NASA HISTORY DIVISION

Office of External Relations

FROM

THE CHIEF

HISTORIAN

Fifty years ago, the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration (NASA) was in its birth 

throes, and fundamental decisions were being 

made that profoundly shaped all that was to 

come. The driving force, of course, was the 

launch of Sputnik on 4 October 1957, followed 

by its even weightier successors. In the midst of 

the Cold War, a country that aspired to global 

preeminence could not let that challenge pass. 

Although the United States already had its own 

satellite plans in place as part of the International 

Geophysical Year, the Soviet events spurred the 

Space Age and, in particular, gave urgency to the 

founding of an American national space agency.

In the wake of the Sputniks, events moved 

quickly toward the development of NASA, 

especially considering the weighty issues that 

had to be resolved. Should there be a new 

agency or one built on an already-established 

institution, such as the National Science 

Foundation (NSF), the Atomic Energy 

Commission (AEC), or the National Advisory 

Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)? Or should 

it be part of a military agency—the Army 

and Air Force were both keen, based on their 

missile work. If it was to be a military or civilian 

agency, then how to divide the tasks peculiar to 

each function? Should the new agency include 

aeronautical activities? Should it have the power 

to implement international agreements? If so, 

how should those agreements be used as an 

instrument of foreign policy, and what should 

the new agency’s relationship be with the 

State Department?

continued on page 3

Space in Europe, Europe in 

Space: Symposium on 20thCentury Astroculture

By Alexander C. T. Geppert, Harvard University/Freie Universität Berlin 

How has the idea of spaceflight developed into a central element of 

European modernity? Where and what was outer space at which point in 

time? How was it represented, communicated, imagined, and perceived? And 

in what way have European conceptions of the cosmos and extraterrestrial 

life been affected by the continuous exploration of outer space? These were 

the pivotal questions discussed at “Imagining Outer Space, 1900–2000,” 

the first international conference on the cultural history of outer space in 

20th-century Europe, held from 6 through 9 February 2008 at the Center for 

Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), an institute of advanced studies that forms 

part of Bielefeld University in Germany. For four days, almost 70 scholars 

from more than a dozen countries convened to historicize outer space and 

to analyze its significance in the European cultural imagination of the 20th 

century. I organized the symposium, which was generously sponsored by the 

ZiF and Fritz Thyssen Stiftung.

Representatives of more than 15 different disciplines were present. Speakers 

included numerous distinguished scholars, in particular Steven J. Dick 

(NASA), Debbora Battaglia (Mount Holyoke College), Rainer Eisfeld 

(Universität Osnabrück), Pierre Lagrange (Centre national de la recherche 

scientifique), Michael J. Neufeld (National Air and Space Museum), 

continued on next page

IN THIS ISSUE:

From the Chief Historian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Space in Europe, Europe in Space: Symposium on 20th-Century 

Astroculture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

News from Headquarters and the Centers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Forthcoming NASA History Publications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Other New Aerospace History Publications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

New Online Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Quarterly Series: NASA’s National Historic Landmarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Other Aerospace History News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Calls for Papers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Upcoming Meetings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

volume 25, number 2 May 2008
NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Space in Europe, Europe in Space: Symposium on 20th-Century Astroculture (continued) 

Claudia Schmölders (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), KaiUwe Schrogl (European 

Space Policy Institute, or ESPI), James Schwoch (Northwestern University), and 

Helmuth Trischler (Deutsches Museum). Also among the participants were many 

younger scholars, graduate students, national and international media representatives, and delegates of several international organizations including ESPI, the 

European Space Agency (ESA), and the International Academy of Astronautics 

(IAA). I commenced the symposium with an introductory lecture on problems 

and perspectives of European Astrofuturism in the 20th century before giving 

the floor to the keynote speaker, NASA’s Chief Historian, Steven Dick. Entitled 

“Space, Time and Aliens: The Role of Imagination in Outer Space,” Dr. Dick’s 

lecture attracted the largest audience of the entire conference. At the end of the 

fourth day, Helmuth Trischler, research director of the Deutsches Museum in 

Munich, concluded the symposium by delivering a general commentary, reviewing the achievements of this collective enterprise and formulating several openended questions that may prove to be fertile ground for future inquiry. A number 

of additional feature presentations rounded off the program. They included Philip 

Pocock’s (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie) interactive multimedia installation “SpacePlace: Art in the Age of Orbitization,” a screening of rare historical 

films curated by Berlin-based director Jürgen Ast and historian Burghard Ciesla 

(Universität Potsdam/Universität der Künste Berlin), and several poster presentations, which are on display outside the ZiF’s plenary hall. 

