National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 From the Chief Historian

1 Eclipses and Society Through 

the Ages

4 News from Headquarters and 

the Centers

11 Upcoming Meetings

12 Other Aerospace History News

15 Recent Publications

18 Obituary

19 Voyager Crossword

20 Five Eclipses in NASA History

23 Image in NASA History 

FROM

THE CHIEF 

HISTORIAN

I am both tickled and sad to report 

that this will be the 

last History News & 

Notes prepared under 

the incredible stewardship of Andres Almeida. 

Tickled because Andres has been offered 

the incredible opportunity of managing 

the Smithsonian Institution’s Transcription 

Center. The Center is an amazing digital volunteer effort that will achieve even greater 

things with Andres’s leadership, dedication, 

and creativity. (Check out their Web page 

at https://transcription.si.edu.) While I have 

long expected that someone of Andres’s 

incredible drive and talent would be poached 

away from us soon, I am also sad that the day 

has actually arrived. We will sorely miss his 

contributions on so many fronts, but also his 

quirky humor, his Spanish word of the day, 

and even his colorful socks. He leaves us at 

the end of August with our very best wishes 

and an expectation that we’ll be seeing him 

again soon.

In the run-up to the Langley centennial this 

summer, I failed to call attention to another 

important transition that happened at the start 

of June. Gail Langevin, the History point of 

contact for many years at Langley Research 

Center, retired after 34 years of government 

service. Gail’s last project was managing the 

Langley Hall of Honor induction on 1 June 

continued on next page

ECLIPSES AND SOCIETY THROUGH THE AGES

By Jordan Carter, NASA History Division Intern

The total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017 was a much-anticipated event 

that received wide publicity throughout 

the United States. Today, we know how 

eclipses happen and can predict them 

with great accuracy. It took centuries to 

fully understand the celestial phenomenon, however. Eclipses have intrigued 

humans since we first started observing 

them, and in ages past, they garnered 

some interesting reactions.

The gradual darkness that comes with 

an eclipse could have chaotic effects on 

an uninformed populace. Ancient rulers sometimes enjoyed godlike status in 

their societies, and the ability to predict 

an eclipse would have affirmed their 

authority. On 22 October 2134 B.C.E., a 

total solar eclipse was seen in China. The 

emperor, his astronomers, and his subjects were surprised by the Moon’s obfuscation of the Sun. The emperor’s royal astronomers, Hsi and Ho, were accused of 

perpetual drunkenness that made them fail to predict the eclipse. The emperor 

was unable to lead the traditional ceremonies that were meant to preserve the 

Sun, and although the Sun “survived,” the drunk astronomers did not—they 

were swiftly executed.

Sometime around the 14th or 13th century B.C.E., observers in the 

Mesopotamian city of Ugarit (now modern-day Syria) recorded a solar eclipse on 

continued on page 3
2

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

From the Chief Historian (continued)

2017. (See https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/

naca-and-nasa-langley-hall-of-honor-class-of-2017.) 

She retired the next day, 2 June. Her primary duty 

at Langley was as a public affairs specialist, but Gail 

put a huge amount of effort into her “additional duty” 

as history point of contact. In fact, her efforts were 

recognized with the annual NASA History Award this 

spring. Nominations for this award come from historians and archivists across NASA, and it is presented 

by the Headquarters History Division for excelling in 

the promotion of NASA history inside and outside 

the Agency. It was a most well-deserved honor. For the 

time being, Rob Wyman, Lead Public Affairs Specialist 

at Langley, is filling the history point of contact role. 

We wish him all the best and hope that Gail will enjoy 

a long and fruitful retirement.

WHILE I HAVE LONG EXPECTED 

THAT SOMEONE OF ANDRES’S 

INCREDIBLE DRIVE AND TALENT 

WOULD BE POACHED AWAY 

FROM US SOON, I AM ALSO SAD 

THAT THE DAY HAS ACTUALLY 

ARRIVED. WE WILL SORELY MISS 

HIS CONTRIBUTIONS ON SO 

MANY FRONTS, BUT ALSO HIS 

QUIRKY HUMOR, HIS SPANISH 

WORD OF THE DAY, AND EVEN 

HIS COLORFUL SOCKS.

Those of you who have been reading this newsletter 

for a while will know that we typically devote the last 

issue of the calendar year (the December edition) to 

an overarching historical theme. This year we will be 

marking the 60th anniversary of the start of the Space 

Age in the December issue. The launches of Sputnik 

and Sputnik 2 in October and November 1957 were 

landmark events in technology history. They also had 

ripple effects across the world that can be felt to this 

day in nearly every aspect of human endeavor. They 

prompted an acceleration of U.S. space efforts (initially with embarrassing effects) and led directly to the 

creation of NASA the following year. While we will 

devote much attention over the coming year to the 

60th anniversary of NASA’s opening for business on 

1 October 1958, our hope is that with our December 

newsletter issue, we will be able to take a broad look 

at some aspects of the start of humanity’s exploration beyond Earth that you may not have considered. 

If you have been considering these things yourself 

already, I invite you to send me an article for possible 

inclusion in the December newsletter. We are always 

looking for interesting and thought-provoking contributions. I urge you to give it a try.

As you may know, we are still struggling along without 

a Chief Archivist. Over a year has gone by since Jane 

Odom retired, and we are still working to get approval 

to hire a replacement. Steve Garber has been bearing 

most of the burden, but despite his many talents, he 

is not a professionally trained archivist (and neither 

am I), so Agency-wide archival challenges continue 

to grow. We continue to advocate for approval to hire. 

Keep your eyes on http://www.usajobs.gov for a new 

posting for Chief Archivist; we hope that it will appear 

in the very near future. In the meantime, as many of 

you may already know, Jane Odom is facing some 

post-retirement health challenges. I know that she 

would welcome your thoughts and prayers.

Good health and Godspeed,

William P. Barry

Chief Historian
3

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

Eclipses and Society Through the Ages (continued)

a clay tablet. Whether they were referring to an eclipse 

on 3 May 1375 B.C.E. or 5 March 1223 is disputed. 

These early astronomers wrote that “the Sun was put 

to shame, and went down in the daytime, with Mars 

in attendance.”

On 16 April 1178 B.C.E., the shadow of a solar eclipse 

traversed the eastern Mediterranean region. The 

character Theoclymenus in Homer’s famous epic The 

Odyssey is believed to be referring to this event when 

he says that “[t]he Sun has perished out of heaven, and 

an evil mist has overspread the world.” This eclipse is 

said to have coincided with Odysseus’s violent return 

to Ithaca. The eclipse, along with the rest of the story’s 

setting, took place several centuries before Homer’s 

time, and it is likely that Homer was never alive for a 

solar eclipse where he lived.

Lunar eclipses, too, have been the cause of turmoil. 

After Christopher Columbus became stranded on the 

island now known as Jamaica in 1503, the indigenous 

Arawak tribe welcomed him and his crew with food 

and shelter. But after months of being stranded and 

with the looming threat of famine, Columbus and his 

crew incurred the ire of the Arawak people by killing, 

swindling, and stealing from them. To exert his power, 

Columbus consulted Johannes Konigsberg’s (also 

known as Regiomontanus) almanac and learned about 

an upcoming lunar eclipse. Knowing that the locals 

were unaware of the event, Columbus told the Arawak 

chief that Columbus’s Christian god was going to 

make the Moon “inflamed with wrath” for not supplying him and his crew with adequate provisions. Sure 

enough, the eclipse occurred, and the red-rimmed 

Moon terrified the natives. Columbus had convinced 

them that his god had conjured the event. Just before 

the eclipse ended, Columbus announced that the 

natives had been pardoned, after which their fearful 

cooperation was guaranteed.

Solar eclipses have also influenced works of fiction. American author Mark Twain wrote about a 

19th-century American using his knowledge of eclipse 

dates when he travels through time back to the 6th 

century. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, 

the protagonist, facing imminent execution, informs 

King Arthur’s court that he is under the personal 

protection of the Sun, which will remove itself from 

Britain unless a pardon is given. The eclipse, listed in 

the book as 21 June 528, comes on schedule (even 

though no eclipse is actually believed to have happened on that day). The protagonist is subsequently 

pardoned by King Arthur and given a high-ranking 

government position to avoid displeasing the Sun.

