National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 From the Acting Chief Historian

1 Skylab’s View of Hurricane Ava

5 News from Headquarters and 

the Centers

9 Glenn Documented Pollutants in 

Air Lanes

11 Earth Resources Laboratory

11 Upcoming Meetings

12 The Remembered Astronaut

14 Obituary: Henry “Harry” 

McDonald

15 Correcting the John Glenn 

“Seven-Orbit” Myth

18 Other Aerospace History News

FROM THE 

ACTING 

CHIEF 

HISTORIAN

To say that the last year presented 

many challenges might 

be the understatement 

of a lifetime. As we continued our work in 

the telework environment, we adjusted to new 

networking tools, limited access to our collections, and fresh approaches to public history 

in the virtual world. Despite a mountain of 

obstacles, we in the NASA History Division 

persisted and learned important lessons about 

ourselves and the perseverance of our teammates across the Agency.

In relation to COVID-19, things appear to 

be moving in a good direction. Fortunately, 

vaccination rates are climbing steadily, and 

with that, new cases of the virus continue to 

fall. At NASA, planning is under way to move 

our workforce back on-site where possible as 

overall occupancy caps are lifted as part of a 

phased reentry to our facilities. Planning is 

now under way to ensure that we can return in 

a manner that promotes the continued safety 

of our workforce.

If absence makes the heart grow fonder, we 

have certainly grown fond of our archival collections. Thankfully, we were able to continue 

limited research due to our lifeline of digital 

collections. I know I am ready to dive back into 

our paper documents and the 1960s, where I 

hope to glean important new insights into the 

early years of Gravity Probe B. How I have 

missed the world of spinning quartz spheres 

continued on next page

SKYLAB’S VIEW OF HURRICANE AVA

By Erin Doyle

1 Kumar Krishen, “The Significance of the S-193 Skylab Experiment Using Preliminary Data 

Evaluation,” 1 March 1975, https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19760025535 (accessed 5 November 

2021).

On 25 May 1973, the first of three crewed missions to Skylab launched. 

The 28-day mission aboard America’s 

first space station had many scientific 

goals. The astronauts conducted research 

through medical studies, solar astronomy, 

spacewalks, and Earth science experiments. One of the mission’s goals was to 

determine the feasibility of using remote 

sensing techniques to measure global patterns of ocean surface wave conditions 

and surface wind fields. In an attempt to 

accomplish this goal, a search was conducted after the launch to locate a wind 

disturbance in Skylab’s path. Researchers 

wanted as broad of a range of wind speeds 

as possible to test the equipment on 

board the station. A tropical storm was 

intensifying in the Pacific Ocean off the 

coast of Central and South America; it 

would soon become Hurricane Ava, and 

Skylab would pass over it on 6 June, just 

a few days away. Coincidentally, this would be the day the storm hit its peak 

Category 5 intensity.1

continued on page 3
2

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

From the Acting Chief Historian (continued)

plunged to cryogenic temperatures! Our appreciation 

for the work of archivists at NASA and across the 

world is surely at an all-time high.

As anyone in academia or public history can attest, 

COVID-19 did not prevent the welcomed arrival of 

new projects and opportunities. One important collaboration is the development of the NASA–National 

Air and Space Museum Space Policy and History 

Forum. We are working 

with Bhavya Lal, NASA 

Senior Advisor, and Teasel 

Muir-Harmony, curator 

of the Apollo collection at the Smithsonian 

Institution’s National 

Air and Space Museum 

and author of the recent 

Operation Moonglow: A 

Political History of Project 

Apollo. The first session of 

this forum, on 7 July 2021 

starting at 4:30 p.m. ET, 

was a virtual panel discussion on orbital debris; panelists included Lisa Ruth Rand, Jonathan McDowell, 

and Gabriel Swiney. Bhavya Lal served as moderator.

AS ANYONE IN ACADEMIA OR 

PUBLIC HISTORY CAN ATTEST, 

COVID-19 DID NOT PREVENT 

THE WELCOMED ARRIVAL 

OF NEW PROJECTS AND 

OPPORTUNITIES.

Another major initiative is planning for a symposium 

on the topic of “NASA and the Environment” set for 

late 2022. This event will examine NASA’s efforts in 

the field of Earth science, its overall impact on local 

and planetary environments, and much more. The 

office expects a midsummer call for papers for this 

event. Please reach out if you have questions or ideas. 

This event is part of our efforts at NASA History to 

engage with the larger academic communities and 

expand the historical context for current and future 

efforts to explore the issue of climate change.

Finally, our efforts to build a stronger, more integrated 

History and Archival program at the Agency continue with the Mission Support Future Architecture 

Program (MAP) process. Our hope is that these efforts 

will result in the creation of a baseline service capable 

of capturing and preserving the evidence of NASA’s 

work, enabling the examination and dissemination 

of our history, and stimulating new research through 

collaboration with the external space history community. Our acting Chief Archivist, Holly McIntyre, 

continues to develop the modern archival tools capable of tying our robust but disunited archival collections together. The return 

of Steve Garber from his 

yearlong detail brings his 

years of rich experience 

and acute expertise back 

to the team.

We move forward with the 

hope that we have turned 

a corner on a devastating 

pandemic, prepared ourselves to take on new programs and projects, and 

positioned the History 

and Archive program for success as we return to our 

Centers and all those lonely, treasure-filled Hollinger 

boxes. With our new virtual tools firmly implanted in 

our work, the thought of a new hybrid world increasingly feels more like a safe, inventive place to land.