Between Steve Dick’s grand keynote lecture and Helmuth Trischler’s comprehensive 

commentary, altogether 27 papers were presented. Grouped in 10 different panels, 

they were arranged thematically, starting with theoretical and heuristic issues and 

concluding with questions of a more empirical and technical character. At the same 

time, presentations were in chronological order, with contributions covering historical 

topics ranging from the fin de siècle through the present day. There was, however, a 

particular emphasis on the two decades between the 1950s and the early 1970s—from 

the so-called “golden age of space travel,” with the launching of Sputnik I, the first 

artificial satellite, in October 1957, to the last Apollo flight in December 1972. Each 

panel was designed to bring together scholars from different academic backgrounds 

and have them enter a transdisciplinary—and, in most cases, also 

transnational—dialogue. For 

instance, Panel I, “Theorizing 

Outer Space,” brought together 

a literary scholar, an anthropologist, a philosopher, and a historian, while Panel X, “Designing 

Outer Space,” saw a museum 

curator engage in discussion with 

an art historian and a historian 

of science. 

Un l i ke NASA’s suc c essfu l 

“Societal Impact of Spaceflight 

Conference,” held in September 

2006 (see Proceedings at http:// 

history.nasa.gov/sp4801-part1.pdf ), 

continued on page 6 

2

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

From the Chief Historian (continued) 

On 25 November 1957, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson began hearings on American 

space and missile activities in the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee of the 

Senate Armed Services Committee. On 6 February 1958, this process led to the establishment of a Senate Special Committee on Space and Aeronautics, with the goal of 

establishing a space agency and with Senator Johnson as its chairman. On the House 

side of Congress, the Select Committee on Astronautics and Space Exploration was 

created on 5 March, chaired by House Majority Leader John W. McCormack. 

Meanwhile, in the Executive Branch, President Eisenhower had asked his 

science adviser, James R. Killian, Jr., to convene the Presidential Science 

Advisory Committee (PSAC) for deliberations on the subject. By 5 March, 

Eisenhower had approved a memorandum, dated the same day and signed 

by Nelson Rockefeller, Chairman of the President’s Advisory Committee on 

Government Organization, on which Killian also served. It proposed a civilian 

space agency built around the NACA, which by this time spent about half its 

total effort on space-related projects, including the Vanguard, X-15, and Defense 

Department missile programs. In the following weeks, legislation was drafted by 

the Bureau of the Budget, the NACA, and Killian’s office. One of those Bureau 

of the Budget drafters, Willis H. Shapley (son of the famous Harvard astronomer 

Harlow Shapley), later became a Deputy Associate Administrator of NASA. Another 

drafter, Paul G. Dembling—general counsel for the NACA during the crucial 

1957–58 period and later the NASA general counsel—recalled that it was a highpressure situation “because other agencies [than the NACA] were seeking the mantle, 

and we didn’t know exactly where we all stood.” Dembling, who is still alive and well 

today, recalls there was no one source for drafting such legislation, and he relied on 

past decisions by the General Accounting Office. The legislation that emerged called 

for a new agency rather than a strengthened NACA, responding to the criticism of 

some that the NACA had become too lethargic to deal with the onrush of events and 

that a new start was needed. 

On 2 April, Eisenhower sent the draft legislation to Congress establishing the 

“National Aeronautics and Space Agency.” At the behest of Eilene Galloway, who 

worked for the Congressional Research Service and served as a consultant to both 

Senator Johnson and Congressman McCormack during the drafting of the 

final National Aeronautics and Space Act, the name was changed to 

“National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” It was her belief that an 

“Administration” with an “Administrator” would have more power than a mere 

“agency” with a “director” and that the new institution would need that power to 

coordinate with many other agencies. Galloway, too, is alive and well today, still 

offering her reminiscences at age 102. 