This page from a 16th-century Russian history, Facial Chronicle, depicts 

a solar eclipse.

Astronomers today have shown more diligence than 

Hsi and Ho did over 4,000 years ago, and we had plenty 

of time to prepare. Nonetheless, on 21 August 2017, 

we were still as starstruck as the Mesopotamians were.
4

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND THE CENTERS

NASA HEADQUARTERS

Washington, DC

History Division

By Bill Barry

I

t has been a busy and tumultuous summer for the 

Headquarters History Division. In addition to a 

very full plate of Langley centennial support, a few 

more Hidden Figures-related events, the great eclipse 

of 2017, the Voyager 40th anniversaries, and other 

activities, we also said a number of unanticipated 

good-byes. As you will see in the “From the Chief 

Historian” column on 

page 1, Andres Almeida 

was poached away from 

us by the Smithsonian 

Institution. His dedication, 

creativity, and productivity 

will be sorely missed. In 

addition, Barbara Bullock, 

the program manager 

at the Headquarters 

Communications Support 

Services Center (CSSC), 

has moved on to new 

opportunities. Most of 

you may not realize it, but 

Barbara and her team at 

CSSC are the folks who 

provide the copyediting, 

layout, and other support we need for our various 

print and electronic publications (including this one). 

Barbara’s professionalism and can-do attitude has 

made our work easier every day. That, combined with 

her enthusiasm and delightful personality, will lead 

her to continuing success in whatever she chooses to 

do—and will leave us feeling the loss. Fortunately, 

her replacement will be Maxine Aldred, a part of the 

CSSC team for a while now and an excellent choice to 

lead the CSSC team ahead. So, we send best wishes to 

Barbara on her new adventures and congratulations 

to Maxine for her promotion to program manager. 

As you may recall from the last newsletter, we were 

expecting to have the unusual pleasure of an intern 

working with us through August. Unfortunately, 

Julian Haddad had a family emergency and had to 

return to San Diego at the end of July. As this is being 

written, things are looking better, and we wish Julian 

and his family all the best. As we expected, our summer intern team of Jordan Carter, Victoria Wegman, 

and Julian did a spectacular job contributing in a 

number of ways between late May and the start of 

August. See, for example, our articles on solar eclipse 

history by Jordan Carter and Victoria Wegman. This 

was originally created as 

an extended post for the 

NASA Tumblr account. 

Of particular note is the 

nearly 8 percent increase 

in Twitter followers on our 

@NASAHistory account. 

We started the summer 

with about 650,000 

Twitter followers and broke 

through the 700,000 mark 

at the end of July. This was 

largely due to the creative 

and compelling work of 

our intern team.

OF PARTICULAR NOTE IS THE 

NEARLY 8 PERCENT INCREASE

IN TWITTER FOLLOWERS 

ON OUR @NASAHISTORY 

ACCOUNT. WE STARTED 

THE SUMMER WITH ABOUT 

650,000 TWITTER FOLLOWERS 

AND BROKE THROUGH THE 

700,000 MARK AT THE END 

OF JULY.

Fortunately, we have 

two great interns lined 

up for this fall. By the time you read this, Rebecca 

Charbonneau and Madison Moore will be interning 

here at NASA Headquarters. Rebecca is a master’s 

degree candidate in the History of Science, Medicine, 

and Technology at Oxford University. She’ll be in 

the DC area to continue her research work on the 

relationships between U.S. and Soviet astrophysicists 

during the Cold War while also working with us. 

Madison is a senior at Hillsdale College majoring in 

English and participating in her college’s Washington 

internship program. In an interesting coincidence, 
5

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

Madison spent part of her summer at Oxford. No, I’m 

not really being partial to one of my alma maters, but 

I continue to be impressed by the quality of candidates 

that are attracted to our internship program. From 

time to time, some of our former interns will drop by 

for a visit. This July, summer 2016 intern Christopher 

Rudeen joined us for lunch from his summer job at 

the Atomic Heritage Foundation. Chris graduated 

from Yale this spring and is heading off to Harvard 

this fall for graduate work. It is always great to hear 

from members of our extended NASA family. If you 

were one of our interns and haven’t been in touch in 

a while, we’d love to hear from you. Give us a call or 

drop us a note (e-mail addresses appear toward the 

back of the newsletter).

Despite the staffing turmoil, and still limping along 

without a Chief Archivist, it has been an amazingly productive summer. In addition to getting 

the Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

for Fiscal Year 2016 completed on time (despite 

some last-minute drama), we also released Making 

the Invisible Visible: A History of the Spitzer Infrared 

Telescope Facility (1971–2003), by Renee Rottner, in 

early June. We also completed and released Science 

Advice to NASA: Conflict, Consensus, Partnership, 

Leadership, by Joe Alexander, late in the summer. 

We also ran, thanks largely to the efforts of Andres 

Almeida, the first NASA History social media “social” 

in July. This was a two-day event held in two locations focusing on the centennial of Langley Research 

Center. On 10 July, the social began in Washington 

at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM). 

Welcomed by NASM Director Jack Dailey, the social 

group was treated to an introductory talk by the amazing Tom Crouch and then led on a special tour of the 

museum by John Anderson. After lunch, the group 

then had a tour of NASA Headquarters, including 

visits to the Historical Reference Collection (HRC), 

NASA TV, and the Space Operations Center—capped 

off by an impromptu visit by acting Administrator 

Robert Lightfoot. The next day the group reconvened 

at Langley Research Center for a day full of amazing tours of the facility and its history. The History 

Division also supported the Langley Centennial 

Symposium (12–14 July); supported NASA’s presence 

at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture 

in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (23–30 July); supported the 

Intrepid Space and Science Festival in New York City 

(3–4 August), and contributed to supporting NASA’s 

efforts relating to the 21 August eclipse, as well as 

observations of the 40th anniversaries of the launches 

of Voyagers 1 and 2. It has been a whirlwind of activity 

for all of us.

Historical Reference Collection

By Stephen Garber

Archivists Liz Suckow and Colin Fries finished digitizing the NASA budget office’s collection of budget estimates. The National Advisory Committee 

for Aeronautics (NACA) portion of the estimates 

includes the budget fiscal years (FY) 1956–59. The 

NASA estimates pick up in FY 1961 and end with 

FY 1999. They will be available to researchers upon 

request. Please note that the files are not Section 508–

compliant, so we plan to retain them electronically for 

researchers’ use but not yet post them on the Web. For 

the more current years, the NASA budget Web page 

has posted the summaries from FY 2000 to the present 

in born-digital format.

In addition, Colin finished processing the Jesco von 

Puttkamer collection (2 cubic feet) and the Paul 

Brockman management files (2 cubic feet). Von 

Puttkamer moved to Huntsville, Alabama, from 

Germany in 1962 to work with Wernher von Braun 

on the Apollo program at Marshall Space Flight 

Center. After ending his work at Marshall in 1974, 

he transferred to NASA Headquarters and served as 

the technical advisor for Star Trek: The Motion Picture

in 1979. His novelette The Sleeping God was included 

in an anthology of work based on the series; he also 

worked on the International Space Station Program 

for many years. In 1963, Paul Brockman became 

executive assistant and resources management officer 

for NASA’s development of science and applications 

activities for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. He also served for eight years as a management 

consultant in the Apollo-to-Shuttle management 
6

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

transition and became NASA’s first state, local, and 

federal intergovernmental relations officer.

In April 2017, Colin and Steve went to the family 

home of former Headquarters employee Adelbert 

“Del” Tischler and met with his daughter and acquired 

48 boxes (over 50 cubic feet) of his NASA material. 