Stay safe, 

Brian C. Odom

Acting Chief Historian
3

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

Skylab’s View of Hurricane Ava (continued)

A microwave antenna deployed from the back end of a C-130 aircraft measures surface wind 

speeds and wave height. (Photo credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Cross-agency research was conducted on Ava, with 

NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Air Force 

all involved. In order to verify the estimates made 

through remote sensing techniques from Skylab, 

NOAA flew a research aircraft through the storm’s eyewall to collect wind speeds. These were then compared 

to the instrument data from Skylab to determine the 

accuracy of Skylab’s instruments. This was the first 

time NOAA had flown inside a Pacific hurricane. The 

aircraft was able to capture the rapid increase in wind 

speeds as it approached the eye of the storm. Over a 

2-mile flight distance, taking only 37 seconds of flight 

time, the wind speeds went from 90 to 137 knots (104 

to 158 miles per hour). In other words, Category 2 

hurricane-strength winds to Category 5–strength 

winds. Instruments aboard Skylab and the NOAA aircraft were also able to measure wave heights of 40 feet, 

the first hurricane wave heights to be measured by 

remote sensors.2

 Astronauts on Skylab described the 

hurricane as being so large that it took up the entire 

window, obscuring anything below the clouds. Aboard 

2 Robert A. Baum, “Eastern North Pacific Hurricane Season of 1973,” Monthly Weather Review 102, no. 4 (1 April 1974): 296–306, https://

doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1974)102<0296:ENPHSO>2.0.CO;2 (accessed 5 November 2021).

3 “First Hurricane,” Desert Sun (9 June 1973).

the station, astronaut Joseph F. Kerwin 

said that Ava looked “like an artist’s 

description of a hurricane. It looks like 

an enormous spiral.” The astronauts 

took photographs from inside the station showing the view of the hurricane 

through the window.3

After Hurricane Ava’s peak intensity, 

it intersected Skylab’s path on 6 June. 

Ava then gradually deteriorated over 

the next six days and would stay out 

at sea, never making landfall. Despite 

its unprecedented strength, the storm 

resulted in zero reported fatalities and 

no reported damages. Outside of the 

scientific research, the hurricane’s 

intensity broke records and became the 

strongest Pacific hurricane on record; 

today it ranks at number five. Ava’s minimum pressure 

was 915 millibars as a Category 4 storm. However, the 

Hurricane Ava as captured by a Skylab astronaut. The eyewall can be seen 

as an indentation of clouds in the upper left corner of the photograph. 

(Photo credit: NASA)
4

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

pressure record for Ava is not complete by today’s standards. The only recorded pressure during its 24 hours 

as a Category 5 storm is 928 millibars. With this gap 

in data, the exact strength of the hurricane compared 

to other Pacific hurricanes cannot be determined 

with certainty.

THE AIRCRAFT WAS ABLE 

TO CAPTURE THE RAPID 

INCREASE IN WIND SPEEDS AS 

IT APPROACHED THE EYE OF 

THE STORM. 

The data collected on board Skylab marks the first 

time remote sensing was used to study a hurricane 

in such a comprehensive manner. This was done primarily with two instruments: the radiometer, which 

measures the intensity of electromagnetic radiation, 

and the scatterometer, which measures the portion of 

microwaves scattered, or the roughness. It does this 

by sending out a beam and calculating the scattering 

from the amount of the beam it receives back.4 Early 

analysis showed that the radiometer and scatterometer 

on Skylab “can be used to measure wind speeds up to 

48 knots.” While those instruments were not capable 

of measuring the severity of Ava’s winds, researchers 

gained insights on the limitations of remote sensing 

and how it could be improved in the future. Based 

on the Skylab experiments, researchers made recommendations on how the instruments could be 

modified to increase the range of wind speeds measurable by remote sensing, and these helped to design 

the next generation of weather satellites and Earth 

observation systems.

4 NASA Earth Observatory, “Remote Sensing,” NASA Earth Observatory, 17 September 1999, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/

RemoteSensing/remote_08.php (accessed 5 November 2021).

5 Lewis J. Allison, Edward B. Rodgers, Thomas T. Wilheit, and Robert W. Fett, “Tropical Cyclone Rainfall as Measured by the Nimbus 5 

Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 55, no. 9 (1 September 1974): 1074–1090, 

https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1974)055<1074:TCRAMB>2.0.CO;2 (accessed 5 November 2021).

The NOAA-2 satellite was also directly above the storm 

at peak intensity. Orbiting 630 miles above Skylab, 

the satellite was also able to take photos showing the 

storm and spectacularly defined eyewall.

As a result of the collaborative research between 

NASA, NOAA, and the U.S. Air Force, Ava was 

the most comprehensively studied hurricane using 

remote sensing at the time. Data collected from the 

storm were used in studies in the years that followed, 

including one which proved Nimbus-5’s ability to 

“delineate rain areas and provide semi-quantitative 

rainfall rates” for oceanic cyclones. The research conducted provided foundations for further science and 

more precise methods of measuring wind speed and 

direction as well as wave heights.5 Knowledge of these 

variables allows for better weather forecasting models 

that provide better forecasting for coastal zones and 

benefit global shipping routes and offshore platforms.

This view of Hurricane Ava was taken by Nimbus-5 on 6 June 1973. 

(Photo credit: Baum et al., 1973)
5

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND THE CENTERS

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC)

Houston, TX

By John Uri

Environmental History of NASA’s 

Johnson Space Center

NASA’s Johnson Space Center sits on the ancestral lands of the Karankawa and Akokisa Native 

American people. For hundreds, if not thousands, of 

years, they enjoyed the natural bounty afforded them 

by one of the most diverse ecosystems in the United 

States—the Texas coastal prairie. Once comprising 

over 6.5 million acres from south Texas into Louisiana, 

less than 65,000 acres, or less than 1 percent, remains, 

and much of that is under threat. The prairie’s plant 

population that still covers parts of JSC has high conservation value and represents an important regional 

ecosystem element in need of conservation. The 

prairie provides habitat for insects that in turn are a 

food source for native and migratory birds that make 

their first stop after crossing the Gulf of Mexico along 

the Central Flyway from Central and South America. 

Loss of the critical prairie habitat would have ripple 

effects across hundreds of species.

Early European explorers 

and settlers reported that the 

now-extinct Karankawa people 

periodically set large fires for 

hunting and to fend off mosquitos. The fires had the effect 

of suppressing woody vegetation and kept the prairie open 

and free of brush and trees. 