After congressional hearings during spring 1958, Congress passed the legislation, and 

President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law on 

29 July 1958. Although it had generally been assumed that Hugh Dryden, the head 

of the NACA, would be appointed Administrator, three weeks later, on 19 August, 

T. Keith Glennan—the president of Case Institute of Technology since 1947 and a 

former member of the Atomic Energy Commission—was sworn in at the White House 

as NASA’s first Administrator, with Dryden as his Deputy Administrator. NASA 

formally opened for business on 1 October 1958. 

continued on next page 

3

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

From the Chief Historian (continued) 

It is instructive to recall the objectives for NASA that emerged in section 102 of the 

final Space Act: 

1) 	 The expansion of human knowledge of phenoena in the atmosphere and space. 

2)	 The improvement of the usefulness, performance, speed, safety, and efficiency 

of aeronautical and space vehicles. 

3)	 The development and operation of vehicles capable of carrying instruments, 

equipment, supplies, and living organisms through space. 

4) The establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to be gained 

from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved in the utilization of 

aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes. 

5)	 The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical and 

space science and technology and in the application thereof to the conduct of 

peaceful activities within and outside the atmosphere. 

6)	 The making available to agencies directly concerned with national defense of 

discoveries that have military value or significance, as well as the furnishing by 

such agencies, to the civilian agency established to direct and control nonmilitary aeronautical and space activities, of information as to discoveries that have 

value or significance to that agency. 

7)	 Cooperation by the United States with other 

nations and groups of nations in work done 

pursuant to this act and in the peaceful application of the results thereof. 

8)	 The most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United 

States, with close cooperation among all 

interested agencies of the United States in 

ordertoavoidunnecessaryduplicationofeffort, 

facilities, and equipment. 

The Space Act has been amended many times 

since 1958 (see online reference below for details), 

but these goals have changed little. In NASA’s 

Authorization Act for 1985, the expansion of 

human knowledge “of the Earth” was added to 

goal 1, reflecting increased concern about Earth 

resources and global climate change. In the 

Authorization Act for 1989, a ninth goal was 

added: “The preservation of the United States 

preeminent position in aeronautics and space 

through research and technology development 

related to associated manufacturing processes.”

Other sections of the Space Act dealt with civilianmilitary coordination, international cooperation,

the demise of the NACA, the transfer of functions 

from other government agencies, and intellectual

property rights. 

NASA’s top management from 1958 to 1960 consisted 

of T. Keith Glennan, Administrator (center); Hugh L. 

Dryden, Deputy Administrator (left); and Richard E. 

Horner, Associate Administrator (right). This photo, 

dated 1 March 1960 and probably taken at NASA’s first 

Headquarters at the Dolly Madison House, also shows 

the new seal of NASA on the wall above Glennan. 

4

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

Beyond the logistical questions in the founding of a new space agency were larger 

issues not fully grasped at the time. In creating NASA, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Walter McDougall argued, Congress was creating a technocratic institution, 

where technocracy is defined as “the institutionalization of technological change 

for state purposes, that is, the state-funded and -managed R&D explosion of our 

time.” He saw Sputnik as a saltation that sparked this technological revolution. 

McDougall later revised this point in light of the events of the Space Age. Historian 

Robert MacGregor has also recently challenged the view of Sputnik as a technological saltation, arguing that technocratic ideas of the relation of science to the state were 

already well established by this time. In particular, he points to the parallels between 

the Atomic Energy Commission and NASA and further argues that “NASA’s rise 

in the 1960’s as an engine of American international prestige was rooted in atomic 

diplomacy, and that certain debates in Congress about the new agency were largely 

approached from within a framework of atomic energy, thereby limiting the range 

of discourse and influencing the shape of the new agency.” Of special importance, 

MacGregor finds, are the sections of the National Aeronautics and Space Act that 

were inspired by the Atomic Energy Acts of 1946 and 1954, especially the relation of 

the Department of Defense to the new agency, the role of international cooperation, 

and the apportionment of intellectual property. 