Colin and Liz have now unpacked and re-boxed this 

collection and continue appraising it, removing books 

and technical documents to determine whether the 

technical documents are duplicated in the NASA 

Technical Reports Server (NTRS) or the HRC. Del 

Tischler was a rocket propulsion specialist who began 

his career at what was then known as NASA’s Lewis 

(now Glenn) Research Center. For more information 

about Tischler, see his obituary on p. 30 of the first 

quarter 2017 issue of News and Notes at https://history.

nasa.gov/nltr34-1.pdf.

Liz is creating an inventory for Johnson Space Center’s 

oral history interviews in electronic formats and editing the hard-copy oral history inventory.

ARMSTRONG FLIGHT RESEARCH 

CENTER (AFRC)

Edwards Air Force Base, California

By Christian Gelzer

Christian presented a paper to senior leadership at 

Edwards Air Force Base on the development of reaction control systems, the Lunar Landing Research 

Vehicle (LLRV), and human factors in spacecraft.

The history office is awaiting cost estimates to come in 

for digitizing the reference collection; any action after 

this depends in large measure on funds the Center has 

for such action.

Additionally, Christian hosted the film crew (director, cinematographer, producer, etc.) of the Neil 

Armstrong biopic theater release. The group visited 

the Center and the base, scouting locations and possible sets for filming. He made sure they spent time 

with the Air Force Flight Test Historical Foundation’s 

Museum on the base, where the Center’s LLRV is 

on display, and they had time to discuss use of the 

museum’s X-15 mockup and X-15 sled track nose 

section, among other items. The group has already 

visited several other NASA Centers.

CHRISTIAN HOSTED THE 

FILM CREW...OF THE NEIL 

ARMSTRONG BIOPIC THEATER 

RELEASE. THE GROUP VISITED 

THE CENTER AND THE BASE, 

SCOUTING LOCATIONS AND POSSIBLE SETS FOR FILMING.

GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC)

Cleveland, Ohio

By Anne Mills

Glenn’s “Special Projects Laboratory” is scheduled to 

be demolished this summer as part of the Center’s 

master plan. It began its life as the Jet Propulsion 

Static Laboratory (JPSL)—a makeshift facility built 

quickly to perform secret testing on the earliest jet 

engines during World War II. It was later modified 

for the testing of rocket engine components. A public hearing was held on 27 June to afford interested 

community members the opportunity to learn about 

the facility and the plans for the demolition, as well 

as a chance to provide comments on the project. As 

part of the project, the history of the facility will be 

documented with input from the Center Historic 

Preservation Officer and the Ohio State Historic 

Preservation Office. Below is an excerpt from a brief 

history of the JPSL written by Glenn archivist Bob 

Arrighi (ATS).

The new Jet Propulsion Static Laboratory 

(JPSL) was hurriedly built along the fence line 

between the AERL [Aircraft Engine Research 
7

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

Laboratory] and Cleveland Municipal Airport 

that summer. The facility was completed in 

September. Except for the barbed wire fencing, 

the 67-foot-wide and 235-foot-long facility was 

an inconspicuous one-story structure isolated 

from the main AERL facilities. Inside were 

two spin pits in which turbojet engines could 

be operated. Wooden shields were installed to 

block shrapnel during engine failures.1

1 Dawson, Virginia, Engines and Innovation: Lewis Laboratory and American Propulsion Technology (NASA SP-4306: Washington DC, 

1991), chapter 3.

The facility was built to study the performance 

and control of full-scale jet engines, afterburners, and turbine blades. It was equipped 

to measure thrust, pressures, temperatures, 

heat transfer, plastic flow of turbine discs 

and the cooling, vibration, and rupture of 

turbine blades.2

2 NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, “Major Research Facilities of the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory: Jet Propulsion Static 

Test Laboratory,” 19 July 1956, Test Facilities Collection, NASA Glenn History Collection, Cleveland, OH.

The JPSL would grow to include six instrumented turbojet test cells, three spin-pit 

facilities, and a 500[-]kw heat transfer facility. 

Its purpose was to study the performance of 

full-scale turbojet engines, afterburners, and 

turbine blades. The facility permitted the study 

of heat transfer, turbine rupture, blade cooling 

and vibration. There were three control rooms, 

a manometer room, and three shop areas. The 

test cells had acoustical housings around their 

exhaust pipes. Other equipment included a 

10-ton crane, [a] 500-horsepower air compressor, three vacuum pumps, a 2-ton cardox tank, 

three induction heating units, nine large fuel 

tanks, and basic utility services.3

3 “Major Research Facilities of the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory,” 24 July 1956, Test Facilities Collection, NASA Glenn History 

Office, Cleveland, OH.

In September, a heavily guarded truck delivered the General Electric I-A for testing in 

the JPSL. Bruce Lundin recalled, “It was to 

be a highly secret mission, in fact they didn’t 

call it a jet engine, they called it the Type IA 

Super Turbocharger, but he would be able to 

deliver one to us as an engine lab to see what 

we could do.”4

4 Lundin, Bruce, This Way Up.

Post-War Turbojets

Virtually every U.S. model of turbojet was 

studied at the AERL during the mid-1940s. 

Testing at the lab steadily improved the overall 

jet engine design and led to specific innovations such as the afterburner. During the ten 

years between 1943 and 1953, the JPSL was 

used to study all three generations of GE’s 

centrifugal engine—the I-A, I-16, and I-40, 

as well as it first two axial-flow engines—the 

TG-180 and TG-190.

Lundin recalled General Arnold requesting the 

AERL researchers to increase the GE engine’s 

thrust long enough so that the aircraft could 

take off. “It produced adequate thrust when 

the airplane was in good high speed forward 

flight but under more static conditions on the 

ground it just didn’t have enough thrust to 

make a good takeoff run. So that gave burst 

to what we called the Thrust Augmentation 

Program here at the Center. We tried out several different schemes of temporarily increasing the thrust at whatever the expense of 

fuel consumption. And one of these schemes 

turned out to be the right one, which was, of 

course, the afterburner. And the afterburner 

was really born here at the Lewis Center in the 

mid to late 40’s.”5

5 Ibid.
8

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

With the foundation of NASA in October 

1958 the JPSL soon became used for a variety of space[-]related test rigs. A Cryogenic 

Insulation Test Tank, Thermal Fatigue 

Rig, and Gamma Ray Radiation Pool were 

installed in 1959. The JPSL also was used 

in support of the Zero Power Reactor in 

the nearby Materials and Stress Building, 

Hypervelocity Vacuum Range in 1961, 

High-temperature Erosion Corrosion Facility 

[mid-1960s]. By early 1963 the facility was 

renamed the Special Projects Laboratory. It 

included a Vacuum Induction Melting and 

Casting Facility.

In the mid 1960s the facility returned to 

turbojet studies. In 1968 and 1969 Brayton 

Engine Assembly was performed. The 

J-85 returned in the early 1970s on an 

Experimental Turbojet Stand D.[,] and various burner rigs were used throughout the 

1970s. By the mid-1970s the JPSL was used 

for atmospheric testing of J85 engines, erosion and corrosion of engine components 

using high-speed exhaust gases up to Mach 

1, vacuum and atmospheric oxidation studies, thermal shock from 0 to 2500 degrees 

Fahrenheit, reentry studies at 6000 degrees 

Fahrenheit and 10-6 Torr, ion sputtering, and 

refractory coating studies.6

6 NASA Lewis Research Center, Facilities Survey, 1975, Glenn History Program, Facilities Collection.

In 1987 Lewis and the Defense Contract 

Administrative Services Region (DCASR) 

created a classroom in the [Special Projects 

Laboratory] SPL to teach soldering, surface 

treatment of metals, statistical sampling, 

welding, automatic test equipment, metallurgy, and nondestructive testing. It was 

part of a larger effort by the Training and 

Development Branch to expand the center’s 

training efforts.7

7 “Training and Development Branch Offers a Wealth of Career Growth Opportunities,” Lewis News (26 March 1987).

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC)

Houston, Texas

By John Uri

The JSC History Office was happy to participate in 

the NASA History Program Annual Review at the Jet 

Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, 

and especially want to thank our hosts for the great 

venue and excellent extracurricular activities. For me, 

it was great to finally meet everyone from around 

the Agency. We have a hard act to follow as we look 

forward to hosting next year’s Annual Review.

