hill for 12 years. 

During that period, she worked for nine 

different senators a nd c ongressmen, u sually taking on the job of preparing the historical collections of members who were 

retiring for submission to repositories 

in their home states. Some of her most 

memorable experiences were working for 

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, Senator 

Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, and Congressman 

Robert Michel of Illinois. 

Jane’s working career started at the 

University of North Carolina (UNC). 

Her love for “the oldest public university in the nation, established in 1789” 

(as she will be happy to tell you) was 

cemented during her first j ob a fter g raduate school—working in the Southern

continued on next page continued on page 3

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 From the Chief Historian

1 Farewell Chief Archivist 

Jane Odom

4 Call for Papers

6 CALIPSO Celebrates 10 Years of

Atmospheric Discoveries

7 News from Headquarters and the

Centers

17 Upcoming Events

18 Other Aerospace History News

21 Recent Publications and Online

Resources

24 Obituaries

27 Image in NASA History and

Poetry by Terri Kirby Erickson

NEWS

&NOTES
2

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

support functions at NASA, the Agency-wide history 

“program” is really more of a federation of individual 

Center-level efforts. While NASA Centers are encouraged to have both archival and history operations, 

there is no requirement to do so. Nor is there any one 

template for how such efforts should be organized. 

JSC leadership apparently now believes that history 

programs should be self-supporting and that they can 

still have an effective program on a pay-as-you-go, 

possibly part-time, basis. In my role as principal 

advisor to NASA leadership on historical matters I 

have been quite frank in my inputs about the problems with that approach. Of particular note is the 

impact on highly skilled history professionals whose 

long-standing contributions and well-honed expertise 

are effectively being denigrated as just another commodity. Ironically, under the leadership of Rebecca 

Wright, the JSC History Office has been NASA’s most 

creative in carving out a specialty (in oral history) and 

in marketing their services to other programs, offices, 

and Centers. Can that model be extended to cover 

the “overhead” of running a history office? I guess we 

will soon find out, but this seems an extremely risky 

approach—especially at a time when major human 

spaceflight anniversaries (like the upcoming 50th 

anniversary of the Apollo program) will be increasing 

public and media interest in the accomplishments of 

our storied predecessors at JSC. Moreover, it seems 

shameful to me that the bulk of the negative consequences of this kind of experiment will fall precisely 

on the people whose creativity and effort made the 

JSC History Office a nationally recognized program. 

It was a bitter pill to see the Organization of American 

Historians present the JSC History Office with the 

“2016 Friend of History” Award on 12 April, and the 

Office disappear on 30 April.

While the situation at JSC is especially troubling, the 

good news is that the trends across the rest of NASA 

are quite positive. This spring the Marshall Spaceflight 

Center hired Brian Odom as historian to replace 

the recently retired, and long-serving, Mike Wright. 

Brian had been serving as the contract archivist at 

Marshall and that position was quickly backfilled 

with Jordan Whetstone. Both Brian and Jordan are 

bringing a lot of energy to the Marshall history program. Congratulations to them both, and welcome! 

As you know from previous newsletters, Goddard 

Spaceflight Center hired Holly McIntyre-Dewitt as 

the Center archivist last fall. Goddard had been the 

only Center without either a historian or an archivist. 

Thanks to the strong support of Goddard Center 

Director Chris Scolese, Goddard is now building a 

firm archival foundation (an essential precursor to 

any effective history program). The Glenn Research 

Center 75th anniversary this year, and the Langley 

Research Center centennial next year, have also 

raised the profile of history and archival programs 

in those locations. So, with the notable exception of 

JSC, I think that the overall trends for history and 

archival work across NASA are moving in a positive 

direction. The efforts by archivists and historians 

across the agency are making a very positive impact 

on preserving our history, stimulating the study of 

it, and communicating the lessons of our past to 

policymakers, current staff, and the public.

Another thing that lightens my spirits these days 

is the creativity and energy being brought to this 

newsletter by Andres Almeida, Yvette Smith, and 

the whole Media Fusion production team. When we 

first talked about the newsletter Andres had asked if I 

would be willing to consider some new types of content, and I happily agreed. Fortuitously, we heard 

from poet Terri Kirby Erickson on social media a 

few weeks later, and... well, when you get to the 

back of the newsletter you can enjoy her touching 

poem. Let us know what you think about it. And, if 

you have other suggestions for the newsletter, we’d 

love to hear them.

Godspeed,

William P. Barry

Chief Historian

From the Chief Historian (continued)
3

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

Farewell Chief Archivist Jane Odom (continued)

of the chief archivist function by taking the initiative 

in creating a vibrant community of archivists across 

the Agency, mentoring new staff, and establishing best 

practices that have improved archival support across 

NASA. As she leaves NASA Headquarters, we have 

a fully functional, professionally staffed, neat, and 

modern HRC. This is a legacy that will return benefits 

for historians and NASA for generations to come. 

Jane’s contributions to NASA and the nation over her 

long and interesting career have certainly earned her 

a happy retirement. As she turns her energies toward 

volunteering, genealogy, and bicycling, all of us at 

NASA wish her a long, healthy, and fulfilling new 

chapter in her life. We know Jane won’t miss commuting on the DC Metro, but we will miss her—a lot!

Chief Archivist Jane Odom (right) is pictured here with Apollo 16 lunar 

module pilot Charles Duke and contract archivist Liz Suckow at the Apollo 

40th anniversary in 2009.

Historical Collection at UNC. (She’s an avid Tar Heel 

fan to this day and talks of retiring to the Chapel 

Hill, North Carolina, area.) But the lure of interesting 

work in the Washington area soon brought Jane a 

bit further north. In the mid-1980s, she took a job 

at the Archives Center at the Smithsonian’s National 

Museum of American History. By the late 1980s, she 

was drawn to Capitol Hill and the historical collections of some of the longest-serving politicians in our 

nation’s history.

Her skill and organizational abilities served her well 

when she inherited the NASA Historical Reference 

Collection (HRC) and the duties of chief archivist. A 

huge collection, the HRC was a wildly eclectic conglomeration of items stuffed into shelves and cabinets 

of various sorts and without a systematic finding aid. 

Jane’s leadership of our amazing contract archival staff

and focus on creating an electronic database and finding aid has made the HRC the first stop for almost 

any serious author researching the history of NASA 

(and its predecessor agency). Just check the acknowledgement section in most good space history books 

published in the last decade and a half—you’ll see 

Jane’s name there. She has also broadened the reach 

Contract archivist Colin Fries chats with former Chief Historian Steven J. Dick during the reopening of 

the newly redesigned space.
4

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

Jane Odom shares ribbon-cutting duties with Associate Administrator for the Office of Communications David Weaver. Chief Historian Bill Barry is on the left.

CALL FOR PAPERS

NASA IN THE “LONG” CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT SYMPOSIUM

University of Alabama in Huntsville

16–17 March 2017

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center History Office and the University of Alabama in 

Huntsville’s History Department invite academics, 

graduate students, and independent scholars to submit proposals for papers to be presented at a 2-day 

symposium, 16–17 March 2017, at the University 

of Alabama in Huntsville. The purpose of the symposium is to address the role/relationship of NASA 

to the Long Civil Rights Movement, particularly, but 

not limited to, the Deep South (Huntsville, Florida, 

Houston, Mississippi, and New Orleans). The 

conceptual framework for the symposium is provided 

by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall’s 2005 essay in the Journal of 

American History, “The Long Civil Rights Movement 

and the Political Uses of the Past,” which called upon 

historians to produce new “modes of writing and 

speaking that emphasize individual agency...while 

also dramatizing the hidden history of politics and 

institutions.” Along these lines, the conference welcomes papers addressing the Civil Rights experience 

across NASA that not only explore the experience of 

African Americans, but also of women, immigrants, 

and other politically and legally marginalized groups. 

The intention is to publish a subset of the papers as 

an anthology.
5

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

Possible topics for papers include, but are not limited to:

• Experience of African Americans, women, and 

minorities at NASA Centers

• Development/experience of NASA Centers during 

the Civil Rights Movement

• Role of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) at 

NASA Centers

• Biographies of minorities

• Impact of Southern politics on NASA’s development

• Math and science education in the segregated South

• Role/involvement of historically black colleges and 

universities

• Integration of immigrant communities (including 

German, Hispanic, etc.) into the workforce

• Gender and sexual identities in the NASA 

workplace

• Issues of class and labor at NASA during that period

• NASA/Contractor workplace and communities as 

racialized space

• Impact of federal involvement in surrounding 

communities

• Civil rights activism in NASA communities

• Impact of the Cold War on NASA/Civil Rights

• Experience of international aerospace communities 

in the movement

Submission Procedures

If you wish to present a paper, please send an abstract 

of no more than 400 words and a short biography 

or curriculum vitae, including affiliation, by 31 July 

2016 to Brian Odom at brian.c.odom@nasa.gov or Dr. 