Issues great and small were involved in the founding of NASA. It may truly be said 

that NASA has achieved the goals laid out in section 102, sometimes in spectacular 

fashion, with the possible exception of objective 4, which involves studies of the 

long-range benefits and problems related to spaceflight. That objective is now being 

undertaken in the NASA History Division, as witnessed in the recent publication 

of Societal Impact of Spaceflight (see http://history.nasa.gov/sp4801-part1.pdf) and 

in other planned publications. Perhaps no goal is more important for sustaining 

a robust space program than ensuring that society has a vested interest in the 

aeronautics and space activities of NASA and the other space agencies that have 

sprouted up around the world over the last 50 years. 

Steve Dick 

Further Reading 

Eilene Galloway, “Sputnik and the Creation of NASA: A Personal Perspective,” in 

NASA: 50 Years of Exploration and Discovery (Faircount, 2008), pp. 48–49. 

Edward S. Goldstein, “Present at the Creation: Paul G. Dembling, Author of NASA’s 

Founding Legislation,” in NASA: 50 Years of Exploration and Discovery (Faircount, 

2008), pp. 50–51. 

Alison Griffith, The National Aeronautics and Space Act: A Study of the Development 

of Public Policy (Washington, DC, 1962). 

Cargill Hall, “Origins of U.S. Space Policy: Eisenhower, Open Skies and Freedom of 

Space,” in Exploring the Unknown, vol. 1, ed. John M. Logsdon, p. 213 ff. 

J. D. Hunley, ed. The Birth of NASA: The Diary of T. Keith Glennan (Washington, 

DC: NASA SP-4105, 1993). Available online at http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4105/ 

sp4105.htm. Glennan was NASA’s first Administrator. 

continued on next page 

5

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

From the Chief Historian (continued) 

John M. Logsdon, moderator, Legislative Origins of the National Aeronautics and 

Space Act of 1958: Proceedings of an Oral History Workshop Conducted April 3, 1992 

(Washington, DC: Monographs in Aerospace History, no. 8, 1998). Available online at 

http://history.nasa.gov/40thann/legislat.pdf; a larger version of the file with graphics is 

located at http://history.nasa.gov/40thann/legorgns.pdf. 

Walter MacDougall, . . . The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age 

(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985). 

Robert R. MacGregor, “Imagining an Aerospace Agency in the Atomic Age,” in 

Remembering the Space Age, ed. Steven J. Dick (NASA History Series, forthcoming). 

National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, as amended, with legislative history 

showing changes over time. Available online at http://history.nasa.gov/spaceactlegishistory.pdf. 

David S. F. Portree, NASA’s Origins and the Dawn of the Space Age 

(Washington, DC: Monographs in Aerospace History, no. 10, 1998). Available online 

at http://history.nasa.gov/monograph10/. 

Robert L. Rosholt, An Administrative History of NASA, 1958–1963 (Washington, DC: 

NASA SP-4101, 1966). 

Space in Europe, Europe in Space: Symposium on 20th-Century Astroculture (continued) 

the geographical focus of this symposium was on Europe, in particular Western 

Europe, yet without neglecting transatlantic references and transnational interdependencies. Despite their different disciplinary provenances, all presentations approached 

their respective subject matter from the perspective of cultural history or cultural 

studies, broadly defined. Neither did this conference concentrate on the institutional 

or technological history of the European space effort, nor was it centered on classical 

astropolitics or present-day policy analyses. By concentrating on prominent activists 

and specific sites, contact points between science and fiction, and single historical 

episodes and various case studies, contributions to the conference rather examined 

the cultural and societal impact of space exploration and space travel on European 

culture and society at large. As a conceptual counterpart to the more familiar term 

“astropolitics,” it was suggested to analyze the cultural significance and imaginative repercussions of outer space, space travel, and space exploration under the new 

label “astroculture.” 

Thus, presentations covered a broad range of fascinating topics and frequently 

employed innovative methodologies to exploit largely unknown research territory. 