We continue to expand our extensive oral history collection by conducting numerous interviews for several 

customers: the NASA Headquarters History Division, 

the JSC Knowledge Management Office, and the 

NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate 

(SMD). Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, Sandra Johnson, and 

Rebecca Wright traveled to Ames Research Center 

(ARC), JPL, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), 

and NASA Headquarters to conduct multiple interviews, and they also continue to conduct oral histories 

here at JSC. Among the many individuals interviewed 

were former NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, 

Associate Administrator for Human Exploration 

and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier, and JSC Center 

Director Ellen Ochoa, just to name a few. The transcripts of the interviews are being processed and will 

be uploaded to the JSC History Portal once the subjects have approved them for release.

On 13 June 2017, TIME science editor and senior 

writer Jeffrey Kluger gave a talk at JSC about his latest 

book, Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission 

to the Moon, published by Henry Holt and Co. Kluger, 

coauthor with astronaut Jim Lovell of the bestseller 

Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, provided 

some interesting insights into the decision-making 

process that led to Apollo 8’s circling of the Moon in 

December 1968. In his comments, Kluger publicly 
9

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

thanked the JSC History Office for the great help 

provided by our resources, in particular highlighting 

the usefulness of the more than 1,000 transcripts of 

oral histories that can be found at the JSC History 

Portal (https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history). Similar words 

of appreciation are in the author’s note in Apollo 8, 

summarized as follows: “It is a gift to history that this 

project exists.” In private discussions during the book 

signing, Kluger reiterated these sentiments, emphasizing the usefulness of the JSC History Office to his 

research and praising the ease of use of the History 

Portal Web site and the wealth of information that can 

be found there.

Author Jeffrey Kluger discusses his new book on Apollo 8 at JSC in June. (Photo credit: NASA JSC/

David DeHoyos)

Jennifer Ross-Nazzal was invited to participate in 

a panel discussion entitled The History of Flight, A 

Century of Finding Practical Solutions at the Langley 

Centennial Symposium, held in Hampton, Virginia, 

from 12 to 14 July. The panel, moderated by ARC 

Historian Glenn Bugos, discussed tools for interpreting the major themes in the history of NASA Langley 

Research Center (LaRC) and suggested major inflection points as the people of Langley historically confronted new challenges. Jennifer described how LaRC 

had provided the essential building blocks on which 

the Manned Spacecraft Center, now Johnson Space 

Center, was built.

John Uri attended the American 

Productivity & Quality Center’s 

(APQC) annual Knowledge 

Management Conference, held 

19–20 April in Houston, with his 

manager, JSC Chief Knowledge 

Officer Jim Rostohar. The APQC 

is the world’s foremost authority in 

knowledge management, and the 

conference served as a chance to 

connect with over 350 knowledge 

management practitioners in academia, business, and government, 

sharing lessons learned and discussing how new ideas and technologies are transforming the field.

JSC History Office personnel are participating in 

a series of Webinars sponsored by the American 

Association of State and Local History (AASLH) dealing with social media for museums and historic places. 

The three Webinars held in June and July focused on 

the use of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as tools to 

help history organizations increase their social media 

footprint. We will use the information gleaned from 

these Webinars to help us decide on a social media 

plan for the JSC History Office. Another AASLH 

Webinar in August on the topic of how historic places 

can commemorate anniversaries will provide useful 

information as NASA and JSC plan for upcoming 

significant anniversaries in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

On 5 June, we welcomed our summer intern, Carlos 

Amaya, a rising sophomore majoring in computer 

science at the University of Houston. While we 

shared Carlos’s talents with others in the Knowledge 

Management Office, it was good to have an intern 

once again. Carlos’s background was useful as he 

helped us to evaluate the JSC History Portal Web site 

to upgrade the look without altering the content or 

the usability. The History Office has not been able to 

update the design since the Portal first went online in 

2000. Carlos was with us until early August.
10

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER 

(MSFC)

Huntsville, Alabama

By Brian Odom

The Marshall History Office and Archives is currently 

hosting two interns. One of them, Jessica Brodt, hails 

from Huntsville, Alabama, and is a recent graduate 

of the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), 

where she earned a master of arts in history. This fall, 

she will begin working toward her Ph.D. in history 

at the University of Alabama, specializing in United 

States history before 1877, specifically regarding 

antebellum slavery in southeastern Native American 

nations. Joining Jessica in the office is Mary Anderson 

“Andie” Brown, a Madison, Alabama, resident. Andie 

is a rising junior at Rhodes College in Memphis, 

Tennessee, where she is a public history major and 

religious studies minor.

During their summer at Marshall, these interns are 

documenting the history of International Space Station 

(ISS) technologies, including the Environmental 

Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), the 

EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments for Space 

Station (EXPRESS) Racks, the Microgravity Science 

Glovebox (MSG), and the Window Observational 

Research Facility (WORF). The majority of this work 

is being accomplished through oral history interviews 

and research that will be featured on the Marshall 

History Office’s Web page.

Over the past few months, most of the archival 

work at Marshall has involved transcribing several 

hours of audio from oral history interviews. Most 

of these transcriptions relate to propulsion development at Marshall since Challenger. In addition 

to transcribing these interviews, staff members processed two new collections and an addition to an 

existing collection. The largest of the three was the 

Dr. Jerry L. Weinberg Papers, a collection that totals 

over 30 linear feet of material. Dr. Weinberg is an 

astrophysicist who has been a Principal Investigator 

and Co-Principal Investigator of both crewed and 

noncrewed space experiments since 1968. These 

experiments include Pioneer 10 and 11, the zodiacal 

light experiment on Skylab, Voyagers 1 and 2, the 

International Solar Polar Mission, STS-3/Pathfinder, 

the European Space Agency’s Giotto mission to 

encounter and study Halley’s comet during its 1986 

“return visit,” the Long Duration Exposure Facility 

(LDEF), and the Clementine Interstage experiment 

to measure interplanetary dust and space debris in 

Earth’s vicinity.

STENNIS SPACE CENTER (SSC)

Stennis Space Center, Mississippi

By Jessica Herr

A Look Back at Stennis in the 1970s

In 1973, what was then called the Mississippi Test 

Facility (MTF) had a total of 1,127 employees. After 

the Apollo program ended, workforces were cut as the 

facility faced challenging times. However, an engine 

test project was on the horizon—the Space Shuttle. 

The Space Shuttle was designed as a reusable vehicle 

to carry humans to low-Earth orbit following in the 

footsteps of the Apollo program.

MTF jumped at the chance to test the engines that 

would power the Shuttle fleet. An effort to have Space 

Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) manufactured at 

Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in nearby New 

Orleans and then tested at MTF went into motion. 

One of the companies entering bids for the project 

was the Lockheed Propulsion Company of California, 

which embraced the idea of using MAF and MTF to 

perform the work. Other companies putting in bids 

for the work were Thiokol Chemical Corporation 

of Brigham City, Utah; Aerojet Solid Propulsion 

Company of Sacramento, California; and United 

Technology Center of Sunnyvale, California.

With bids submitted, a delegation of elected officials, community leaders, and business people from 

Louisiana and Mississippi began lobbying for the 

work to come to their states. In late 1973, the award 

was given to Thiokol Chemical Company. The local 

community around MAF and MTF were angered by 
11

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

the announcement since just a few years earlier, NASA 

had named MTF “the Nation’s foremost propulsion 

test site.”

The announcement set off a series of events that 

would shape the future of MTF: the protest of the 

Solid Rocket Motor contract award to Thiokol; calls 

for “full utilization of MTF” by U.S. Senator John 

C. Stennis, U.S. Representative Trent Lott, and other 

Mississippi and Louisiana officials; and a campaign 

for renaming the facility and establishing it as an 

independent NASA installation no longer under 

the direction of Marshall Space Flight Center) in 

Huntsville, Alabama.