Stephen Waring at warings@uah.edu. Decisions about 

acceptance will be made by 1 September 2016.

For more information, contact Brian Odom at 

brian.c.odom@nasa.gov.

Brian Odom

Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama

256-544-0034

brian.c.odom@nasa.gov

In November 1968, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Wernher von Braun and Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University president Richard Morrison 

signed a cooperative agreement. 
6

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

CALIPSO CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF ATMOSPHERIC DISCOVERIES 

By Gail Langevin

On 28 April 2006 at 3:00 a.m. PDT, a Boeing Delta II rocket lifted off from Vandenberg 

Air Force Base in California. It carried two Earthobserving satellites, CALIPSO and CloudSat.

CALIPSO, or the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared 

Pathfinder Satellite Observation, is the product of a 

pioneering mission and partnership between NASA’s 

Langley Research Center and the French Space Agency 

Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Ball 

Aerospace and Technologies built the lidar, wide-field 

camera instrument, and communications equipment 

and integrated the payload.

Initially planned as a 3-year mission, 10 years later, 

CALIPSO is still in orbit. Part of the “A-Train” of 

satellites, CALIPSO flies in formation with the 

CloudSat, Aqua, Aura, Global Change Observation 

Mission-Water (GCOM-W), and Orbiting Carbon 

Observatory (OCO)-2 satellites. The A-Train constellation, flying in a Sun-synchronous orbit, delivers new 

insights into the connections between atmosphere, 

land, and oceans. They provide near-simultaneous 

measurements to study Earth’s ever-changing systems, 

greatly improving our understanding of the planet’s 

complex processes. 

During its 10 years in orbit, CALIPSO has taken 

more than 5.7 billion lidar (light detection and ranging) measurements that probe the vertical structure 

of clouds. CALIPSO’s lidar can detect tiny particles 

and distinguish between cloud particles and aerosols 

such as dust, sea salt, ash, and soot. Lidar, similar in 

principle to radar, uses reflected light to determine the 

characteristics of the target area. 

CALIPSO’s lidar uses pulses of laser light reflected 

from clouds and particles at different distances to produce a picture of the atmosphere below. With these 

first-ever global profile measurements, combined with 

CALIPSO’s infrared and visible imagers, our understanding of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and 

affect weather and climate is being transformed. For 

the first time, whether a cloud is filled with ice crystals 

or water droplets can be revealed by satellite data, providing valuable new insight into how clouds warm or 

cool Earth’s atmosphere and surface. 

More than 1,500 scientific and technical reports and 

published research papers have used CALIPSO data. 

Many of those combine CALIPSO’s lidar measurements with CloudSat’s cloud profiling radar, as well as 

other A-Train instruments.

CALIPSO co-principal investigator Jacques Pelon of France’s Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, at left, 

presents an overview with his CALIPSO collaborator, David Winker, NASA’s principal investigator for the 

mission. Read about their visit to the Langley Research Center: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/

calipso-celebrates-10-years-of-cloud-observations-from-space. (Credits: NASA/David C. Bowman)
7

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND THE CENTERS

NASA HEADQUARTERS

Washington, DC

History Program Office

By Bill Barry

This spring has been an interesting time for the History Program Office—interesting, in the style 

of that old Chinese proverb/curse about living in 

interesting times. While we have been extremely busy 

with many internal issues, external factors have continued to grab our attention. For example, we started 

the month of March with an outstanding “brown bag” 

presentation by John Newcomb about his experiences 

with Lunar Orbiter and Viking. John contacted Yvette 

Smith out of the blue last year about his memoir, “A 

Bunch of Plumbers,” and was looking for an opportunity to talk with us about it. I’m glad we listened to 

Yvette’s advice on this, because John’s presentation was 

captivating, entertaining, and insightful. Sadly, just 

two days later, John passed away. (See the obituary 

elsewhere in this issue.) It was a sobering and powerful reminder of the time-sensitive nature of the work 

we all do. 

On the internal issues side of the ledger, we’ve made 

great progress in standing up our new online system 

to manage the history publications process. While 

I predicted significant turbulence on this in the last 

newsletter, the excellent spadework done by Steve 

Garber with the software vendor has made our initial 

training extremely smooth. This new approach is one 

of the most important changes in the History Program 

Office in years and should dramatically improve our 

efficiency and ability to complete publication projects 

in a timely fashion. 

Speaking of publications, with the backlog of projects 

under better control, we are now looking for new 

projects. Over the last five years, we have initiated 

only a handful of new publication projects—and the 

vast majority of those were low/no-cost efforts. But, 

now, for each new publication that we complete, I 

hope to initiate a new project that will keep our workload at a sustainable level. So, if you have a great idea 

for a NASA History publication, please let me know 

about it. We already have a pretty long list of topics 

that we’d like to pursue, but I’d be delighted to know 

what topics you think deserve a thoroughly researched 

NASA history. 

By the time you read this, the annual NASA History 

Program Review will be over. But, as I write this, we 

are in the final throes of preparing for our gathering 

of NASA history and archival personnel at Goddard 

Space Flight Center, 10–12 May. As you can tell from 

the content of this newsletter, there is much that we 

have to talk about. But, in addition to important conversations about the future of history, we have also 

lined up a number of fascinating guest speakers and 

arranged for (optional) tours of both the National 

Archives and Records Administration facility in 

College Park, Maryland, and, of course, the Goddard 

Space Flight Center itself. Robin Dixon and Holly 

McIntyre-Dewitt have pulled out the stops in preparing things at Goddard, and Nadine Andreassen has 

(as always) been unrelenting in taking care of all the 

details from our end. We’ll tell you more about the 

Program Review in the next newsletter.

FOR EACH NEW PUBLICATION THAT 

WE COMPLETE, I HOPE TO INITIATE A 

NEW PROJECT THAT WILL KEEP OUR 

WORKLOAD AT A SUSTAINABLE LEVEL.

SO, IF YOU HAVE A GREAT IDEA FOR A 

NASA HISTORY PUBLICATION, PLEASE

LET ME KNOW ABOUT IT. 
8

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

Our biggest challenge this summer, after we finish 

the Program Review, will be the search for a new 

chief archivist. As noted elsewhere in this newsletter, Jane Odom has made a revolutionary impact on 

our archival program, both here at Headquarters and 

across the Agency. She leaves an amazing legacy and 

some very big shoes to fill. The current restrictions 

on Headquarters hiring will complicate the already 

challenging prospect of finding a new chief archivist. 

There will be a gap. But, we are committed to keeping 

that gap as short as possible (if only for my own sanity), while finding someone who can carry forward 

Jane’s legacy. 

Finally, while we are contemplating goodbyes and 

hellos, it doesn’t seem like 

it would be a newsletter 

if we weren’t also marking the handover of the 

history intern baton. This 

spring we only had one 

intern, and due to his busy 

senior year spring schedule, he was only with us 

three days per week. But, 

based on his output you 

would never guess that 

Anthony Buonomo was 

only here part time. He not only kept our social media 

feeds full and lively, but he also created a new software 

tool that will radically improve the management of 

our social media database. As if that wasn’t enough, 

Anthony made a unique contribution to the work 

environment here at Headquarters this spring by initiating mindfulness meditation classes at our fitness 

center. As he graduates from Georgetown, we send 

him out into the work world with our appreciation for 

all he has done and an expectation that we’ll see him 

again. After about a three-week break, our summer 

interns start on 23 May. Cat Baldwin, a sophomore 

at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, and 

Christopher Rudeen, a junior at Yale University, will 

both be with us until early August. You will be hearing 

more from them on social media, online, and when 

you get in touch with us. 

Historical Reference Collection (HRC)

By Jane H. Odom

In the Headquarters Archives, I have begun to 

appraise my own collection, a 17-year accumulation 

of hardcopy and electronic files, before retiring on 

31 May. By the time you read this, I will be off to 

new adventures and hopefully a much slower pace of 

life. It has been a pleasure 

serving researchers and 

managing other archival 

projects during my tenure 

as Chief Archivist. My 

sincere hope is that I have 

left things in better shape 

than I found them, not 

just here at Headquarters, 

but across the Agency in 

the other History Archive 

Programs. To quote one 

of my favorite cartoonists, 

Brian Basset, who draws 

the “Red and Rover” strip, 

“What a Ride it’s Been!” 