A number of papers analyzed the activities of influential “space personae” such as 

the now deceased science fiction author and longstanding chairman of the British 

Interplanetary Society, Arthur C. Clarke (presented by Thore Bjørnvig), the space 

popularizer and occultist Max Valier (Christina Wessely), and the German-born 

6

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

American rocket engineer Wernher von Braun (Michael J. Neufeld). Others examined 

the history of launch sites and other Earthly locations important to space exploration, 

as well as specific sites of exploration, such as the so-called Tunguska event of June 1908 

(Claudia Schmölders); the Australian-British-European spaceport Woomera that 

opened in 1947 (Kerrie Anne Dougherty); UFO sightings in a small village in northern 

France in the 1950s (James I. Miller, Pierre Lagrange); and underwater habitats, popular in the late 1960s, where aspects of future life in space colonies were to be simulated 

(Sven Mesinovic). A third group of papers studied changing European conceptions 

of outer space in different media contexts, for instance, popular francophone comic 

books of the 1950s such as Hergé’s Tintin albums “Objectif lune” and “On a marché 

sur la lune” of 1953 and 1954 (Guillaume de Syon), space coverage in German newspapers and TV between 1957 and 1987 (Bernd Mütter), the British science fiction series 

“Space 1999” (Henry Keazor), American Star Trek episodes that took up themes of 

German National Socialism (Werner Suppanz), and the iconography of the famous 

Pioneer 10 and 11 plaques (William R. Macauley). Although Carl Sagan composed 

them in the early 1970s to communicate information about humankind to extraterrestrial life-forms in the event of the spacecraft’s discovery, more terrestrial factors 

were at the forefront 30 years later when British artist Damien Hirst designed the 

calibration target for the European Beagle 2 spacecraft, scheduled to land on Mars on 

Christmas 2003 but eventually declared lost. Over the course of these three decades, 

from the early 1970s through 2003, all ideologically motivated claims to space art had 

been replaced by a provocative denial of metaphysics, in particular far-reaching forms 

of commodification (Tristan Weddigen). 

Without any doubt, the most remarkable features of this conference were its cooperative atmosphere and creative dynamic. Participants discussed the most controversial 

issues across all disciplinary, national, and generational boundaries with great enthusiasm. Quite organically, some of the conference’s initial questions changed trajectory 

as the panels proceeded. Not all of them proved as productive as foreseen or set the 

right directions for future research. Yet during this process, other, more pressing 

questions were raised and productively discussed. As always, this should be taken as 

what it clearly was: the classic indicator for success of any scholarly enterprise. Hardly 

ever are problems solved conclusively, once and for all; rather, questions can only be 

reconfigured, perhaps “better” than before, and once a conference is over, its proceedings may be published for wider critique and discussion. In this particular case, the 

entire field of research is still much too young—especially from a Western European 

perspective—to allow for a more systematizing and structuring approach. 

With almost 30 contributions and intense discussion following each presentation, it 

is a sheer impossibility to do justice to all papers and, at the same time, to summarize the ensuing lively debates. Thus, as an alternative to presenting a series of one 

conference statement after another, the second half of this essay seeks to give a brief 

review of those themes, issues, and problems discussed in Bielefeld that sparked 

the greatest amount of interest among participants. A brief program survey can be 

found at the end of this report, and more detailed information, including concise 

abstracts and short biographies of all speakers, is available at the conference’s Web 

site: http://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/outerspace. 

continued on next page 

7

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Space in Europe, Europe in Space: Symposium on 20th-Century Astroculture (continued) 

Themes, Issues, and Problems 

The symposium pursued a threefold objective. First, by bringing together members 

of different disciplines and inviting them to enter a dialogue on the opportunities 

and problems of historicizing outer space, we sought to contribute to the development of a field of research hitherto unexplored. Unfortunately, an equivalent to 

NASA’s History Division or to the Space History Division of the National Air and 

Space Museum, with their concerted activities and unparalleled research programs, 

does not exist in Europe. As a direct consequence, space history is a much smaller 

affair and an even more fragmentary enterprise in Europe. Hence, the conference did not primarily pursue a synthesizing or systematizing goal, but rather an 

explorative objective. 