Senator Stennis spearheaded the movement, and 

on 14 June 1974, the Mississippi Test Facility was 

renamed the National Space Technology Laboratories 

(NSTL) and became an independent installation of 

NASA, reporting to NASA Headquarters. Stennis said 

that the “efforts to increase the use of NSTL by NASA 

and other Federal agencies [would] now be more successful than ever before.” Site Director Jackson Balch 

was quite pleased with the changes, saying that “it will 

be kind of nice to be a member of the club.”

Just a year later, on 24 June 1975, a brief but very 

important event occurred at the newly independent 

site: the first ignition test of an SSME. It lasted just a 

second, but it marked the return to propulsion testing 

for NSTL and opened the door for testing projects to 

follow, including the current testing of engines that 

eventually will carry humans to deep space.

Onlookers watch the first SSME test on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center on 19 May 1975.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The International Astronautical Congress will be held 

25–29 September 2017 in Adelaide, Australia. Visit 

http://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/iac-2017 for details.

The annual meeting for the Society of the History of 

Technology (SHOT) will be held 26–29 October 

2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Visit https://

www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeting/2017-

shot-annual-meeting-26-29-october-philadelphia for 

more details.

The European Space Agency Space History Conference 

will be held 23–24 November 2017 in Padua, Italy. 

Visit http://esaconferencebureau.com/list-of-events

for details.

The 2018 AIAA SciTech Forum will be held 8–12 

January 2018 in Orlando, Florida. Visit https://

scitech.aiaa.org for details.

“To Boldly Preserve: Archiving for the Next HalfCentury of Space Flight” will be held 1–2 March 

2018 at the Center for the History of Physics at 

the American Institute of Physics in College Park, 

Maryland. Contact Jonathan Coopersmith at 

j-coopersmith@tamu.edu, Angelina Callahan at 

angelina.callahan@nrl.navy.mil, or Greg Good at 

ggood@aip.org for details. You may also visit https://

go.nasa.gov/2v3DUF8.
12

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

OTHER AEROSPACE HISTORY NEWS

SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL AIR AND 

SPACE MUSEUM

By Valerie Neal, Curator and Chair, Space History Department

This past quarter, space historians at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) published works, 

presented at conferences and other venues, and also 

gave a variety of short presentations via Facebook Live 

and Periscope.

Publications

Yale University Press released Valerie Neal’s book, 

Spaceflight in the Shuttle Era and Beyond, which was 

largely researched in the historical reference collections at NASA Headquarters and Johnson Space 

Center. Paul Ceruzzi published “Aerospace Needs, 

Microelectronics, and the Quest for Reliability: 

1962–1975” in Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 105, no. 7 

(16 June 2017).

Conference and Scholarly Presentations

NASM curators spoke on a variety of topics derived 

from their research at several conferences during 

the spring. Cathy Lewis presented a paper entitled 

“The Soviet Aesthetics of Flight in Space Culture 

and Aeroflot Advertising” at the joint meeting of 

the Southern Council on Slavic Studies and the 

Association of Women in Slavic Studies. Teasel 

Muir-Harmony presented a paper titled “Projecting 

American Science Abroad: U.S. Science-Themed 

Propaganda Films, 1950s–1970s” at the Society for 

Historians of American Foreign Relations. Margaret 

Weitekamp participated in a roundtable discussion 

panel at the National Council of Public History’s 

annual meeting, and Tom Lassman presented at the 

Society for History in the Federal Government’s 

annual meeting. Martin Collins lectured on the topic 

of globalization to undergraduate and graduate classes 

at New York University, and Michael Neufeld gave 

two lectures on Wernher von Braun at the Kansas 

Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Other Public Talks

Proving that historians sometimes have cool opportunities to speak in unexpected places with people 

outside our profession, Matthew Shindell spoke about 

the Moon at the Awesome Con pop culture conference in Washington, DC, where he also interviewed 

David Tennant, one of the actors who has played 

the character called the Doctor in the long-running 

TV show Doctor Who, before a standing-room-only 

audience of at least 5,000 fans. Shindell also spoke 

at the American Film Institute (AFI) Documentary 

Film Festival (AFIDOCS), moderating a discussion 

with director Emer Reynolds after a screening of The 

Farthest, his new documentary film about NASA’s 

Voyager mission.

Jennifer Levasseur interviewed Jeffrey Kluger about 

his new book, Apollo 8: The Thrilling First Mission 

to the Moon, during a public program at NASM 

and also interviewed former astronaut and National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 

Administrator Kathryn Sullivan for a “Celebrating 

Earth Day” program. Margaret Weitekamp also had 

a unique appearance with journalist Miles O’Brien 

and other panelists in a conversation about the CNN 

Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History episode 

“Moon Landing” after a screening in the museum’s 

Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater.

Also Newsworthy

David DeVorkin is a board member of the Lowell 

Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. He advises the 

organization as considers major outreach expansion 

and reviews the status of the observatory’s collections, 

exhibits, and restoration projects. Mars expert John 

Grant of NASM’s Center for Earth and Planetary 

Studies received the G. K. Gilbert Award from the 

Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society 

of America. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History 

Kathryn Sullivan talked about her book in progress, 

Handprints on Hubble: The Untold Story of Servicing the 
13

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

Hubble Space Telescope, at an especially well-attended 

session of the museum’s Contemporary History 

Seminar. Rainer Weiss (Massachusetts Institute of 

Technology) gave the annual John H. Bahcall Lecture, 

focusing on the Laser Interferometer GravitationalWave Observatory (LIGO) and gravitational waves. 

And finally, the museum completed the 2017 

Exploring Space Lecture series with fascinating talks 

by Scott Bolton (Southwest Research Institute) on 

the Juno mission to Jupiter, Scott Brown (California 

Institute of Technology, or Caltech) on Planet Nine, 

and Heather Knutson (Caltech) on exoplanets; all 

sessions attracted a full house.

CALL FOR PAPERS

“To Boldly Preserve: Archiving for the Next Half-Century 

of Space Flight”

Center for the History of Physics at the American 

Institute of Physics

College Park, Maryland

1–2 March 2018

Paper, Presentation, and Roundtable Proposals Due 

1 October 2017

Preserving the history of space exploration faces 

unprecedented challenges and opportunities in this 

digital, big-data era. New forms of electronic communication and data, including oral histories and social 

media, are changing the nature of historical records 

and increasing their ease of collection.

Even as early generations of researchers, engineers, 

administrators, and users retire, the number of countries, organizations, businesses, and other nongovernmental actors involved in space is sharply expanding. 

Relying on the National Archives and Records 

Administration (NARA) for U.S. government records 

management, while still essential, is increasingly 

inadequate. Furthermore, most of humanity experiences space technology either as something useful 

(e.g., communications and weather satellites) or as a 

source of imagination and enthusiasm. How do we 

document and archive the activities of hundreds of 

actors in space? How do we archive the experience of 

users? How do we archive imagination?

The Internet and widespread use of digital media have 

spurred tremendous popular interest in do-it-yourself 

oral history and other emerging methods for archiving 

among people not classically trained as historians, 

archivists, or records managers. Done well, these 

bottom-up approaches could greatly expand the 

availability of historical records—especially by groups, 

organizations, and individuals not fully captured by 

government archives.

To examine critical issues in creating, collecting, 

preserving, and accessing space archives worldwide, 

this conference will bring the historical and archival 

communities together with space industry, records 

management, digital humanities, and library media 

management professionals. The conference will 

1) explore data-management strategies and toolboxes 

of exemplary best practices; 2) provide a variety of 

archival models for oral histories, along with digital, 

print, and less conventional collections management 

(such as software and artifacts); 3) disseminate these 

strategies and practices to space stakeholders; and 

4) encourage underrepresented minorities and communities to create and archive their contributions to 

space history.