The cartoon shows an 

enthusiastic boy, with toy shuttle in hand, and his dog 

running beside the real Space Shuttle as it lands a few 

yards away.

Now to update you on our other Headquarters activities.... The staff continue to stay busy with reference 

requests and with the processing (arrangement and 

description) of collections. During the last several 

months, we hosted Headquarters staff as well as 

researchers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the 

National Air and Space Museum, George Washington 

University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

Princeton University, University of Mississippi, and 

the National Centre for Scientific Research in France. 

IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE 

SERVING RESEARCHERS AND 

MANAGING OTHER ARCHIVAL 

PROJECTS DURING MY TENURE 

AS CHIEF ARCHIVIST. MY 

SINCERE HOPE IS THAT I 

HAVE LEFT THINGS IN BETTER 

SHAPE THAN I FOUND THEM...
9

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

A major appraisal and acquisitions project has recently 

been completed. Begun nearly nine years ago, the 

project involved appraising hundreds of boxes (489 

to be exact) of Headquarters History Office materials 

stored at the Washington National Records Center in 

Suitland, Maryland. The boxes contained documents 

dating from 1957 to 2005. 

The bulk of the material was a series of collections of 

source files for histories of the Apollo program funded 

by the History Office. Other collections covered a 

variety of subjects, including the Viking Mars probes, 

NASA lunar probes, Space Station Freedom, and the 

Agency’s international cooperation programs and projects. After the review of each set of boxes, the historically valuable correspondence was copied and added 

to existing HRC subject files, supplementing these 

files with even more pieces of official correspondence 

and memoranda. Also added to the files was a nearly 

complete set of speeches of George Mueller, Associate 

Administrator for the Office of Manned Space Flight 

from 1963 to 1969, as well as other officials’ speeches 

and congressional witness statements. The speeches 

were scanned and made available in our public electronic documents collection (see URL below).

A small collection of formerly classified documents has 

now been processed and made available to researchers. Included in this collection are National Advisory 

Committee on Aeronautics correspondence on wind 

tunnels and Supersonic Research Center operations, 1945–1950, as well as correspondence from 

the International Affairs Office regarding proposed 

agreements for Space Shuttle emergency landing sites, 

1984–1991.

If you are interested in visiting the Headquarters 

History Office to conduct research, please contact 

us at 202-358-0384 or at http://history.nasa.gov/

contact.html to schedule an appointment. To search 

our electronic documents collection, please see https://

historydms.hq.nasa.gov/.

AMES RESEARCH CENTER (ARC)

Moffett Field, California

By Glenn Bugos and Jack Boyd

At the invitation of Eugene Tu, the Ames Center 

Director, a group from the Owl Feathers Society visited to present thoughts on NASA at this moment in 

history. The Owls are a group of Ames retirees who 

began meeting in 1983 at quarterly lunches with technical presentations by current Ames researchers. They 

take their name from Harvey Allen’s final research 

project, in which he moved owl feathers through a 

bathtub to discover that owls flew upon their prey 

so silently because of small protruding feathers on 

the leading edge of their wings. The Owls have no 

formal leader, though Tom Snyder and Vic Peterson 

these days send out most of the e-mails. As a 30-year 

employee at NASA Ames, Eugene appreciates the 

mentoring and advice that previous generations of 

Ames leaders provided to him.

Now that the Kepler spacecraft is well into its second 

life as the K2 mission, the Kepler team is devoting 

more time to mark what was so historic about this mission—beyond the obvious of showing that our galaxy 

is rife with exoplanets. Bill Borucki, principal investigator on Kepler, published an encyclopedic history 

of the evolution of the spacecraft and its cutting edge 

camera and data processing systems: “Kepler Mission: 

Development and Overview,” Reports on Progress in 

Physics 79 (2016). The artifact that stars in that 30-year 

march toward technology validation and Headquarter 

approval, the Kepler star-field demonstrator, is being 

disassembled to move out of the basement of the Ames 

Space Science Building and into a museum. 

Sadly, we note the passing of Ken Souza, the driving 

force in Ames leadership in flying experimentation 

packages for gravitational and space biology. Ken 

worked at Ames for 50 years and his first experiment 

package, a frog egg experiment, was flown on Gemini 

11. In 1992, his frog egg experiment on Spacelab-J 

provided the first evidence that a vertebrate species can 
10

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

NASA Ames Center Director Eugene Tu (left) and Jack Boyd (right) congratulate Glenn Bugos (center) upon presentation of the plaque, on behalf of the NASA 

Headquarters History Office, for the 2015 NASA History Award. 

The Owls meeting at NASA Ames on 22 March 2016. Around the table, from left, Ames Deputy Director Tom Edwards, Tom Gregory, Bill Berry, Ken Mort, Henry Lum, 

Victor LeBacqz, Vic Peterson, Glenn Bugos, Tom Snyder, Bob Yee, Irv Statler, Center Director Eugene Tu, and Jack Boyd 
11

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

reproduce in the absence of gravity. From the 1970s 

through the 2000s, Ken quietly fostered collaboration 

between NASA and Russia, 

using the Foton and Bion 

spacecraft. Ken made it 

possible for more than 

400 space biology experiments to fly aboard the 

Shuttle and International 

Space Station. He was a 

founder and later president of the American 

Society for Gravitational 

Space Research, and the 

scientists he trained are 

leading the recent resurgence of space biology 

experimentation. Much of 

what we know about the 

effects of spaceflight on 

living systems we learned 

in experiments conducted 

under his tutelage. Ken 

was also a wealth of historical knowledge on the field 

and the lead editor of the two-volume encyclopedia 

on space biology, Life Into Space (NASA RP-1372 and 

SP-2000-534).

Reference Collection 

By April Gage and Danielle Lopez

The History Office archives have been busy, as usual. 

In addition to responding to an increase in reference 

queries, assisting with collection emergencies in other 

repositories at the Center, in-processing a collection 

of Rick Guidice’s recently exhibited space settlement 

paintings, and making progress on preservation and 

digitization tasks, we were able to carve out time to 

focus on a couple of noteworthy acquisitions. 

The archivists are working with space scientist and 

Kepler mission mastermind Bill Borucki and his 

assistant Mark Messersmith to preserve Borucki’s personal papers. To our dismay, portions of his papers 

were found to be water-damaged due to poor storage 

conditions over the years. 

We also discovered inactive 

mold during our preliminary 

survey of a first installment 

of 3.5 cubic feet of material. 

We consulted the professional 

literature and Ames industrial 

hygienist Wai Kwong Kan to 

determine a course of action 

to safely clean the affected 

materials, designed a workflow, constructed cleaning 

screens, assembled equipment 

and basic protective gear, and 

got to work implementing stabilization measures. Once the 

process was clarified, applied, 

and refined, April produced 

detailed documentation of 

vacuum-cleaning procedures for paper-based documents. All of the damaged documents found in this 

acquisition have now been cleaned and rehoused in 

protective enclosures. 

The Vestibular Research Facility (VRF) Multi-Axis 

Centrifuge, which was designed for use in the Life 

Sciences Division’s Gravitational Research Branch 

within the Office of the Director of Space, was recently 

dismantled into its major component parts and transferred to the History Office Archives. Under the direction of Dr. David Tomko, who headed the Vestibular 

Research Facility from 1986 to 1997, the centrifuge 

was developed to perform cutting-edge neurovestibular research using small primates and rodents during 

the 1980s and 1990s. Built with seven axes of motion, 

the centrifuge consists of a main drive and base assembly serving as a primary support for two outer vessels, 

each of which contains specimen test containers. The 

FROM THE 1970s THROUGH 

THE 2000s, KEN QUIETLY 

FOSTERED COLLABORATION 

BETWEEN NASA AND RUSSIA, 

USING THE FOTON AND 

BION SPACECRAFT. KEN 

MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR 

MORE THAN 400 SPACE 

BIOLOGY EXPERIMENTS TO 

FLY ABOARD THE SHUTTLE 

AND INTERNATIONAL SPACE 

STATION.
12

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

VRF Multi-Axis Centrifuge

Dr. Manning Correia of the University of Texas Medical Center in Galveston at the VRF centrifuge computer terminal 

conducting an experiment. Dr. Correia was one of the first visiting scientists to use the VRF facility. 

bright orange metal drive and outer vessels 

held by black metal supports present a visually striking ensemble. 