European settlers arrived in large 

numbers in the late 1700s and 

early 1800s, bringing horses and 

cattle that, through their grazing, 

kept the prairie open. In 1832, 

Stephen F. Austin secured a land 

grant on the north shore of what 

is now Clear Lake, adjacent to where JSC sits today, 

establishing Anglo-American ownership in the area. 

For many decades, the owners used the land to raise 

cattle, unknowingly maintaining the historical open 

prairie ecosystem.

In 1903, at the invitation of the Houston Chamber 

of Commerce, Seito Saibara, an authority on agriculture and president of Doshisha University in Kyoto, 

arrived from Japan and settled in Webster, Texas, near 

the current site of JSC, to teach rice farming. He and 

his family planted a variety of Japanese rice on land 

that later became JSC. Linear ditches, swells, roadways, and dikes to help direct the flow of irrigating 

water over rice crops altered parts of the prairie ecosystem, although much of the land remained in its 

historic condition well into the 20th century. By 1920, 

the land belonged to wealthy cattleman James “Silver 

Dollar” West, who ran a 30,000-acre ranch on which 

he built a 17,000-square-foot mansion that stood 

until 2019. Upon discovery of oil on the property, 

West sold the land to the Humble Oil Company. In 

1962, Humble donated the land to Rice University, 

which in turn transferred 1,000 of the 1,600-acre tract 

This map of the Texas Gulf Coast shows the historic distribution of the coastal prairie ecosystem. The inset 

shows the greater Houston metropolitan area and the location of Johnson Space Center. (Image courtesy 

of NASA/Matthew Strausser)
6

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

Left: Planting time on a Japanese rice farm near Houston, in the area around where JSC sits today. (Image courtesy of NASA/Matthew Strausser) Right: 

Cattle on the site of what became the Manned Spacecraft Center, now JSC. (Photo credit: NASA)

to the federal government to build NASA’s Manned

Spacecraft Center, now JSC. 

Construction of the Center and the adjacent communities, businesses, roads, and other infrastructure 

caused significant disruption to the coastal prairie ecosystem. Over 22,000 acres of the remaining land that 

the Humble Oil Company held became part of the 

Friendswood Development Company, which rapidly 

urbanized the land around the space center. In 1968, 

fewer than 4,000 people lived in the Clear Lake City 

community north of the Center. By 1970, that number had doubled, and doubled again by 1974. Today, 

the population of the area surrounding JSC numbers 

around 150,000. The exponential urban growth in the 

area consumed ranches, paved over coastal prairie, and 

drained nearby wetlands. Native and non-native trees 

planted in the bedroom communities significantly 

increased forested areas where prairie once stood. 

With the expanding urbanization, the wildlife habitat 

around JSC became divided, isolated, and fragmented. 

Wildlife populations that once traveled freely across 

fenced pastures and moved between isolated stands 

of trees found themselves restricted for the first time. 

Despite the urbanization around the Center, coastal 

prairie still occupies the largest portion of JSC’s area, 

about 750 of the Center’s 1,600 acres. However, many 

Left: The Manned Spacecraft Center, now Johnson Space Center, is shown under construction in 1962, with undeveloped open prairie visible to the north 

of the Center, a grove of pecan trees at left, and a stand of oaks at right near the James West mansion. (Photo credit: NASA) Right: Roughly the same view 

of JSC in 2015, showing extensive urbanization, expanded tree cover, and significant loss of prairie habitat. (Photo credit: NASA)
7

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

of the original native grasses are no longer present, 

likely as a result of overgrazing during the cattle ranching days. Other invasive species, such as Chinese tallow 

and Johnson grass, have made significant inroads onto 

the JSC property. In terms of wildlife conservation, 

JSC provides an important semi-natural area on multiple scales. On the facility level, the wildlife benefits 

those who work on and visit the Center. On the landscape scale, JSC represents one of the few unurbanized 

and semi-natural areas in southeast Harris County. 

On the regional level, JSC retains a significant part 

of the last 1 percent of Texas coastal prairie left in the 

world and is an important element in preserving the 

natural and cultural history of the area. On the global 

level, JSC plays host to a number of grassland and 

migratory birds whose annual migrations bring them 

to the Center from across the Western Hemisphere. 

The remaining prairie is critical for these birds as their 

first rest and feeding stop after crossing the Gulf of 

Mexico along the Central Flyway. The JSC Wildlife 

Management Plan provides a framework for the 

maintenance of the coastal prairie ecosystem to allow 

native and migratory species to thrive and to prevent 

the spread of invasive species. For example, mowing 

and judicious use of herbicides are the most effective 

methods for reducing non-native plants, especially 

trees and shrubs.

Three aerial views of Johnson Space Center. Left: Aerial view from 1944 showing extensive native coastal prairie, with a small stand of trees in the north. 

Middle: A 2010 aerial view, showing the paved-over areas and additional forested sections mostly by invasive species, with the 1944 tree cover areas 

shown in orange. Right: Color-coded map, with green representing remaining coastal prairie habitat; red representing built-up areas such as buildings, 

roads, and parking lots; and blue representing areas of invasive species. (Image credit: Images courtesy of NASA/Matthew Strausser)

With special thanks to JSC wildlife biologist Matthew 

Strausser for providing information and images for 

this article. For more information about JSC’s wildlife management projects, please visit JSC Wildlife 

101 at https://centerops.jsc.nasa.gov/blog/2020/12/

jsc-wildlife-101/.

ON THE LANDSCAPE SCALE, 

JSC REPRESENTS ONE OF 

THE FEW UNURBANIZED AND 

SEMI-NATURAL AREAS IN 

SOUTHEAST HARRIS COUNTY.

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

By Brian Odom

The world of COVID-19 brought many drastic 

changes to our job structures as archivists and historians. For Marshall, mandatory telework status began on 

13 March 2020 as the Center moved to Stage 3 of our 

Agency’s response framework. During that time, access 

to the Center was restricted to “mission-essential personnel only.” On 27 March, Marshall Center Director 

Jody Singer announced that the Center would be 
8

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

moving to Stage 4 of the response framework, calling 

for all employees to move to telework status. Singer 

also called for an orderly transition of buildings, operations, and hardware to a “safe condition” until on-site 

work could safely resume.