To encourage discussion, we will pre-circulate conference papers to registrants and post them to the 

conference Web site. An edited volume based on 

the conference will be published, as well as guides of 

best practices.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to, 

the following:

• Examining the first half century of space archives

• Examining contemporary and future issues in 

space archives

• Archiving space-based business and operations

• Collecting and contextualizing social media, hardware, and software
14

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

• Integrating do-it-yourself history with archives

• Addressing legal concerns: intellectual property, 

International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 

classification, nondisclosure agreements, records 

management, and archiving by lawyers

• Reviewing contract history, including templates for 

a successful project

• Getting buy-in from individuals and organizations

• Reaching underrepresented people and areas

• Archiving the experience of users

• Finding archival partners and solutions

• Ensuring access through data management and 

compliance with the Americans with Disabilities 

Act (ADA)

• Disseminating and diffusing best practices

While focused on space history, this National Science 

Foundation (NSF)–funded conference aims to have a 

much larger impact by providing practical and policy 

recommendations. This conference addresses issues 

faced by all areas of Science, Technology, and Society 

(STS) studies and history—encouraging high-quality 

“history from below,” using new electronic technologies, preserving a wide range of materials, and educating a new generation of stakeholders.

The workshop will be conducted in English. The 

organizers can assist with travel and accommodation expenses for presenters. Please send a onepage abstract and one-page résumé as one PDF 

file to toboldlypreserve@gmail.com by 1 October 

2017. Decisions about acceptance will be made by 

1 November 2017. For more information, contact 

Jonathan Coopersmith (j-coopersmith@tamu.edu), 

Angelina Callahan (angelina.callahan@nrl.navy.mil), 

or Greg Good (ggood@aip.org).

CALL FOR PAPERS

2017 Sacknoff Prize for Space History

About the Prize

Awarded since 2011, the prize is designed to encourage research and writing by university students in the 

area of space history.

Eligibility

At the time of submittal, students must be enrolled at 

educational institutions (undergraduate or graduate) 

and working toward a degree. Papers already published or scheduled for publication in another journal 

will not be accepted.

Deadline

Submissions must be received by 14 November 2017.

Criteria for Submission

Manuscripts should not exceed 10,000 words and 

should be typed and in English. Submissions should 

emphasize in-depth research, with adequate citations 

of the sources utilized. Originality of ideas is important. Diagrams, graphs, images, and/or photographs 

may be included.

Although works must be historical in character, they 

can draw on disciplines other than history, e.g., cultural studies, literature, communications, economics, 

engineering, science, etc.

Possible subjects include, but are not limited to, 

comparative or international studies of the history of 

spaceflight; historical aspects of space companies and 

their leaders; regulation of the space business; financial 

and economic aspects of the space industry; the social 

effects of spaceflight; space technology development; 

the space environment; and space systems design, 

engineering, and safety.

Submission Instructions

• Submit materials electronically; files must be compatible with Word or PDF format if not in one of 

those formats already.

• Include a cover letter with the student’s street 

address, e-mail address, school, program, advisor, 

and stage in studies.

• Send entries to scott@spacehistory101.com.

For additional information, visit http://www.

spacehistory101.com/prize.
15

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Compiled by Chris Gamble

Women Spacefarers—Sixty Different Paths to Orbit, 

by Umberto Cavallaro (Springer-Praxis, January 

2017). This book tells the stories of the valiant women 

who broke down barriers to join the space program. 

Beginning with the orbital flight of USSR cosmonaut 

Valentina Tereshkova in 1963, the author contextualizes their accomplishments in light of the political 

and cultural climate, from the Cold War in the background to the changing status of women in society at 

large during the 1970s.

Satellite: Innovation in Orbit, by Doug Millard 

(Reaktion Books, February 2017). Millard shows 

how the Cold War space race helped make the earliest 

satellites—ones like Sputnik, Telstar, and Early Bird—

household names. The author describes how they 

evolved into cultural signifiers that represented not 

only our scientific capabilities but also our capacity for 

imagination and our ability to broaden the scope of 

our vision to the farthest reaches of space.

Spaceports Around the World, A Global Growth 

Industry, by Erik Seedhouse, SpringerBriefs in Space 

Development series (Springer, January 2017). This 

publication presents a concise description of the existing spaceport market, the technologies being tested 

and developed, and the private companies that are 

making them possible.

Canada’s Space Program—From Black Brant to the 

International Space Station, by Andrew Godefroy 

(Springer-Praxis, May 2017). This work details 

Canada’s space efforts from its origins in the 1940s 

through its participation in the International Space 

Station today. It attempts to shed a clearer light on the 

progress made by the Canadian Space Agency thus far, 

as well as its ambitious goals.

Space Physiology and Medicine: From Evidence to 

Practice, 4th ed., edited by Arnauld E. Nicogossian, 

Richard S. Williams, Carolyn L. Huntoon, Charles 

R. Doarn, James D. Polk, and Victor S. Schneider 

(Springer, December 2016). This fourth edition of 

Space Physiology and Medicine provides summaries 

of the current knowledge base in space medicine 

and serves as a source of information on the space 

environment. Additionally, there is online material 

available for each chapter, featuring overviews and 

self-study questions.

Conceptual Shape Optimization of Entry Vehicles: 

Applied to Capsules and Winged Fuselage Vehicles, 

by Dominic Dirkx and Erwin Mooij (Springer, 

December 2016). This book covers the parameterization of entry capsules, including Apollo capsules and 

planetary probes, and winged entry vehicles such as 

the Space Shuttle and lifting bodies. The aerodynamic 

modeling is based on a variety of panel methods that 

take shadowing into account, and it has been validated 

with flight and wind tunnel data from Apollo and 

the Space Shuttle. The shape optimization is combined with constrained trajectory analysis, and the 

multi-objective approach provides the engineer with a 

Pareto front of optimal shapes.

The Apollo Lunar Samples: Collection Analysis and 

Results, by Anthony Young, SpringerBriefs in Space 

Development series (Springer, March 2017). This 

book focuses on the specific mission planning for lunar 

sample collection, the equipment used, and the analysis and findings concerning the samples at the former 

Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston, Texas. Young 

documents the collection of Apollo samples.

NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens: 1997 Onwards—

Cassini Orbiter, Huygens Probe and Future 

Exploration Concepts (Owners’ Workshop Manual), 

by Ralph Lorenz (Haynes Publishing, April 2017). 

This book provides an insight into the technology, 

mission planning, and operation of the spacecraft 

designed to study Saturn’s moon Titan and other parts 

of the Saturnian system.
16

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

In this still from the short film Cassini’s Grand Finale, the spacecraft is shown diving between Saturn 

and the planet’s innermost ring. (Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Spaceflight in the Shuttle Era and Beyond: Redefining 

Humanity’s Purpose in Space, by Valerie Neal (Yale 

University Press, June 2017). The author, who has 

spent much of her career examining the Space Shuttle 

Program, uses this iconic vehicle to question over 

four decades’ worth of thinking about, and struggling with, the meaning of human spaceflight. She 

examines the ideas, images, and icons that emerged 

as NASA, Congress, journalists, and others sought to 

communicate rationales for, or critiques of, the Space 

Shuttle missions.

NASA Mercury—1956 to 1963 (All Models): An 

Insight into the Design and Engineering of Project 

Mercury—America’s First Manned Space Programme 

(Owners’ Workshop Manual), by David Baker 

(Haynes Publishing, June 2017). The book provides 

coverage of the design, engineering, development, and 

flight operations of NASA’s Mercury spacecraft. In 

addition to several uncrewed tests that supported two 

piloted ballistic suborbital flights in 1961 and four 

piloted orbital flights in 1962 and 1963, the Mercury 

program bridged the gap between the hypersonic X-15 

and the two-person Gemini spacecraft, which in turn 

led to the Apollo spacecraft. This book completes the 

Haynes Workshop manual series of U.S. and Russian 

piloted space vehicles.

Exploring the Martian Moons: A Manned Mission 

to the Orbits of Phobos and Deimos, by Dutch von 

Ehrenfried (Springer-Praxis, April 2017). This book 

explores the once-popular idea of “Flexible Path” in 

terms of Mars, a strategy that would focus on a crewed 

orbital mission to Mars’s moons. While currently still 

not the most popular idea, this mission would take 

advantage of the operational, scientific, and engineering lessons to be learned from going to Mars’s moons 

first. The author argues that this experience would 

enhance the probability of a safe and successful Mars 

landing by NASA at a later date and lays out the best 

way to approach an orbital mission in great detail.