We continue to test, stabilize, describe, 

and convert historical audiovisual media 

in obsolete formats from analog to digital 

form for preservation and access purposes. 

Because this material comprises the most 

fragile and inaccessible formats housed in 

the archives, we are working hard to ensure 

that the content is not lost. The latest 

batch of material, comprising 12,300 feet 

of 16 mm film and 70 video and audiotapes, has now been digitized. Subject 

areas are broad, including television news 

coverage of Pioneer and Galileo missions 

from the 1970s through the1990s as well 

as remote-sensing analysis of fires, pest 

infestations in California vineyards, and 

ozone-layer depletion during the 1980s 

and 1990s. Technical footage includes 

Galileo parachute tests in 1983 along with 

vapor screen vortex flow visualization and 

other tests in the 6-by-6-foot wind tunnel 

in 1975. 

Prior to digitization, preliminary metadata were composed, and the materials 

were preserved in appropriate housing for 

long-term storage. In the next phase, each 

item will be carefully reviewed and fully 

described, and a new batch of material will 

be selected and prepared for digitization. 

In a parallel effort, Danielle migrated all 

legacy summary metadata for audiovisual 

material and adjusted it to fit the new 

standards-based metadata schema that 

April developed. As more of this material 

becomes “unlocked” through digitization, 

content descriptions of it will be expanded.
13

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC)

Cleveland, Ohio

By Anne Mills

NASA Glenn Research Center continues to mark 

its 75th anniversary with a number of special programs. “Research Rising,” an exhibit of original artwork and historic photographs, was officially opened 

at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport on 

24 March 2016. Ten original paintings, by technical 

illustrator Les Bossinas, depict conceptual images of 

crewed lunar and Martian outposts, asteroid mining, 

and futuristic space stations. Also on display are 26 

photographs from the Center’s historic image archive. 

The photos represent a timeline of Center history and 

a cross section of some of our most significant contributions. Images chosen also demonstrate the skills of 

NASA photographers and the duality of their work—

creating images that are both technical and beautiful. 

The exhibit will be on display through late summer. If 

you are traveling through Cleveland, be sure to visit 

the gallery in Concourse A.

An exciting permanent historic exhibit will soon be 

complete at the Center. A Centaur G-Prime stage, formerly on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center 

in Huntsville, Alabama, will make its home in front 

of the Administration Building at Glenn. Centaur 

is perhaps one of the most important chapters in 

Glenn history. Glenn (then Lewis) pioneered the use 

A Centaur G-Prime stage, formerly on display at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is making its home in front of the Administration Building 

at Glenn.
14

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

of liquid hydrogen as a fuel in the 1950s and developed the Centaur upper-stage in the early 1960s. The 

Center was then tasked to manage the development 

the Shuttle-Centaur. This G-Prime Centaur stage 

was designed to fit into the Shuttle payload bay and 

launch probes and satellites directly from Earth orbit. 

In the wake of the Challenger accident, the program 

was cancelled after researchers determined that the 

liquid-fueled stage posed too great of a safety risk as 

a Shuttle payload. The artifact is the last existing of 

its kind and will be installed in time to be included 

in our 75th anniversary Open House in May. Glenn 

is proud to bring this piece of its history home, as it 

serves to represent our role in the larger Centaur story 

and success of the space program.

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

Houston, Texas

By Rebecca Wright

The Organization of American Historians presented 

its 2016 Friend of History Award to the Johnson 

Space Center (JSC) History Office in Houston, 

Texas, for its extraordinary record in preserving and 

sharing the history of American space travel. Tiny in 

size, the JSC History Office archives the history of 

the nation’s human spaceflight exploration program 

from the 1960s to the present. Collections vigorously 

assembled by its staff serve as a major resource for 

countless films; documentaries; television programs; 

exhibits; magazine and journal articles; and popular, 

professional, and academic histories that inform and 

excite an enormously inquisitive worldwide audience.

Not established until 1997, the JSC History Office 

demonstrates how a small organization can safeguard 

and effectively disseminate a recent past otherwise disappearing before our eyes. With a team seldom larger 

than three, the JSC History Office has conducted 

more than 1,100 interviews with astronauts, engineers, 

scientists, managers, and staff members, detailing the 

scientific, technological, and even political strategies 

employed to create and sustain America’s space programs. This wide-ranging oral history collection along 

with its publications have provided an insight to otherwise unknown aspects, such as women’s roles in the 

space agency and astronaut programs, the cooperation 

between NASA and the Russian space program following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the first 

cargo transported to the International Space Station 

by commercial entities. 

Users worldwide can easily access transcripts from 

the interviews and more than 7,000 searchable files 

from its Web site at http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history. 

The JSC History Collection, publicly accessible at the 

University of Houston—Clear Lake, contains audio 

and visual files, unique materials from former JSC 

personnel, and major sets of at-risk audio data converted to digital formats. 

THE ORGANIZATION OF 

AMERICAN HISTORIANS 

PRESENTED ITS 2016 FRIEND 

OF HISTORY AWARD TO THE 

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER 

(JSC) HISTORY OFFICE IN 

HOUSTON, TEXAS, FOR ITS 

EXTRAORDINARY RECORD IN 

PRESERVING AND SHARING 

THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN 

SPACE TRAVEL.
15

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

Huntsville, Alabama

By Brian Odom

Over the past quarter, the Marshall History Office 

has remained busy with research requests, Web site 

planning, and digitization projects. Major projects 

included providing historical input to the NASA 

Artifacts Working Group, assessing the Marshall 

Neutral Buoyancy Simulator (NBS) facility, and providing information in support of historical preservation 

efforts concerning Marshall’s Administrative Complex. 

At the 2016 joint annual meeting of the National 

Council on Public History (NCPH) and Society for 

History in the Federal Government (SHFG) in March, 

Brian organized and chaired a panel discussion entitled, “Transformative Archival Methods: Inclusivity, 

Partnerships, Human Rights, and Activism.” The panel 

included Trudy Huskamp Peterson, Marla Ramirez, 

and Patrick Stawski. The panel examined how developing partnerships with marginalized communities 

and improving access to archives can become mutually 

transformative. Brian also delivered a talk at the 1 

March 2016 meeting of the Federal Bar Association 

meeting entitled, “Dr. Wernher von Braun, Dream of 

the Space Age.”

During February and March, Brian traveled to university archives at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical 

University and Oakwood University in Huntsville, 

Alabama, as well as Miles College near Birmingham, 

Alabama. The purpose of these visits was to research 

the connection of these three Historically Black 

Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to the Marshall 

Center during the Civil Rights Movement. Upcoming 

activities in this area include trips to the Bentley 

Historical Library at the University of Michigan, 

Alabama State University, and Tuskegee University, 

researching the same topic. 

If you are interested in researching historical topics related 

to the Marshall Space Flight Center or have questions 

about the symposium, please contact Brian Odom at 

256-544-5670 or by e-mail at brian.c.odom@nasa.gov.

These images, taken 22 November 1964, are of Dr. Wernher von Braun at 

the groundbreaking of the Taggert Science Building at Miles College near 

Birmingham, Alabama. During the event, Dr. von Braun gave a speech entitled, 

“Scientific Knowledge, A Vital Resource.” (Credit: Miles College Archive)
16

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

STENNIS SPACE CENTER (SSC)

Mississippi

By Daphne Alford

NASA successfully tested the first deep-space RS-25 

rocket engine for 500 seconds 10 March, clearing a 

major milestone toward the next great era of space 

exploration. The next time rocket engine No. 2059 

fires for that length of time, it is scheduled to be carrying humans on their first deep-space mission in more 

than 45 years.

“What a great moment for NASA and Stennis,” said 

Rick Gilbrech, director of NASA’s Stennis Space 

Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. “We have 

exciting days ahead with a return to deep space and 

a journey to Mars, and this test is a very big step in 

that direction.”

The hot fire marked the first test of an RS-25 flight 

engine for NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) 

being built to carry humans on future deep-space missions, including to an asteroid and Mars. Four RS-25 

engines will help power the SLS core stage.

RS-25 engine No. 2059 and two other flight engines, 

slated for testing at Stennis in the coming months, 

are scheduled to help launch SLS for the first Orion 

crewed mission, known as Exploration Mission-2 

(EM-2). (The fourth engine that will help power the 

flight has already flown into space and will not require 

additional testing.)