CURRENTLY, PREPARATIONS 

ARE STILL UNDER WAY TO 

MOVE THE COLLECTIONS, 

RESTORE OUR RESEARCH 

CAPABILITY, AND GET 

BACK TO THE BUSINESS OF 

EXPLORING THE CENTER’S 

IMPORTANT HISTORY.

A situation we all hoped would last only weeks 

dragged on for more than a year and, along the way, 

transformed nearly every aspect of our work environment. Virtual meeting tools originally intended as a 

supplement to our daily work became our lifelines to 

our teammates. The increasing constraints of our new 

work environment forced us to adapt almost every 

aspect of our work as we continued to support NASA 

leadership, respond to reference requests, and proactively capture the history of continuing important 

work at the Center from the Space Launch System to 

the Imagine X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE).

During this transition, we also discovered that we 

would be moving our entire Marshall archives. This 

came about when our previous home since the 1980s, 

building 4200, was scheduled for decommissioning 

due to safety and environmental issues. While moving felt like bad news, the opportunity to build our 

new home in the historic Marshall East Test Area 

blockhouse felt like a more than appropriate solution. 

Originally built in 1957 and utilized in conjunction with the Propulsion and Structural Test Facility, 

this blockhouse supported the testing of programs 

including the Army’s Redstone, the Saturn I and IB 

vehicle booster stages, and the F-1 engine for the 

Saturn V. Later modifications to the stand enabled it 

to support testing associated with the Space Shuttle 

and Ares programs.

Much of the work over the past months involved 

Jordan Whetstone, the Marshall Archivist, carefully 

packing the entire archival collections for the move 

to our new home. Jordan has done an exceptional job. 

Currently, preparations are still under way to move 

the collections, restore our research capability, and get 

back to the business of exploring the Center’s important history.

The past year has taught us a myriad of valuable lessons. 

Environment and infrastructure must be imperative 

considerations in our efforts to modernize the history 

and archival function at the Agency. Our important 

archival collections necessitate controlled temperature 

and humidity along with a delicate balance of access 

and preservation. Strategic decision-making and a 

high degree of imaginative thinking are necessary if 

our programs are to successfully preserve our past, 

capture our present, and plan for our future. The year 

2020 was proof that no amount of imaginative thinking can ever encompass every conceivable instance. 

However, our successful navigation of those obstacles 

provides us with an increased confidence that we are 

on the right track.

STRATEGIC DECISION-MAKING 

AND A HIGH DEGREE OF 

IMAGINATIVE THINKING ARE 

NECESSARY IF OUR PROGRAMS 

ARE TO SUCCESSFULLY 

PRESERVE OUR PAST, CAPTURE 

OUR PRESENT, AND PLAN FOR 

OUR FUTURE. 
9

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

GLENN DOCUMENTED POLLUTANTS IN AIR LANES

By Bob Arrighi

Pictured is the Convair F-106B Delta Dart with air-sampling equipment. (Photo credit: NASA)

Most of the national concern regarding aircraft emissions in the late 1960s and early 1970s 

focused on smog and the low-altitude pollution that 

directly affected daily life. With ever-increasing air 

traffic and the prospect of supersonic transport aircraft, however, it became evident that the effects of 

aircraft emissions at higher altitudes required greater 

attention. There was particular concern regarding 

nitrogen oxides (NOx), which produced ozone in the 

upper atmosphere and lower troposphere. 

Studies, such as the massive Climate Impact 

Assessment Program, were undertaken, but there 

remained a dearth of data on the actual contaminant 

concentrations at these altitudes. Such an investigation would require a universal approach.

In 1972, NASA’s Lewis Research Center (today, NASA 

Glenn) established the Global Air Sampling Program 

(GASP). The multiyear program utilized four commercial airliners to collect atmospheric information 

while flying their normal routes.

GASP was led by Lewis veteran Porter Perkins, who, 

in the late 1940s, had persuaded airline companies 

to perform in-flight collection of water droplets for 

the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ 

(NACA’s) icing research program. A new Combustion 

and Pollution Research Branch was established in 

the Airbreathing Engines Division to manage the 

overall GASP program and to develop and calibrate 

the equipment.
10

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

THE MULTIYEAR PROGRAM 

UTILIZED FOUR COMMERCIAL 

AIRLINERS TO COLLECT 

ATMOSPHERIC INFORMATION 

WHILE FLYING THEIR 

NORMAL ROUTES. 

In 1972, Lewis worked with United Airlines to verify 

the plausibility of such an effort. Boeing’s new 747s 

were selected for the program because of the advanced 

instrumentation and extra space afforded by their 

wide bodies. The GASP system was designed so that 

it did not occupy passenger space, necessitate major 

maintenance, or interfere with normal operation of 

the aircraft.

Lewis engineers modified several commercial instruments to measure ozone, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxide. Ten of these devices were 

flight-tested on Ames Research Center’s CV-990 in 

November 1972. Four were selected for the program, 

with additional fluorocarbon samplers introduced 

later. Meanwhile, Lewis engineers developed a collector to gather suspended particles in filters for further analysis. The collector was flight-tested on board 

Lewis’s F-106B Delta Dart in the summer of 1973.

The GASP system automatically took readings every 

five minutes once the 747s reached normal cruising 

altitudes between 20,000 and 40,000 feet. Air flowed 

into two tubes jutting from the front of the aircraft to 

the particle collector and the gas analyzers. The system 

did not require any attention from the pilots or crew.

Lewis strove to make the GASP program a truly global 

endeavor. The four 747s equipped with GASP systems 

were flown by United Airlines across the United 

States, including Hawaii; by Pan Am on its many 

international routes, including South America; and 

by Qantas throughout Asia, Europe, and the Pacific. 

The majority of the GASP data was gathered in the 

Northern Hemisphere, which experienced the most 

airline traffic and industrial activity.