The Long Space Age: The Economic Origins of Space 

Exploration from Colonial America to the Cold War,

by Alexander MacDonald (Yale University Press, April 

2017). An economic historian argues that privately 

funded space exploration is not a new development, 

but a trend beginning with the astronomical observatories of the 19th century. The book examines the 

economic history of American space exploration 

and spaceflight, from early astronomical observatories to the International Space Station, and argues 

that the contemporary rise of private-sector efforts 

is the reemergence of a long-running trend, not a 

new phenomenon.

World’s Fastest Single-Engine Jet Aircraft: The 

Story of Convair’s F-106 Delta Dart Interceptor, by 

Colonel Doug Barbier, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) (Specialty 

Press, April 2017). This book provides a look at the 

sixth member of the U.S. Air Force “Century Series” 

family of supersonic fighters. From initial concept 

through early flight tests and development and into 

operational service, every facet of the F-106’s career is 

examined and explained.

Zeppelin Hindenburg: An Illustrated History of 

LZ-129, by Dan Grossman, Cheryl Ganz, and Patrick 

Russell (The History Press, May 2017). The LZ-129 

Hindenburg was intended as the first of many German 

airships built for passenger, freight, and mail service 

between Europe and North and South America. 

Although most famous for its fiery crash on 6 May 
17

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

1937, the Hindenburg had completed 62 successful 

flights before the ship’s hydrogen lifting gas ignited 

while landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Here, three 

world-renowned Hindenburg experts have collaborated to create a photographic history of the zeppelin. 

Gripping historical research is combined with a vivid 

selection of rare ephemera, rare photographs, and a 

fold-out section showcasing the ship’s plans.

Mars: The Pristine Beauty of the Red Planet, by Alfred 

S. McEwen, Candice Joy Hansen-Koharcheck, and 

Ari Espinoza (University of Arizona Press, May 2017). 

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment 

(HiRISE) is the most powerful camera ever sent to 

orbit another planet, showing us Mars in astonishing 

detail. This volume, produced from an active NASA 

mission, features a published collection of HiRISE 

high-resolution color images with explanatory captions in 24 languages.

Hawker P.1127, Kestrel and Harrier: Developing 

the World’s First Jet V/STOL Combat Aircraft, by 

Tony Buttler (The History Press, June 2017). Using 

original documents, Buttler presents an analysis of the 

creation and refinement of the world’s first successful 

vertical and/or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL) 

combat aircraft.

Northern Arizona Space Training (Images of 

America), by Kevin Schindler and William Sheehan 

(Arcadia Publishing, June 2017). During the 1960s 

and early 1970s, northern Arizona played a critical 

role in fulfilling President Kennedy’s bold challenge of 

sending humans to the Moon. From the rocky depths 

of the Grand Canyon to lofty cosmic views from 

Flagstaff’s dark skies, northern Arizona was ideal for 

activities ranging from Moon buggy testing and geology training to lunar mapping and mission simulation. 

Every astronaut who walked on the Moon, from Neil 

Armstrong to Gene Cernan, prepared for his journey in northern Arizona, and all used maps created 

by Flagstaff artists to navigate their way around the 

lunar surface. This book captures the spirit of these 

pioneers with stunning images from NASA, the U.S. 

Geological Survey, and others.

Chasing Space: An Astronaut’s Story of Grit, Grace, 

and Second Chances, by Leland Melvin (Amistad, 

May 2017). Melvin, a former NASA astronaut and 

professional athlete, offers an examination of the intersecting roles of community, determination, and grace 

that align to shape our opportunities and outcomes.

Luftwaffe Emergency Fighters: Blohm & Voss BV P.212, 

Heinkel P.1087C, Junkers EF 128, Messerschmitt 

P.1101, Focke-Wulf Ta 183 and Henschel Hs 

P.135, by Robert Forsyth, X-Planes series (Osprey 

Publishing, June 2017). In late 1944, the German 

Air Ministry organized what it called an “Emergency 

Fighter Competition” intended to produce designs for 

quick-to-build yet technically and tactically effective 

jet fighter aircraft capable of tackling the anticipated 

arrival of the B-29 Superfortress over Europe, as well 

as the British Mosquito and U.S. P-38 Lightning, 

which were appearing in ever greater numbers. Using 

three-view illustrations of each prototype along with 

full-color artwork, aviation expert Forsyth traces the 

history of the extraordinary aircraft of the Emergency 

Fighter Competition.

4th Rock from the Sun: The Story of Mars, by Nicky 

Jenner (Bloomsbury Sigma, June 2017). The book 

examines Mars’s attributes and impact on our cultures, 

its environmental science and geology, and its potential for human colonization.

Dream Missions—Space Colonies, Nuclear Spacecraft, 

and Other Possibilities, by Michel van Pelt (SpringerPraxis, June 2017). This book takes the reader on a 

journey through the history of the large and complex space missions that never happened. Each project described in this book says something about the 

dreams and expectations of its time. Their demises 

were often linked to important changes in the cultural, 

political, and social state of the world.
18

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

OBITUARY

CURTIS PEEBLES: 

AFRC AEROSPACE HISTORIAN AND 

PROMINENT UFO SKEPTIC

NASA and the aerospace history community are deeply saddened by the loss of our good friend, 

Curtis Peebles, who died at the age of 62 on Sunday, 

25 June 2017. Peebles, an energetic and longtime contributor to NASA historical scholarship, had suffered 

from declining health for the last few years. He was 

the author of a dozen books on topics that ranged 

from the validity of UFO sightings to Cold War aerospace history. He wrote several books in the NASA 

History Series, including collections of oral histories 

from what is now Armstrong Flight Research Center 

and, with Ken Iliff, From Runway to Orbit: Reflections 

of a NASA Engineer (NASA SP 2004-4109).

Peebles graduated from California State University, 

Long Beach, in 1985 with a bachelor of arts in history, and he had been working as a freelance writer 

at Analytical Services & Materials, Inc., since 1977. 

Having written more than 40 articles, he was a frequent contributor to Space Education Magazine and 

Spaceflight Magazine. Watch the Skies! A Chronicle of 

the Flying Saucer Myth, published by the Smithsonian 

Press in 1994, cemented Peebles as a prominent UFO 

skeptic. Following its publication, he was featured 

in documentaries by both A&E Network and the 

History Channel. Peebles’s 1997 work, The Corona 

Project: America’s First Spy Satellites, documents the 

United States’ first reconnaissance satellite program, 

known as the Corona project. His last published work, 

Probing the Sky: Selected NACA Research 

Airplanes and Their Contributions to 

Flight, was finalized by noted aerospace 

historian Dick Hallion and published 

as part of the NASA Aeronautics Book 

Series in 2014.

Curtis Peebles is shown above.

Beginning in November 2000, Peebles 

began working at what was then the 

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. 

He was both a Fellow of the British 

Interplanetary Society and a member of 

the Flight Test Historical Foundation. 

He will be greatly missed by his friends 

and colleagues here at NASA.

HE WAS THE AUTHOR OF A DOZEN 

BOOKS ON TOPICS THAT RANGED 

FROM THE VALIDITY OF UFO SIGHTINGS 

TO COLD WAR AEROSPACE HISTORY. 

HE WROTE SEVERAL BOOKS IN THE 

NASA HISTORY SERIES, INCLUDING 

COLLECTIONS OF ORAL HISTORIES FROM 

WHAT IS NOW ARMSTRONG FLIGHT 

RESEARCH CENTER.
19

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

VOYAGER CROSSWORD

1

2

3

4

5 6 7

8

9

10

11 12

13

14

15

16

Across

2. The last name of the U.S. President during the 

Voyager launches.

4. The month of the Voyager 1 launch

5. The name of the program of which Voyager was 

originally going to be part; it had already launched 

several spacecraft.

10. The kind of space into which Voyager 1 made its 

historic entry in August 2012.