Moreover, the symposium was based on the assumption that changing images of 

outer space and conceptions of extraterrestrial cultures must also, in a European 

context, be read as expressions of historically specific ideas of the beyond and 

expectations for the future. This is the same discursive complex for which literary 

scholar De Witt Douglas Kilgore has introduced the term “astrofuturism.” Hence, 

in addition to a general structuring and transdisciplinary stocktaking of a nascent 

field of research, the conference aimed, second, at identifying a distinctly European 

version of this discursive formation, so central to 20th-century European modernity. 

Is space exploration—since Apollo 8 delivered the first images of the entire globe— 

so crucial to and inextricably intertwined with the process of globalization that the 

introduction of an additional, specifically European level of analysis would only 

prove of limited heuristic value? 

Third, the conference aimed to explore the relation between science and fiction in 

this particular field of research. This is a theme long familiar to all space historians, 

starting with Willy Ley in 1944. According to the standard argument, in October 

1957, the “visionary” or “pioneering” era of spaceflight was superseded by “real” 

spaceflight, and “science fiction” was subsequently replaced by “science fact.” However, assuming such a teleological line is naive. To be sure, there is science in fiction, 

fiction in science, and science fiction, but a rectilinear development from “fiction” to 

“science” does not exist. “Science fiction” and “science fact” overlap and continue to 

affect each other; one has never been fully absorbed by the other. Thus, contributors 

to the conference were anxious to balance carefully both perspectives when analyzing the contexts of the production of literature, whether research or fiction, and the 

sociocultural effects of these “scientific fictions” in various configurations. 

Additional characteristics of a field of historical research still in statu nascendi 

became apparent during these four days in Bielefeld. “Astrofuturism” proved 

indeed a suitable umbrella concept to thematize interactions between representations of outer space and changing conceptions of the future, as well as to analyze their strong, yet all-too-often hidden, connection to religion, transcendental 

beliefs, and the spiritual beyond. Given the overall state of research at present, 

it proved a much more challenging task to identify and characterize the spe8

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

cifically European element within 20th-century astroculture and to draw a clear 

dividing line between that and American or Russian conceptions of the cosmos. 

Assuming, however, that these were exclusively discussed among the social elites is 

simply incorrect and not confirmed by the source material. Quite the contrary: the 

presence of extraterrestrials in the cultural life of our times has long been undisputed 

and is anything but an epiphenomenon of postmodernity. Aliens as cultural artifacts 

have always been subject to sociocultural fluctuations that can at least be traced 

back to Giovanni Schiaparelli’s discovery of “canals” on Mars in the fall of 1877 

(discussed by Rainer Eisfeld). 

Furthermore, it became clear that fields of historical research usually treated separately, such as the history of extraterrestrial life and science fiction on the one hand 

and the history of spaceflight, rocketry, and satellite technology on the other, must 

necessarily be taken together if the aim is to produce a history of nonscientific 

forms of knowledge (Andreas Daum, Thomas Brandstetter). Visual aspects play a 

central role in the imagination of outer space, in terms of both supply and demand. 

Hardly a single presentation could do without a careful analysis of the enormously 

rich visual material available, be it drawings, photographs, and films or postcards, 

comic books, and video clips (David Valentine). Also from a historiographical 

perspective, the conference offered abundant points of contact to other subbranches 

of historical research going far beyond the history of science and technology 

(Paul Ceruzzi). These included not only the history of philosophy (Benjamin Lazier, 

Gonzalo Munevar), the history of literature (Angela Schwarz), and military history 

(Bernd Weisbrod), but also the history of consumption (Monica Rüthers), of media 

and communication (Peter Becker), and of colonialism (Debbora Battaglia). 

For a long time after 1945, Europe’s active contribution to the physical exploration of 

outer space was, at best, secondary. Nonetheless, as the fascinating contributions to 

this conference testified in a variety of ways, the sociocultural impact of outer space 

has been tremendous, and it remains so. Quite obviously, it will require an enormous 

amount of effort until this “European paradox” of comprehensive space enthusiasm 

concomitant with a decades-long abstinence from actual spaceflight is adequately 

explained and the cultural history of European outer space properly integrated into 

mainstream historiography. It is also obvious that such a challenge can only be met 

by choosing a combined transdisciplinary and transnational approach. However, in 

what way an integration could be accomplished, and to what extent this would be at 

all desirable, are two of the few questions that remained undiscussed in Bielefeld. 