NASA researchers received data from unexpected 

regions in October 1977, when Pan Am conducted a 

special round-the-world flight to mark the company’s 

50th anniversary. With much fanfare, a new, modified 747SP flew over both poles during the 54-hour 

journey. Receiving lesser attention was the fact that 

the unique flight was also recording atmospheric data 

for NASA.

NASA employed its CV-100 and F-106B aircraft to 

augment the airline data with additional sampling 

over the Southwest and Great Lakes regions. In the 

summer of 1977, the F-106B also conducted a 3,000-

mile, nine-day sampling mission over Alaska.

The airline companies swapped out the GASP data 

tapes and filters when the 747s paused for routine 

maintenance. Erwin Lezberg led a team at Lewis that 

performed the data reduction and preliminary analysis. 

They synched the raw data with meteorological and 

aircraft performance information. Lezberg’s group 

authored initial reports highlighting the availability 

of the GASP statistics for NASA contractors and the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

The final data were then permanently stored at the 

National Climatic Center, the world’s largest active 

archive of weather data.

The GASP flights produced the first atmospheric analysis for many geographical areas, improved the existing data for other regions, and substantially enhanced 

previous weather balloon and ground station recordings. Researchers have used the GASP database over 

the years for a variety of studies and analysis.
11

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

EARTH RESOURCES LABORATORY

By Jessica Herr

On 9 September 1970, NASA e s t a b l i s h e d t h e E a r t h 

Resources Laboratory (ERL) at 

what was then the Mississippi 

Test Facility (MTF), now Stennis 

Space Center (SSC). Robert Piland, 

the Deputy Director of Science 

and Applications at the Manned 

Spacecraft Center in Houston, was 

selected to head the new laboratory. 

ERL researched applications of 

remote sensing techniques. It also 

provided valuable information for 

the seafood, forestry, and agriculture industries through data generated by aircraft flown from both 

Houston and Stennis Airport in 

conjunction with images from satellites and Skylab. 

The then-Director of MTF, Jackson Balch, was building MTF into a multi-agency facility after the Apollo 

program ended and was excited to have a big piece of 

his “environmental Center” come 

to MTF. The ERL’s establishment 

at MTF marked the beginning of 

a state-of-the-art environmental 

research facility on the Mississippi 

Gulf Coast. Balch began developing a consortium of environmental 

management. With ERL as the 

backbone, other agencies joined 

in the consortium, including the 

Department of the Interior’s United 

States Geological Survey (USGS) 

and Earth Resources Observation 

Systems (EROS) regional office, 

NOAA’s National Data Buoy 

Program Office, the Remote Sensing 

Engineering Development Office, 

the Experimental Field Test and Integration Center, 

the National Oceanographic Instrument Center, and 

the EPA’s National Pesticide Monitoring Laboratory.

Alabama native Ronnie Pearson, a mathematician 

in the National Space Technology Laboratories’ 

Earth Resources Laboratory, designed most of 

the Earth Resources Laboratory Applications 

Software, the Laboratory’s basic software package. (Photo credit: NASA)

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The 2022 American Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics (AIAA) SciTech Forum will be held 

virtually and in San Diego, California, 3–7 January 

2022. Visit https://scitech.aiaa.org for details.

The American Astronautical Society’s annual 

Goddard Memorial Symposium will be held virtually 

and in Greenbelt, Maryland, 16–18 March 2022. 

Visit https://astronautical.org/events/goddard for 

more details.

The annual meeting of the National Council on Public 

History will be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 

23–27 March 2022. Visit https://www.ncph.org for 

more details.

The annual Spring Meetings of the International 

Astronautical Federation will be held in Paris, France, 

29–31 March 2022. Visit http://www.iafastro.org for 

more details.

The annual meeting of the Organization of American 

Historians will be held virtually and in Boston, 

Massachusetts, 31 March–3 April 2022. Visit https://

www.oah.org for more details.
12

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

THE REMEMBERED ASTRONAUT

By Catherine Baldwin

John Young and Michael Collins after the Gemini X spaceflight. (Photo 

credit: NASA)

1 Michael Collins, oral history interview conducted by Michelle Kelly, Houston, TX, 8 October 1997, https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/

JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/CollinsM/MC_10-8-97.pdf (accessed 18 November 20212).

Michael Collins was born on 31 October 1930 in 

Rome, Italy. Like many children of that era, Michael 

became interested in spaceflight through science 

fiction. The adventures of Buck Rogers and Flash 

Gordon, paired with his schoolwork on the solar system, sparked in young Michael an aspiration to visit 

Mars. After receiving his bachelor of science degree 

from West Point in 1952, Collins chose to pursue an 

Air Force career. He described his trajectory post–West 

Point as “stair-step.” He said during an oral history in 

1997, “When I graduated from the military academy, 

there was no Air Force Academy, but we had a choice 

of going into the Army or the Air Force. The Air Force 

seemed like a more interesting choice. Then the question was to fly or not to fly. I decided to fly. To fly 

little planes or big ones? I became a fighter pilot. To 

keep flying the same or new ones? I became a test pilot. 

And so, you see I’ve stair-stepped up through five or 

six increments then, and it was a simple, logical thing 

to go on to the next increment, which was higher and 

faster, and become an astronaut rather than a test pilot. 

So that’s how it happened.”1

As an experimental flight-test officer at Edwards Air 

Force Base, he tested Air Force aircraft for performance and stability. While at Edwards, he heard 

about NASA’s search for test pilots. He applied for 

the second astronaut group (the New Nine) and was 

not selected. Knowing the difficulty of some of the 

physical and mental tests astronaut candidates had 

to endure, he began to prepare. He would run up a 

nearby steep hillside as training for the treadmill tests, 

brushed up on his astronomy and space science, and 

kept up to date with aviation and space news. He 

applied again and was selected as an astronaut in 1963, 

as part of the third astronaut class (the Fourteen). He 

and his family moved to Houston so that he could 

begin astronaut training. His primary responsibilities 

in Houston included working on extravehicular operations and the development of spacesuits.