The EM-2 mission is expected to carry four astronauts 

into lunar orbit to test key elements of the spacecraft. 

It will mark the first American flight to carry humans 

beyond low-Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The engines used on initial SLS missions are flight 

engines remaining from the Space Shuttle Program, 

workhorse engines that are among the most proven in 

the world, having powered 135 Space Shuttle missions 

from 1981 to 2011. For the SLS vehicle, the engines 

will fire at 109 percent thrust level and provide a combined 2 million pounds of thrust.

“Not only does this test mark an important step towards 

proving our existing design for SLS’s first flight,” said 

Steve Wofford, engines manager at NASA’s Marshall 

Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where 

the SLS Program is managed for the Agency, “but it’s 

also a great feeling that this engine that has carried so 

many astronauts into space before is being prepared 

to take astronauts to space once again on SLS’s first 

crewed flight.”

NASA is developing the SLS rocket to carry humans 

deeper into space than ever before, including to an 

asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s. The initial configuration of the rocket will have a minimum 

70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capability and be powered 

by the four RS-25 engines, operating in conjunction 

with a pair of solid rocket boosters.

NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne, the prime contractor 

for RS-25 engine work, conducted a series of developmental tests on the RS-25 engine last year at Stennis, 

primarily to validate the capabilities of a new controller—or, “brain”—for the engine and to verify the different operating conditions needed for the SLS vehicle. 

Following the successful 10 March firing, Stennis and 

THE HOT FIRE MARKED THE FIRST TEST 

OF AN RS-25 FLIGHT ENGINE FOR NASA’S 

NEW SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM (SLS) BEING 

BUILT TO CARRY HUMANS ON FUTURE 

DEEP-SPACE MISSIONS, INCLUDING TO 

AN ASTEROID AND MARS. FOUR RS-25 

ENGINES WILL HELP POWER THE SLS 

CORE STAGE.
17

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

Aerojet Rocketdyne conducted another development 

engine series to test new flight engine controllers and 

continues to test RS-25 flight engines. 

In addition, the Agency is preparing the B-2 Test 

Stand at Stennis to test the SLS core stage that will be 

used on the rocket’s first flight, Exploration Mission-1. 

Core stage testing will involve installing the flight core 

stage on the B-2 stand and firing its four RS-25 rocket 

engines simultaneously.

“One more powerful step forward accomplished on 

the SLS journey,” said Ronnie Rigney, RS-25 project 

manager at Stennis. “It really feels great to be part of 

such an important program in our nation.”

For additional information about NASA’s journey to 

Mars, visit http://www.nasa.gov/journeytomars.

NASA engineers conduct a successful test firing of RS-25 rocket engine No. 2059 on the A-1 Test 

Stand at Stennis. The hot fire marks the first test of an RS-25 flight engine for NASA’s new Space 

Launch System (SLS) vehicle. Four RS-25 engines, in conjunction with a pair of solid rocket boosters, 

will power the SLS at launch. The March 10 test was conducted for a full-duration 500 seconds, the 

same amount of time the engines must fire during an actual launch.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and 

Exposition will be held 13–17 June in Washington, 

DC. Visit http://www.aiaa-aviation.org for details. 

The annual meeting of the Society for the History of 

Technology will be held 22–26 June in Singapore. 

Visit http://www.shot2016.org for details. 

The annual meeting of the Society for Historians of 

American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) will be held 

23–25 June in San Diego, California. Visit https://

www.shafr.org/conferences/annual/2016-annualmeeting for details. 

The annual Experimental Aircraft Association 

AirVenture air show will be held 25–31 July in 

Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Visit http://www.eaa.org/en/

airventure for details. 

The annual meeting of the Society for American 

Archivists will be held 31 July–6 August in Atlanta. 

Visit http://www2.archivists.org for more information. 

The AIAA Space 2016 Forum will be held 13–16 

September in Long Beach, California. Visit http://

www.aiaa-space.org for details.

The 67th International Astronautical Congress will be 

held 26–30 September in Guadalajara, Mexico. Visit 

http://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/iac2016/ for more 

details. 

The Oral History Association Annual Meeting will be 

held 12–16 October in Long Beach, California. Visit 

http://www.oralhistory.org/annual-meeting/ for details.

The 32nd Annual Meeting of the American Society for 

Gravitational and Space Research will be held 26–29 

October in Cleveland, Ohio. Visit https://www.asgsr.org

for details.
18

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

OTHER AEROSPACE HISTORY NEWS

NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

By Hunter Hollins

I

n January, Space History Department Chair Valerie 

Neal presented a lecture on space history and space 

policy at the National Defense University at Fort 

McNair. Matt Shindell spoke on “A Man of Peace in 

Times of War: Harold C. Urey, Pacifism, and National 

Service in the Two World Wars” in the History 

Seminar on Contemporary Science and Technology 

at the National Museum of American History. Tom 

Lassman presented “Government Science in Cold War 

America: Edward Condon and the Transformation 

of the National Bureau of Standards, 1945–1951,” 

at the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology 

C o l l o q u i u m Se r i e s i n 

Gaithersburg, Maryland. In 

February, Cathy Lewis presented a paper on the Soviet 

Buran Space Shuttle at the 

“Revealing the Cosmonaut” 

Symposium held at the Science 

Museum in London, England. 

In March, Michael Neufeld, 

Paul Ceruzzi, and Martin 

Collins participated in the 

“Futuring the Stars: Europe in 

the Age of Space” conference 

held at the Freie Universität in 

Berlin, Germany.

On 12 March, NASM held the Women in Aviation 

and Space Heritage Family Day at the Udvar-Hazy 

Center. The day’s presentations were headlined by 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who was introduced to the large crowd, many of whom were Girl 

Scouts, by NASM Director Jack Dailey. Additional 

speakers included astronaut Stephanie Wilson (introduced by General Bolden), Lieutenant Commander 

Jeanine Menze (the first female African American 

Coast Guard aviator), and Lieutenant La’Shanda 

Holmes (the first female African American Coast 

Guard helicopter pilot). They all held the audience 

spellbound with their personal tales of derring-do and 

the role STEM education and opportunity played in 

their getting to where they are today. Other Family 

Day activities included two “Ask an Expert” talks by 

NASM curators, a hands-on coding lab, a character performance, and a NASM Archives display on 

pioneering aviator Ruth Law, in addition to meetand-greets with a range of STEM professionals and a 

variety of discovery and interactive stations.

The “Air and Space Mobile 

Missions” app was released on 

3 December 2015 in the Apple 

store. This was a group effort by 

curatorial, external affairs, education, and other staff. The app may 

be downloaded via the landing 

page at http://airandspace.si.edu/

explore-and-learn/mobile-missions/. 

It may also be downloaded in the 

Apple store (https://itunes.apple.

com/us/app/air-and-space-mobilemissions/id1060679179?mt=8) 

or the Google Android store 

(https://play.google.com/store/apps/

details?id=edu.si.airandspace.

mobilemissions&hl=en). 

The Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press issued the 

paperback edition of Spacefarers: Images of Astronauts 

and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Age of Spaceflight, edited 

by Michael Neufeld. Among the authors in this collection are Margaret Weitekamp and Valerie Neal, also 

curators in Space History, and Matthew Hersch, a 

former NASM fellow. Aeronautics curator John D. 

Anderson, Jr., has just published the 8th edition of 

THEY ALL HELD THE 

AUDIENCE SPELLBOUND 

WITH THEIR PERSONAL 

TALES OF DERRINGDO AND THE ROLE 

STEM EDUCATION AND 

OPPORTUNITY PLAYED 

IN THEIR GETTING 

TO WHERE THEY ARE 

TODAY.
19

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

his path-breaking aeronautical engineering textbook, 

Introduction to Flight (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2016). 