14. The element whose radioactive isotopes power the 

generators on board the Voyager spacecraft.

15. The name of the Space Shuttle orbiter that launched 

the Hubble Space Telescope, which is mapping the 

route of both Voyagers.

16. The last name of the committee chair who selected 

images and sounds for the Golden Record.

Down

1. The series whose first movie includes a fictitious 

Voyager 6 probe that has gone rogue.

3. The outermost layer of the heliosphere, where 

the solar wind is slowed by the pressure of the 

interstellar medium.

6. The month of the Voyager 2 launch.

7. The type of device on the Voyagers that measures 

magnetic fields.

8. The launch rocket.

9. The number of languages in which the Golden Record 

contains greetings.

11. The U.S. state from which both Voyager probes launched.

12. A type of nonhuman animal whose voice recording 

was included on the Golden Record.

13. The number of years the Voyagers have been in space

Answers on page 22
20

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

FIVE ECLIPSES IN NASA HISTORY

By Victoria Wegman, NASA History Division Intern

On Monday, 21 August 2017, millions of people 

across North America were given the opportunity to 

witness an eclipse of the Sun. Anyone within the path 

of totality was able to see one of nature’s most aweinspiring sights: a total solar eclipse. Along this path, 

the Moon completely covered the Sun, revealing the 

Sun’s tenuous atmosphere, the corona. The path of 

totality stretched from Salem, Oregon, to Charleston, 

South Carolina. Observers outside this path were still 

able to see a partial solar eclipse, in which the Moon 

covered part of the Sun’s disk.

Total solar eclipses are a rare chance to study the Sun 

and Earth in unique ways. During the total eclipse, 

scientists can observe the faintest regions of the Sun 

and study the Sun’s effects on Earth’s upper atmosphere. We have been using eclipses to learn more 

about our solar system for more than 50 years. Let 

us take a look back at five notable eclipses of the past 

five decades.

1. 30 MAY 1965

A total eclipse passed over the Pacific Ocean 198 

kilometers (123 miles) from the northern tip of New 

Zealand to Peru on 30 May 1965. Totality—when the 

Moon blocks all of the Sun’s face—lasted for 5 minutes 

and 15 seconds at peak, making this the third-longest 

solar eclipse totality in the 20th century. Mexico and 

parts of the Southwestern United States saw a partial solar eclipse, meaning that the Moon blocked 

only part of the Sun. NASA sent scientists to the path 

of totality for this eclipse, stationing researchers on 

South Pacific islands to study the response of the upper 

atmosphere and ionosphere to the eclipse. Strange 

things happen when Earth abruptly loses sunlight! 

Additionally, our high-flying jets, scientific balloons, 

and sounding rockets—suborbital research rockets 

that fly and collect data for only a few minutes—

recorded data in different parts of the atmosphere. A 

Convair 990 research jet chased the Moon’s shadow as 

it crossed Earth’s surface, extending totality to more 

than 9 minutes, giving scientists aboard more time 

to collect data. A NASA-funded team of researchers 

used the same tactic with two jets to extend totality to 

more than 7 minutes on 21 August 2017, up from the 

2 minutes and 40 seconds observable on the ground. 

See https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/

chasing-the-total-solar-eclipse-from-nasa-s-wb-57fjets for more details.

Sheldon M. Smith is shown here with an eclipse camera on NASA’s 1965 

Solar Eclipse Expedition.

2. 7 MARCH 1970

During the 7 March 1970 total solar eclipse, the Space 

Electric Propulsion Test, or SERT, mission temporarily shut down because of the lack of sunlight. The 

experimental spacecraft was unable to restart for two 

days. On Earth, the total eclipse lasted for 3 minutes 

and 28 seconds at maximum and was visible in North 

America and the northwestern part of South America. 

This was the first time a solar eclipse passed over a 

NASA Center. There was a large gathering at Wallops 
21

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

Station in Virginia—now Wallops Flight Facility—to 

watch the eclipse. About 13,000 spectators were joined 

by members of Congress and NASA Deputy Associate 

Administrator Wernher von Braun on the shores of 

the Atlantic Ocean to enjoy the phenomenon.

The total solar eclipse of 7 March 1970 ran along the East Coast of the 

United States. (Photo credit: NASA)

3. 10 JULY 1972

Two years later, North America saw another total solar 

eclipse. This time, totality lasted 2 minutes and 36 seconds at the longest. A pair of scientists from Marshall 

Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, traveled 

to the Canadian tundra to study the eclipse—specifically, a phenomenon called shadow bands. Shadow 

bands are thin wavy lines of alternating light and dark 

that can be seen moving and undulating in parallel on 

plain-colored surfaces immediately before and after a 

A man demonstrates how to safely watch an eclipse, July 1972. (Photo credit: Smithsonian Institution Archives, Image Number SIA Acc. 11-009 

[72-6685-16])
22

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

total solar eclipse. To this day, scientists do not fully 

understand how shadow bands form or how to predict 

their appearance during a given eclipse.

A PAIR OF SCIENTISTS FROM 

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT 

CENTER...TRAVELED TO THE 

CANADIAN TUNDRA TO STUDY 

THE ECLIPSE—SPECIFICALLY, 

A PHENOMENON CALLED 

SHADOW BANDS.

4. 26 FEBRUARY 1979

The last total solar eclipse of the 20th century in the 

contiguous United States was in early 1979. Totality 

lasted for a maximum of 2 minutes 49 seconds, 

and the total eclipse was visible on a narrow path 

stretching from the Pacific Northwest to Greenland. 

Agencies from Canada and the United States—including NASA—joined forces to build a sounding rocket 

program to study the atmosphere and ionosphere 

during the eclipse by observing particles on the edge 

of space as the Sun’s radiation was suddenly blocked.

5. 31 JULY 1981

Soviets got a great view of the Moon passing in front 

of the Sun in the summer of 1981, with totality lasting 

just over 2 minutes at maximum. NASA’s scientists 

partnered with Hawaiian and British researchers to 

study the Sun’s atmosphere—specifically, a relatively 

thin region called the chromosphere, which is sandwiched between the Sun’s visible surface and the 

corona—using an infrared telescope aboard the Kuiper 

Airborne Observatory. The chromosphere appears as 

the red rim of the solar disk during a total solar eclipse, 

whereas the corona displays no discernable color to 

the naked eye.

For much more information about the 2017 eclipse 

and background information, see https://eclipse2017.

nasa.gov/.

Answers to Voyager Crossword

1. Star Trek, 2. Carter, 3. Heliosheath, 4. September, 

5. Mariner, 6. August, 7. Magnetometer, 8. Titan, 

9. Fifty-five, 10. Interstellar, 11. Florida, 12. Whale, 

13. Forty, 14. Plutonium, 15. Discovery, 16. Sagan

NASA HEADQUARTERS HISTORY DIVISION 

STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION

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 colin.a.fries@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0388

Stephen Garber stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov

Historian 202-358-0385

Elizabeth Suckow elizabeth.suckow-1@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0375

William Thompson william.f.thompson@nasa.gov

Project Coordinator 202-358-0231

Chief Archivist (Vacant)

Rebecca Charbonneau rebecca.a.charbonneau@nasa.gov

Intern 202-358-0680

Madison Moore madison.l.moore@nasa.gov

Intern 202-358-2577
23

Volume 34, Number 3 Third Quarter 2017

IMAGE IN NASA HISTORY 

As NASA’s two Voyager spacecraft travel out into deep space, they carry a small American flag and 

a Golden Record packed with pictures and sounds—

mementos of our home planet. This picture shows 

John Casani, Voyager project manager in 1977, holding a small Dacron flag that was folded and sewed into 

the thermal blankets of the Voyager spacecraft before 

they launched 36 years ago. Below him lie the Golden 

Record (left) and its cover (right). In the background 

stands Voyager 2 before it headed to the launch pad. 

The picture was taken at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 

4 August 1977.
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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EDITIONS OF NEWS & NOTES AT 

http://history.nasa.gov/histnews.htm.

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history at NASA on the Commons on Flickr: 

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