After serving as the backup pilot for Gemini VII, he 

made his first venture into space on 18 July 1966 

as the pilot for the Gemini X mission. Collins and 

command pilot John Young successfully rendezvoused 

with two separate targets and set a new altitude record 

for human spaceflight. Collins also performed two 

spacewalks. On the first, he photographed stars in 

ultraviolet light, a feat possible only above Earth’s 

atmosphere. On the second, he retrieved an experiment package from the side of another spacecraft, the 

Gemini VIII Agena. This mission was an important 

stepping-stone for NASA on the way to the Moon.
13

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

Collins’s selection for the Apollo 11 crew was anything 

but linear. He was originally slated to fly on Apollo 8, 

but a loose disc in his back grounded him for a few 

months. So instead, he served as CAPCOM for that 

flight and was later chosen for the crew of Apollo 11.

CMP Michael Collins practicing in the Command Module simulator on 

19 June 1969 at Kennedy Space Center. (Photo credit: NASA)

Even while training, Collins was aware of the 

far-reaching importance of the first human Moon 

landing. “It was of some importance to people in 

virtually every little corner of the globe, and I felt 

that very keenly, and I felt that in a negative sense 

as well as a positive. The negative was, 

hey, don’t screw it up. I mean, I felt 

a tremendous feeling of, you know, I 

could make some stupid little mistake 

and just make the whole program look 

ridiculous in the eyes of the whole 

globe. So I felt a heightened feeling 

of responsibility and worry because of 

the responsibility.”2

As the Command Module Pilot (CMP), 

Collins spent many hours training on 

his own as Neil Armstrong and Edwin 

“Buzz” Aldrin trained for their tasks on 

the lunar surface. He remained in the 

Command Module for the duration of 

2 Ibid.

the mission, orbiting the Moon alone while Armstrong 

and Aldrin spent time on the lunar surface. The CMP 

is integral to the safe return of the mission, but the 

importance of this role often eludes the public, with 

many people referring to Collins as the “loneliest man 

in history.” Fondly referring to the Command Module 

as his “happy little home,” Collins pushed back on the 

idea that he was lonely or that he had somehow drawn 

a short straw as the CMP.

After Collins left NASA in 1970, he spent a year as 

the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs for 

the Department of State. Then, in 1971, he joined 

the Smithsonian Institution as the third director of 

the National Air and Space Museum. The museum 

saw great change under Collins’s seven-year tenure. 

He worked tirelessly to ensure that there would be 

a National Air and Space Museum on the National 

Mall, overseeing the planning and the construction 

of the new museum building. The building opened to 

the public in 1976, a few days ahead of schedule and 

below its budgeted cost. In 1978, he left the National 

Air and Space Museum to become the Under Secretary 

of the Smithsonian Institution, a role he held until 

1980. Collins wrote a number of books, the most 

famous of which, Carrying the Fire (1974), chronicles 

his time at NASA.

Michael Collins passed away on 

28 April 2021. As the news of his passing spread around the world, social 

media began to light up with tributes, 

not just to the heroic astronaut of 

Apollo 11, but to the man. His humor 

and his kindness were extolled in the 

same breath as his achievements. As 

we continue to mourn his passing, we 

remember the man who inspired the 

next generation of space lovers and 

who was a beloved father and grandfather. His legacy lives on, and he will 

not be forgotten.

Michael Collins in front of the Lunar Module 

at the National Air and Space Museum. 

(Photo credit: National Air and Space 

Museum)
14

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

OBITUARY: HENRY “HARRY” MCDONALD

Dr. Henry “Harry” McDonald, NASA Ames Director (1996–2002), photo taken 25 May 1999. 

(Photo credit: NASA/Dominic Hart)

At the end of May this year, we learned of the passing of former Ames Research Center Director 

Henry “Harry” McDonald on 25 May. McDonald 

was the eighth Center Director, serving from 1996 

to 2002.

During his tenure, McDonald led Ames as the Center 

emerged from one of the most tumultuous periods in 

the Center’s history, following a zero base review that 

had been initiated by Administrator Daniel Goldin 

following budget cuts. In spite of how fraught the 

time was leading up to McDonald’s arrival, under 

his leadership, the Center flourished. Ames emerged 

as the Agency’s Center of Excellence in Information 

Technology, took the lead in developing the field of 

astrobiology at NASA, and founded NASA 

Research Park, which created multiple partnerships of enduring strategic importance.

McDonald was a native of Scotland and 

earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in 

engineering from the University of Glasgow. 

In the United States, McDonald would 

become the head of the gas dynamics group 

at United Technologies Research Center 

in Hartford, Connecticut. He then went 

on to found Scientific Research Associates 

and later moved on to Pennsylvania State 

University, where he served as the assistant 

director of computational sciences and as a 

professor of mechanical engineering at the 

Applied Research Laboratory. McDonald 

brought to Ames those decades of experience in both academia and industry. People 

at Ames knew and respected his work even 

before he arrived.

In a message to the Ames workforce, Center 

Director Eugene Tu noted that McDonald 

had been instrumental in his own career 

development and that McDonald had 

selected Tu for key opportunities to lead 

the High-Performance Computing and 

Communications and Information Technology programs. Tu wrote, “I’ve tried to carry on his inestimable 

legacy at the helm of NASA Ames. I will always be 

indebted to Harry for his leadership, mentorship, and 

friendship during the time he served as our center 

director and in the years since.”

A posting on the website for Craft Funeral Home in 

Erdenheim, Pennsylvania, indicates that in lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in McDonald’s name to 

the American Alumni of Glasgow University, 183 Wolf 

Harbour Road, Milford, CT 06461-1961.