This book is standard reading for aeronautical engineering students at more than 150 colleges and universities in the United States. David DeVorkin published, 

“Utilizing Dibner Resources at the National Air and 

Space Museum,” a chapter in L. Vekerdy, ed., The Era 

of Experiments and the Age of Wonder, (Washington DC: 

Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2015). Allan 

Needell published two blogs about the handwriting on 

the interior walls of the Apollo 11 Command Module 

Columbia that was discovered during the 3D scanning 

project. The blogs incorporate corroborating data 

from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journals to show how 

the handwritten notes and equations correspond to 

activities in the mission timeline. In February, Jennifer 

Levasseur marked the passing of Edgar Mitchell 

with a blog post, “A Most Interesting Man on the 

Moon: Remembering Edgar D. Mitchell.” To read 

Needell and Levasseur’s blogs, and many others 

related to air and space history, go to http://

blog.nasm.si.edu/. Matt Shindell published 

“Geophysics,” a chapter in A Companion to 

the History of American Science, Georgina 

M. Montgomery and Mark A. Largent, 

editors. Margaret Weitekamp published “Two Enterprises: Star Trek’s 

Iconic Starship as Studio Model and 

Celebrity,” in the Journal of Popular 

Culture and Television. Hunter Hollins 

coauthored an article in The Affiliate, 

a Smithsonian Affiliations newsletter, on the eight-month reconstruction 

of a Ranger spacecraft at the California 

Science Center in Los Angeles. Under the 

supervision of the California Science Center 

staff, three Jet Propulsion Laboratory veterans, 

Bill Weber, Arden Acord, and Bob Conover, constructed the spacecraft using 744 Ranger parts supplied by NASM, with assistance from University of 

Southern California engineering students. 

Bruce Campbell of NASM’s Center for Earth and 

Planetary Studies concluded his study of the Moon 

using high-resolution S-Band (12.6-cm wavelength) 

radar images. These data, collected over the past 10 

years using the Arecibo and Green Bank Telescopes, 

cover about two-thirds of the Moon’s near side at 

80-meter resolution. Radar signals at this wavelength 

probe a few meters into the lunar dust, revealing 

fine details of impact crater deposits and lava flows. 

Campbell delivered his study to the NASA Planetary 

Data System.

The exhibition, “A New Moon Rises: Views from the 

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera,” opened to 

Image from the “A New Moon Rises: Views from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera” exhibition 

at the National Air and Space Museum. This mosaic of the far side of the Moon was made with 1,686 

images, most of which were acquired during two weeks in 2011. The Sun remained low over the 

horizon during this time, which emphasizes landform relief. (Image: LRO Wide Angle Camera mosaic)
20

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

the public on 26 February. 

The Lunar Reconnaissance 

Orbiter Camera (LROC), 

mounted on the spacecraft 

designed and constructed 

at Goddard Space Flight 

Center, has captured dramatic landscapes of the 

Moon for more than six years. 

“A New Moon Rises” showcases those breathtaking 

images from Apollo landing 

sites to majestic mountains 

that rise out of the darkness 

of the lunar poles. The 61 

large prints from Arizona 

State University presented 

in this exhibition reveal a 

celestial neighbor that is 

surprisingly dynamic, full of 

grandeur and wonder. The 

exhibition was curated by Tom Watters of NASM’s 

Center for Earth and Planetary Studies with Mark 

Robinson of Arizona State University. The exhibition 

includes the backup flight unit Lunar Reconnaissance 

Orbiter wide angle and narrow angle cameras recently 

added to the NASM collection by Matt Shindell. 

This exhibition will be open 

through February 2017, and 

negotiations are under way 

regarding the possibility of 

developing a traveling version 

of the exhibition.

NASM has established 20 

exhibition teams to develop 

plans for exhibits as the mall 

museum works through revitalization in the years ahead, 

dividing the museum into 

a series of suites focused on 

key themes/time frames/technologies that tell the story of 

flight. These thematic suites 

include a “Space Exploration 

Suite,” a “Revolutions in the 

Sky Suite,” and a “Military 

Aviation Suite,” as well as 

several standalone exhibitions on topics ranging from 

“Speed” to “Pioneers of Flight.” 

Progress on the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall has 

continued in preparation for the grand opening on 

1 July 2016.

William Barry bill.barry@nasa.gov

Chief Historian 202-358-0383

Nadine Andreassen nadine.j.andreassen@nasa.gov

Program Support Specialist 202-358-0087

Colin Fries cfries@mail.hq.nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0388

Stephen Garber stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov

Historian 202-358-0385

Chief Archivist (Vacant)

Yvette Smith yvette.smith-1@nasa.gov

Editor 202-358-5196

Elizabeth Suckow elizabeth.suckow-1@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0375

Catherine Baldwin catherine.e.baldwin@nasa.gov

Intern 202-358-2577

Christopher Rudeen christopher.m.rudeen@nasa.gov

Intern 202-358-0680

NASA HEADQUARTERS HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE 

STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION:

NASM HAS ESTABLISHED 

20 EXHIBITION TEAMS 

TO DEVELOP PLANS FOR 

EXHIBITS AS THE MALL 

MUSEUM WORKS THROUGH 

REVITALIZATION IN THE 

YEARS AHEAD, DIVIDING 

THE MUSEUM INTO A SERIES 

OF SUITES FOCUSED ON 

KEY THEMES/TIME FRAMES/

TECHNOLOGIES THAT TELL 

THE STORY OF FLIGHT.
21

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND ONLINE RESOURCES

COMMERCIALLY PUBLISHED WORKS

By Chris Gamble

J

ohn Glenn, Jr.—Debriefed: First Thoughts and Pilot’s 

Debriefing of His Historic Friendship 7 Flight, by 

John H. Glenn, Jr., and edited by Scott Sacknoff 

(SpaceHistory101.com Press, December 2015). On 

20 February 1962, John Glenn, Jr., became the first 

American to orbit the Earth. Back on Earth, while 

onboard the USS Noa and over the next two days 

on Grand Turk, Glenn recorded his thoughts and 

answered questions during a NASA debriefing. Glenn 

relates his experiences during his three-orbit flight 

as well as his training and the design of his pressure 

suit and capsule. These ultimately would be used to 

aid in the writing of the official NASA post-launch 

report. Inside is his story, told to us in his own 

words. Includes a number of rare photos, including 

from the USS Noa. [Note: Originally published in 

Quest Magazine]

The Hubble Space Telescope: From Concept to Success, by 

David J. Shayler and David M. Harland (SpringerPraxis, November 2015). Drawing upon firsthand 

interviews with those closely involved in the project 

over 30 years ago, this story explains the development 

of the servicing mission concept and the hurdles that 

had to be overcome to not only launch the telescope 

but also to mount the first servicing mission—a mission that restored the telescope to full working order 

three years after its launch, saved the reputation of 

NASA, and truly opened a new age in understanding 

of our place in space. This is not just a tale of space 

age technology, astronauts, and astronomy. It is also a 

story of an audacious scientific vision and the human 

ingenuity and determination to overcome all obstacles 

to make it possible. This book is a story of an international partnership, dedicated teamwork, and a perfect 

blend of human and robotic space operations that will 

inspire people of all ages. 

Near-Earth Objects: Identifying and Mitigating 

Potential Threats from Space, edited by Leon Sinclair 

(Nova Science Publishers, Inc., December 2015). 

Scientists classify comets and asteroids that pass 

within 28 million miles of Earth’s orbit as near-Earth 

objects (NEOs). Asteroids that collide and break into 

smaller fragments are the source of most NEOs, and 

the resulting fragments bombard Earth at the rate of 

more than 100 tons a day. Although the vast majority 

of NEOs that enter Earth’s atmosphere disintegrate 

before reaching the surface, those larger than 328 

feet (100 meters) may survive the descent, causing 

destruction in their wake; even smaller objects that 

disintegrate before reaching Earth’s surface can cause 

significant damage. This book examines NASA’s NEO 

Program and assesses the Agency’s allocation and use 

of resources and plans for the future of the program. 

History of Rocketry and Astronautics, vol. 45, edited 

by Andrew S. Erickson, AAS History Series, vol. 45, 

IAA History Symposia, Vol. 33 (AAS/Univelt, Inc., 

December 2015). This book is a compendium of the 

proceedings of the Forty-Seventh History Symposium 

of the International Academy of Astronautics held in 

Beijing, China, 2013.

Optical Payloads for Space Missions, by Shen-En Qian 

(Wiley, January 2016). This reference covers optical 

payloads in space missions, including Earth observation, communications, navigation, weather, and 

science satellites, as well as deep space exploration.

The Palgrave Handbook of Society, Culture and Outer 

Space, edited by Peter Dickens and James S. Ormrod 

(Palgrave Macmillan, February 2016). Bringing 

together scholarship from across the social sciences 

and humanities, this handbook critically examines the 

relationship between society and outer space, exploring the history, present, and future of outer space and 

the place of humans within it.
22

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

Lunar and Interplanetary Trajectories, by Robin 

Biesbroek (Springer, March 2016). Readers are provided a clear description of the types of lunar and 

interplanetary trajectories and how they influence 

satellite-system design. The description follows an 

engineering rather than a mathematical approach and 

includes many examples of lunar trajectories based 

on real missions. The book aims to provide an understanding of the driving subsystems of interplanetary 

and lunar satellites with easily understandable tables 

and graphs showing features of trajectories. 

North American X-15 Manual, by David Baker (Haynes 

Publishing UK, January 2016). This manual provides 

fascinating technical insight into the development and 

use of rocket planes, focusing on the iconic X-15, which 

carried out much of the development work for the 

Apollo and Space Shuttle space programs. The text is 

extensively illustrated with period photographs and 

technical illustrations; it also explains how the vehicle 

worked, what it pioneered for future applications in 

more conventional aircraft and crewed spacecraft developed by NASA from 1958, and what it was like to fly.

NASA Kennedy Space Center (Images of Modern 

America), by Mark A. Chambers (Arcadia Publishing, 

February 2016). NASA’s Kennedy Space Center has 

served as the nation’s portal to outer space for over 60 

years. This book provides a look at the evolution of 

spacecraft technology and vintage images of Florida’s 

scenic Merritt Island, known as the “Space Coast.” 

This photographic history of the nation’s premier 

spaceport looks at the United States’ past in space 

exploration and ahead to its future.

Yearbook on Space Policy 2014: The Governance of 

Space, edited by Cenan Al-Ekabi, Blandina Baranes, 

Peter Hulsroj, and Arne Lahcen (Springer, December 

2015). This book, edited by the European Space Policy 

Institute (ESPI), is the reference publication analyzing space policy developments. Each year it presents 

issues and trends in space policy and the space sector as a whole. Its scope is global and its perspective 

is European. 

Space Weather: National Strategy, Action Plan, and 

Observing Systems for Preparedness, edited by Peter 

Burton (Nova Science Publishers, Inc., February 

2016). Space weather refers to variations in the space 

environment between the Sun and Earth—and 

throughout the solar system—that can affect technologies in space and on Earth. This book outlines 

objectives for enhancing the nation’s space-weather 

readiness in three key areas: national preparedness, 

forecasting, and understanding. It also describes 

the study process, the study requirements, and their 

relevance and importance and offers an assessment 

and accounting of current and planned space weather 

observing systems, an analysis of gaps between the 

observing systems’ capabilities and their ability to 

meet documented requirements, and a summary of 

key findings. 

Under Desert Skies: How Tucson Mapped the Way to 

the Moon and Planets, by Melissa Lamberton Sevigny 

(Sentinel Peak Books, February 2016). This book tells 

the story of how a small corner of Arizona became 

Earth’s ambassador to space. Founded by Gerard P. 

Kuiper in 1960, the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory 

(LPL) at the University of Arizona broke from traditional astronomical techniques to embrace a wide 

range of disciplines necessary to the study of planets, 

including geology, atmospheric sciences, and the elegant emerging technology of spacecraft. From early 

efforts to reach the Moon to the first glimpses of Mars’s 

bleak horizons and Titan’s swirling atmosphere to the 

latest ambitious plans to touch an asteroid, LPL’s history encompasses humanity’s unfolding knowledge 

about our place in the universe.

Ask the Astronaut: A Galaxy of Astonishing Answers 

to Your Questions on Spaceflight, by Tom Jones 

(Smithsonian Books, March 2016). Ever wondered 

what space is really like? In his 25 years of training 

for, flying in, consulting on, and writing and speaking 

about space, astronaut and spacewalker Tom Jones can 

answer that question and many others. Jones covers 

everything from the training process for astronaut 

candidates and the physical sensations and challenges 
23

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

of rocketing into orbit to what it’s like to live, work, 

and walk in space. Jones also explores the future of 

spaceflight, both professional and commercial. 

Abandoned in Place: Preserving America’s Space History, 

by Roland Miller (University of New Mexico Press, 

March 2016). Stenciled on many of the deactivated 

facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the 

evocative phrase “abandoned in place” indicates the 

structures that have been deserted. Some structures, 

too solid for any known method of demolition, stand 

empty and unused. Roland Miller’s color photographs 

document the NASA, Air Force, and Army facilities 

across the nation that once played a crucial role in the 

space race. Rapidly succumbing to the elements and 

demolition, most of the blockhouses, launch towers, 

tunnels, test stands, and control rooms featured in 

Abandoned in Place are located at secure military or 

NASA facilities with little or no public access. Some 

have been repurposed, but over half of the facilities 

photographed no longer exist. The haunting images 

collected here impart artistic insight while preserving 

an important period in history.

Project Gemini, by Eugen Reichl (Schiffer, February 

2016). In just two and a half years, beginning in 1964, 

two uncrewed and 10 crewed flights took place in 

the Gemini program. This program was the turning 

point in the space race with the USSR. Flights lasting two weeks, travel into the Van Allen Belt, the 

first extravehicular activities, rendezvous maneuvers, 

and docking with other spacecraft—all of this was 

achieved by Gemini, paving the way for the Apollo 

Program. It was not all success, however. Like almost 

every significant undertaking, Project Gemini also 

had its dramas and tragedies.

Project Mercury, by Eugen Reichl (Schiffer, February 

2016). Project Mercury was America’s entry into 

crewed spaceflight and was the foundation for NASA’s 

later success in the race to the Moon. This book provides details on all craft and the astronauts involved. 

Color, archival images, cutaways, and plans are 

also included.

TIME A Year in Space: Inside Scott Kelly’s Historic 

Mission – Is Travel to Mars Next? by Jeffrey Kluger 

(TIME, March 2016). This book chronicles astronaut 

Scott Kelly’s 340 days aboard the International Space 

Station as part of NASA’s exploration of the challenges 

of extended spaceflight. The most pressing question: 

Could humans endure the two-and-a-half-year trip to 

Mars and back?

The Big Book of X-Bombers & X-Fighters: USAF JetPowered Experimental Aircraft and Their Propulsive 

Systems, by Steve Pace (Zenith Press, March 2016). 

This book showcases all of the USAF jet-powered 

X-bombers and X-fighters that have flown since 

1942—more than 90 in all, including the alphabet 

soup of their variants. From experimental to prototype service bombers and fighters—the XB-43 to the 

B-2A and the XP-59A to the F-35A—they’re all here, 

with their inside stories revealed. Some of these aircraft 

were further developed. Others were canceled. All 

stretched the performance and design envelopes. More 

than 250 photos illustrate all of these experimental aircrafts’ cutting-edge features and zeroes in on histories 

of their design, flight testing, and weapons testing. 

Specification tables detailing performance, design, 

and armaments help round out this compendium of 

information on truly groundbreaking aviation designs.

Going The Extra Mile: Stories From the History of 

Aviation Medicine, by Gordon Sharp (Mereo Books, 

February 2016). The history of the development of 

space medicine is one of breathtaking courage, foolhardy experiments, and terrifying gambles with death, 

some won, some lost. Dr. Gordon Sharp, who for 

years was one of our most prominent aerospace doctors, tells the story from the inside by focusing on the 

fearless individuals from the past who helped to make 

modern flying safe by daily risking their lives.
24

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

OBITUARIES

REMEMBERING LANGLEY ENGINEER 

AND AUTHOR JOHN NEWCOMB

An engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center during the critical Apollo years and those that 

successfully landed Viking on Mars, John Foster 

Newcomb passed away 10 March 2016.

Newcomb graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree 

in engineering mechanics, and as part of the university’s cooperative education program, Newcomb 

worked at Langley, where he was hired as a permanent 

employee after graduation. His first assignment as a 

newly minted engineer was at Langley’s rocket launching area, Wallops Island.

In the early heady days of space exploration, Newcomb 

worked on the Lunar Orbiter Project which placed 

five Lunar Orbiters around the moon, a mission critical to the success of the Apollo Project. The Lunar 

Orbiters photographed and mapped the moon, giving 

researchers insight into the best potential landing sites 

for the crewed Apollo missions.

After Apollo, Newcomb worked on the Viking Project 

which placed two landers on the surface of Mars in 

1976. As gifted a storyteller as an engineer, Newcomb 

gives an insider’s view of these two extraordinary missions in an autobiographical work entitled, A Bunch 

of Plumbers.

After Viking, Newcomb headed the agency’s Physics 

and Chemistry Experiments in Space (PACE) 

Program, which developed experiments for the free 

fall environment of space and became the core of 

NASA’s microgravity research program.

Over the course of his career 

Newcomb authored or co-authored over 35 technical papers. 