McDonald’s tenure is covered in the most recent edition of 

Atmosphere of Freedom on pages 30–35.
15

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

CORRECTING THE JOHN GLENN “SEVEN-ORBIT” MYTH

By Rick Booth, Guernsey County, Ohio, Historian

On 20 February 1962, astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit Earth. He 

flew what the entire world regarded as a completely 

successful preplanned three-orbit mission. American 

television viewers knew in advance that the goal of 

the flight of Friendship 7 was to achieve three circuits around the globe. They breathed a collective 

sigh of relief after each successive orbit was authorized 

as a “go,” plus a final grand exhalation when Glenn 

splashed down on time and on target within sight 

of one of his assigned recovery ships, the destroyer 

Noa. Why, then, do the majority of Americans who 

think they know the story of John Glenn’s flight today 

believe that his mission was cut short after “only” 

three orbits, four orbits short of the flight’s original 

seven-orbit goal? It all has to do with a faulty sensor 

in Glenn’s capsule and, arguably, the most misleading 

quotation in NASA’s history: “You have a ‘Go,’ at least 

seven orbits.”

IT ALL HAS TO DO WITH A 

FAULTY SENSOR IN GLENN’S 

CAPSULE AND, ARGUABLY, THE 

MOST MISLEADING QUOTATION 

IN NASA’S HISTORY: ‘YOU 

HAVE A “GO,” AT LEAST 

SEVEN ORBITS.’

Just 26 seconds after sustainer engine cutoff, when 

Glenn first went into a weightless state in orbit, he 

received the “‘go’ for seven” call. It did not, however, 

mean that the mission’s goal had been changed to 

be seven orbits. Rather, it reflected a call made by 

computer, based on tracking data, indicating that the 

flight trajectory of Friendship 7 would not decay into 

an atmospheric reentry in fewer than seven orbits. 

As such, it was simply a green-light call saying that 

three orbits could definitely be achieved, with even 

more available in case of some extremely unlikely 

and terrible emergency. The same seven-orbit safety 

calculation—apparently the output of a “canned” 

computer program designed to rapidly check the first 

seven orbits and no more—was made for all subsequent Project Mercury flights as well. This rapid check 

was necessary within the first few seconds of orbital 

insertion to decide if an immediate abort was needed. 

A decision made quickly enough could then still bring 

the capsule down in the Atlantic Ocean if it appeared 

that not even a single orbit was guaranteed.

John Glenn and Friendship 7. (Photo credit: NASA)

Later in the flight, a faulty sensor sent a signal indicating that the heat shield on the capsule might have 

become accidentally detached. This resulted in the 
16

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

well-known story of the decision to keep the retrorocket package attached to the capsule during reentry 

to hold the heat shield in place until air pressure alone 

could stabilize it.

The Mercury Control three-orbit wall map used to track the flight of Friendship 7. (Photo credit: NASA)

During pre-splashdown live flight news coverage that 

day, the general public was not made aware of the 

“‘go’ for seven” call at all, nor the heat shield problem. The heat shield scare was revealed to the press in 

post-flight briefings and only hit the newspapers the 

next day. The “‘go’ for seven” call remained not widely 

known of for much longer—until NASA released a 

documentary film entitled Friendship 7 two or three 

months after the flight. Likewise, the blessing Scott 

Carpenter gave to the flight, “Godspeed, John Glenn,” 

was first heard by the general public in this same film. 

It had been found on a Cape Canaveral blockhouse 

recording that had not been broadcast and that Glenn 

himself had not heard on the day of the flight.

When the hour-long Friendship 7 film was released, 

the complete three-orbit success of John Glenn’s 

flight was still fresh in America’s mind. When the 

film included audio of the “‘go’ for seven” call without 

further explanation of its meaning, it stood out as a 

peculiar statement at the time, but it was clear from 

its context in the film, as well as in collective social 

memory, that it was not a statement of the mission’s 

goal. Left unexplained, it just seemed puzzling to the 

casual film viewer in 1962.

About a decade later, however, NASA released another 

film recapping the achievements of Projects Mercury, 

Gemini, and Apollo, in which “‘go’ for seven” was 

repeated with no context indicating the true original 

three-orbit goal. Indeed, the editing of this retrospective film accidentally seems to imply that a seven-orbit 

mission had been flown since no mention was made 

of the fact that the mission ended after three orbits.

In subsequent years, popular books and films quite 

systematically began to get the story of the flight of 

Friendship 7 wrong, declaring it a seven-orbit mission, ended early after just three orbits due to the heat 

shield problem. Writers and filmmakers, puzzled by 

the discrepancy between the known three orbits and 

the “‘go’ for seven” call, seized upon the heat shield 

problem as the apparent reason for ending the flight 

early. Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book The Right Stuff did not 

make the mistake, but the film version in 1983 did. 

When John Glenn returned to space in 1998, PBS

Newshour and ABC’s 20/20, among others, repeated 

the aborted-mission myth, as did Newsweek in print.

Just days after John Glenn died in December 2016, 

the highly acclaimed movie Hidden Figures was 

released. Both the film and the book on which it was 

based claimed the flight of Friendship 7 was cut short 

by the heat shield problem. Indeed, in an on-screen 

written epilogue, the film told its viewers, “John 

Glenn successfully completed three of a scheduled 

seven orbit flight.”
17

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

Usually, great and heroic events, like fish stories, tend 

to get bigger and grander with repeated retellings over 

time. Unfortunately, the retelling of John Glenn’s 

flight of Friendship 7 represents a rare case of a heroic 

success story heading in the opposite direction. The 

truth is that on 20  February 1962, America and 

the entire world reveled in the complete success of 

John Glenn’s three orbits around the world. It is only 

due to wide, unexplained repetition of the “‘go’ for 

seven” clip, combined with an assumed heat shield 

rationale for aborting the flight short of its original 

goal, that the flight of Friendship 7 is today usually 

described in popular culture as a “relatively successful 

partial failure.”

This year, 18 July 2021 marked the 100th anniversary 

of the birth of America’s first orbital astronaut, John 

H. Glenn, Jr., in Cambridge, Ohio. A large celebration took place in both the town of his birth and in 

nearby New Concord, where he grew up. As a part of 

the two-community commemoration, the planners 

got the word out that they still remember the flight of 

Friendship 7 as a complete, unmitigated success there 

and would like for the rest of the world to once again 

fully remember what a wonderfully good, completely 

successful day 20 February 1962 was for all the world. 