After he retired from NASA, he 

continued to consult and teach 

and had a number of speaking 

engagements related to his 

autobiography.

Newcomb was also an avid 

sailor and he came in second in 

the 1964 Olympic trials, sailing 

in the Flying Dutchman class. 

He then won the US National 

Championships in 1965 and 

competed in the world championships in Alassio, Italy.

He is survived by his wife Peggy 

of 50 years and three daughters.

John Newcomb talks about his book, A Bunch of Plumbers, at NASA Headquarters on 9 March 2016. (Image 

courtesy of Nadine Andreassen)
25

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

REMEMBERING KENNETH SOUZA

by Kevin Sato and Sidney Sun

A leader and pioneer in space life sciences, Ken Souza, 

passed away suddenly on 22 March 2016. Over his 

50 years at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett 

Field, California, Souza was an exemplary leader and 

visionary in the advancement of gravitational and 

space biology as a research scientist, administrator, 

and mentor. His NASA science career started in 1966, 

conducting one of the center’s earliest life science 

spaceflight experiments on Gemini 11. In 1992, his 

frog-egg experiment on Spacelab-J provided the first 

evidence that a vertebrate species can reproduce in 

the absence of gravity. In addition to his scientific 

discoveries, Souza provided the leadership that led 

to the establishment of space life sciences as a field 

of research both nationally and internationally. From 

the 1970s through the 2000s, Souza fostered U.S./

Russian collaborative scientific missions on Russian 

Foton and Bion spacecraft, which established fruitful 

research ties between scientists from the two countries. 

Within NASA, he took on growing leadership roles, 

culminating with him becoming the acting director 

of Astrobiology and Space Research in 2001. In this 

role, he was responsible for all Earth, space, and life 

sciences research at NASA Ames. 

Souza made it possible so that hundreds of space biology experiments would be performed on the Space 

Shuttle, Shuttle-Mir, and the International Space 

Station. When NASA biological research was curtailed due to cuts in funding in the mid-2000s, Souza 

worked tirelessly to maintain a small flight science 

program to continue space biology flights on the space 

shuttle. The recent resurgence of space biology as a 

research discipline is due in no small part from Souza’s 

many contributions. Souza was a lifetime active member of the American Society for Gravitational and 

Space Biology (now called the American Society for 

Gravitational and Space Research) from its inception and served as its president in 2007. He remained 

active in the field of in space biology up to his passing, 

including developing new programs to study life in 

deep space and at altered gravity levels; additionally 

he provided training and mentorship to the next generation of space biology scientists and administrators. 

Ken Souza

SOUZA PROVIDED THE 

LEADERSHIP THAT LED TO THE 

ESTABLISHMENT OF SPACE 

LIFE SCIENCES AS A FIELD OF 

RESEARCH BOTH NATIONALLY 

AND INTERNATIONALLY.
26

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

NASA AMES SCIENTIST THORA HALSTEAD DIES

Former NASA Ames scientist Thora Halstead peacefully departed life at age 87 at her home on 9 March 

2016 after a long illness. She retired from NASA Life 

Sciences in 1994, where she was the manager of the 

Space Biology Program; Life and Biomedical Sciences 

and Applications Division. She was the program scientist for the Space Shuttle launched in September 1992. 

Her numerous experiments and published research 

articles (more than 40) focused on the study of how 

the cells of living organisms respond to a low-gravity 

environment. She is also the author of Space Biologist.

In posting about Halstead, NASA’s Deputy 

Administrator Dava Newman and Chief Technologist 

Ellen Stofan said:

Female pioneers from the entire history of 

aviation and space history have helped us get 

to the point where were are now on a journey 

to Mars and with many capabilities to help 

us search for life elsewhere in the solar system 

and beyond ... Thora was a mentor to many, 

and her work benefited thousands. She’s been 

credited with helping to establish the field 

of space biology before there was such a discipline, and the mentors of many of today’s 

scientists working in the field can credit Thora 

with direct mentorship or inspiration.

She was a founding member and past president of the 

American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology 

(ASGSB), a 500-plus member society with a membership that spans the globe. In 1994, the ASGSB 

instituted the Thora W. Halstead Young Investigator’s 

Award to honor a young scientist “who exemplifies 

Thora’s drive and enthusiasm for science, and who has 

made significant contributions to the field of gravitational and space research. The award is dedicated 

to Dr. Thora Halstead in recognition of the years she 

spent encouraging young scientists to enter gravitational and space research.”

She earned her undergraduate degree in microbiology 

from Washington State University, her master’s degree 

from the University of Texas at Austin, and her doctorate from the University of Maryland, College Park.

After retiring from NASA, in addition to consulting 

for the biosciences in space community, she enjoyed 

traveling, cooking, painting and making ceramics. 

Most of all, she enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren who called her, “Sweetie.” She is survived by 

her husband of 60 years, Colonel Warren W. Halstead 

(retired); daughter, Gail H. Capp; son-in-law, David 

J. Capp and three grandchildren, Paul Douglas Capp, 

Kathryn Lillian Capp, and Kimberlee Lynne Capp. 

She was preceded in death by her son, Douglas Clay 

Halstead, age 19, in 1976. A viewing was held 18 

March 18 at Murphy Funeral Home, in Falls Church, 

Virginia. The interment will be held at Arlington 

National Cemetery.

Dr. Thora Halstead

THORA WAS A MENTOR TO 

MANY, AND HER WORK 

BENEFITED THOUSANDS.
27

Volume 33, Number 2 Second Quarter 2016

IMAGE IN NASA HISTORY AND POETRY BY TERRI KIRBY ERICKSON

MOON WALK

for my brother

by Terri Kirby Erickson

Sunburned, bellies full of fried pompano, sweet 

corn, and garden tomatoes purchased at a roadside 

stand manned by a farmer with more fingers than 

teeth—my family huddled around a rented black 

and white TV set the shape and size of a two-slot 

toaster, watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin 

hop like bunnies on the rough surface of the same 

waxing moon that shone through our beach cottage 

windows. I was eleven years old, buck-toothed and 

long-legged—my brother a year younger and most

days, followed his big sister like Mercury orbiting

the sun. Mom and Dad sat side by side on the fauxleather, sand-dusted couch and Grandma, never one 

to hold still for long, stood by her grandson’s hardbacked chair, her hair a nimbus of silver from the soft 

glow of a television screen where a miracle unfolded 

before our eyes. But grown men wearing fishbowls 

on their heads, bouncing from one crater to the next, 

seemed less real to my brother and me than Saturday 

morning cartoons. And all the while, we could hear 

waves slapping the surf and wind whipping across 

the dunes—and the taste on every tongue was salt 

and more salt. So when I picture the summer of ’69 

at Long Beach, North Carolina, as history rolled out 

the red carpet leading to a future none of us could 

foresee, my heart breaks like an egg against the rim

of what comes next. But let’s pretend for the length 

of this poem, that my brother’s blood remains safe 

inside his veins, Grandma’s darkening mole as benign 

as a monastery full of monks, and our parents, unable 

to imagine the depth and breadth of grief. Here, there 

is only goodness and mercy, the light of a million stars, 

and the moon close enough now, for anyone to touch.

The launch of Apollo 11 as it looked from the Launch Complex 39A Press Stand.

Terri Kirby Erickson is the award-winning author of 

four collections of poetry. Her work appears in Garrison 

Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac, Ted Kooser’s American 

Life in Poetry, Asheville Poetry Review, Atlanta Review, 

Christian Science Monitor, JAMA, storySouth, 2013 

Poet’s Market, and many others. Her awards include the 

Joy Harjo Poetry Prize and a Nautilus Book Award.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Headquarters

300 E Street SW 

Washington, DC 20546

www.nasa.gov

Find our collection of great images from NASA 

history at NASA on the Commons on Flickr: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons.

Learn the history of NASA’s exploration of the universe 

and its many discoveries about our home planet by 

liking the Facebook page at 

https://www.facebook.com/NASAHistoryOffice.

Get short, timely messages and stay updated on a wide 

variety of topics by following @NASAhistory on Twitter.

JOIN THE 

NASA HISTORY 

PROGRAM 

OFFICE 

ONLINE ON 

OUR SOCIAL 

NETWORKS! 

CREATED AND PRODUCED BY:

Andres Almeida, Newsletter Editor

Chinenye Okparanta, Editor

Michele Ostovar, Graphic Designer

Chris Duncan, Printing Specialist

Trenita Williams, Mail Coordinator

Carl Paul, Distribution