Lest we forget, John Glenn landed on time and on 

target after three orbits of Earth that day. The world 

watched as America came roaring back into the space 

race based on that success. The Moon had suddenly 

come within reach.

THE MOON HAD SUDDENLY 

COME WITHIN REACH.

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NASA HEADQUARTERS HISTORY DIVISION 

STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION

Brian Odom brian.c.odom@nasa.gov

Acting Chief Historian 256-541-8974

Nadine Andreassen nadine.j.andreassen@nasa.gov

Program Support Specialist 202-358-0087

Catherine Baldwin catherine.e.baldwin@nasa.gov

Editor 202-358-4397

Stephen Garber stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov

Historian 202-358-0385

Sarah Jenkins sarah.h.jenkins@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-1033

Sarah LeClaire sarah.k.leclaire@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-1380

Holly McIntyre holly.a.mcintyre@nasa.gov

Acting Chief Archivist 301-286-6126

INTERNS

Aishwarya Sukumaran aishwarya.sukumaran@nasa.gov

Erica Meszaros erica.l.meszaros@nasa.gov

Kate Polley katherine.l.polley@nasa.gov
18

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

OTHER AEROSPACE HISTORY NEWS

AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY 

(AAS) HISTORY COMMITTEE

By Michael Ciancone, Chair

2020 Emme Award for Astronautical Literature

The Emme Award, named for NASA’s first historian, 

Eugene M. Emme, recognizes outstanding books that 

advance public understanding of astronautics based 

on originality, scholarship, and readability. The Emme 

Award Panel, chaired by Dr. Don Elder, is in the process of reviewing submitted titles. Other members 

of the Panel are Dr. Rick Sturdevant, Dr. Jennifer 

Levasseur, and Dr. De Witt Kilgore.

The Panel has begun receiving nominated titles for 

consideration over the summer and will announce 

their selection(s) in late 2021.

International Academy of Astronautics 

(IAA) History Series

The series editor, Dr. Rick Sturdevant, reports that 

Bob Jacobs has all the materials in hand for IAC 

(International Astronautical Congress) 2018 (Bremen, 

Volume Editor: Hannes Mayer) and IAC 2019 

(Washington, DC, Volume Editor: Oti Liepack). His 

intent is to complete the 2018 volume this summer 

and the 2019 volume by the end of the year.

Membership Updates

• Steve Doyle has stepped down after 30 years of 

service to the Committee.

• The Committee welcomed several new members: 

Professor Mai’a Cross (Northeastern University), 

Alan Ladwig (To Orbit Productions), and Rachel 

Tillman (Viking Mars Missions Education and 

Preservation Project).

CALL FOR PAPERS: HISTORY OF NASA 

AND THE ENVIRONMENT SYMPOSIUM

Date: 29–30 September 2022

Location: Georgetown University/Hybrid

Organizers: NASA, Georgetown University, and New 

Jersey Institute of Technology

NASA is called the space agency, but in a broader 

sense, we could be called an environmental 

agency.... Virtually everything we do, manned 

or unmanned, science or applications, helps in 

some practical way to improve the environment 

of our planet and helps us understand the forces 

that affect it.

—NASA Administrator James Fletcher 

to Congress, March 1973

To more critically analyze the historical connection 

between NASA and the environment, the NASA 

History Division and Georgetown University invite 

proposals for papers to be presented at a two-day 

symposium, 29–30 September 2022, at Georgetown 

University, Washington, DC. The purpose of the 

symposium is to analyze the long history of NASA’s 

interest in, responses to, exploration of, and impact 

upon environments as broadly construed. The planning committee thus welcomes papers exploring 

NASA’s relationship to environments on Earth, on 

other planetary bodies, and in deep space, as well 

as papers undertaking a variety of methodological 

approaches including not only the history of science, 

environmental history, and the history of technology, 

but also social, cultural, political, economic, legal, and 

other types of historical analysis. Diverse scholars at 

every seniority level are encouraged to apply, and the 

organizers are pleased to provide funding for hotel 

accommodations for two nights near the university.
19

Volume 38, Numbers 2 & 3 Second & Third Quarters 2021

Possible topics for papers include, but are not limited 

to, the following:

• NASA and the environmental movement

• NASA and environmental justice/inequality

• Environmental impact of NASA technology and 

development

• International collaboration/global environment

• Space exploration and human health/biology

• Environmental history of NASA facilities

• NASA responses to environmental changes on 

Earth and in space

• Cultural histories of NASA and the environment

• Earth and space photography/art

• Environmental analog sites/artificial landscapes

• Earth-observing technologies

• Remote sensing and geographic information 

systems

• Earth science applications/missions/policies

• NASA and climate change science

• Planetary sciences

• Planetary protection protocols

• History of exobiology/astrobiology

• Environmental control and life-support systems

• Orbital debris/space junk

• Environmental history of space colonies

• Decadal planning

• Biographies of NASA Earth/space scientists

The format of the symposium will be a 

combination of panel discussions, keynote talks, and group discussion. The 

intention is to publish an anthology of 

selected papers.

Submission Procedures

If you wish to present a paper or have 

questions, please send an abstract of no 

more than 400 words and a short biography or curriculum vitae, including affiliation, by 1 July 2022 to

Dr. Brian C. Odom

NASA

brian.c.odom@nasa.gov

Dr. Dagomar Degroot

Georgetown University

dagomar.degroot@georgetown.edu

Dr. Neil Maher

New Jersey Institute of Technology

maher@njit.edu

The Apollo 6 (Spacecraft 020/Saturn 502) unpiloted space mission was launched from Pad A, 

Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The liftoff of the huge Apollo/

Saturn V space vehicle occurred at 7:00:01.5 a.m. EST on 4 April 1968. (Photo credit: NASA)
CREATED AND PRODUCED BY:

Catherine Baldwin, Newsletter Editor

Lisa Jirousek, Editor

Michele Ostovar, Graphic Designer

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