A book based on the contributions to this conference, tentatively entitled Imagining 

Outer Space: European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century, is currently in preparation. A detailed program, abstracts of all presentations, and biographical information on all speakers can be found at http://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/outerspace. A 

video of Steve Dick’s complete keynote lecture can be viewed at http://www.archive. 

org/details/ImaginingOuterSpace1900-2000ZifBielefeldConferenceKeynotes6.2.08-. 

continued on next page 

9

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Space in Europe, Europe in Space: Symposium on 20th-Century Astroculture (continued) 

PROGRAM 

Wednesday, 6 February 2008 

INTRODUCTION 

Alexander C. T. Geppert (Harvard University/Freie Universität Berlin): “European 

Astrofuturism, Cosmic Provincialism: Historical Problems and Historiographical 

Perspectives” 

Steven J. Dick (NASA): “Space, Time and Aliens: The Role of Imagination in Outer 

Space” (keynote lecture) 

Philip Pocock (ZKM): “SpacePlace: Art in the Age of Orbitization” (feature 

presentation I) 

Thursday, 7 February 2008 

PANEL I: THEORIZING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: De Witt Douglas Kilgore (Indiana University) 

Debbora Battaglia (Mount Holyoke College): “Galaxies of E.T. Discourse: An 

Anthropologist’s First Contact with the Science of ‘Weird Life’ ” 

Thomas Brandstetter (Universität Wien): “Imagining Inorganic Life: Crystalline 

Aliens in Science and Fiction” 

Benjamin Lazier (Stanford Humanities Center): “The Globalization of the WorldPicture: Towards a History of Earth and Artifact in Twentieth-Century Thought” 

PANEL II: PERSONALIZING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Bernd Weisbrod (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) 

Christina Wessely (Universität Wien): “Cosmic Spectacular: Rocketry, 

Weltanschauung and the Quest for Cosmic Ice in Weimar, Germany” 

Thore Bjørnvig (University of Copenhagen): “Transcendence of Gravity: 

Arthur C. Clarke and the Apocalyptic of Weightlessness” 

PANEL III: LOCALIZING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Andreas W. Daum (State University of New York at Buffalo)


Kerrie Anne Dougherty (Powerhouse Museum, Sydney): “Spaceport Woomera”


Sven Mesinovic (European University Institute, Florence): “Inner Space and Outer 


Space: Similarities, Differences and Connections” 

10

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

PANEL IV: SCREENING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Peter Becker (Johannes-Kepler-Universität Linz) 

Burghard Ciesla (Universität Potsdam/Universität der Künste Berlin): 

“Outer Space, Inner Fear: Cold War SF Films in East and West” 

Henry Keazor (Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main): 

“A Stumble in the Dark: Gerry Anderson’s ‘Space 1999’ ” 

Werner Suppanz (Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz): “Nazis in Space: Distant Worlds 

as Projection Screen of Cultural Memory” 

Jürgen Ast (Berlin)/Burghard Ciesla (Universität Potsdam/Universität der Künste 

Berlin): “Screening of Historical Films” (feature presentation II) 

Friday, 8 February 2008 

PANEL V: FICTIONALIZING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Angela Schwarz (Universität Siegen) 

Claudia Schmölders (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin): “Unwriting Heaven: 

Tunguska Region, June 30, 1908” 

Steffen Krämer (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München): “Ancient Heroes and 

Early Christian Ascetics: Archetypes of Modern Science Fiction” 

Rainer Eisfeld (Universität Osnabrück): “Projecting Landscapes of the Human 

Mind on Another World: Changing Features of an Imaginary Mars” 

PANEL VI: VISIONING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Alexander C. T. Geppert (Harvard University/Freie Universität Berlin) 

Pierre Lagrange (National Center for Scientific Research [CNRS] Paris): 

“A ‘Symmetrical’ Explanation for Flying Saucers” 

James I. Miller (Davidson College): “Encountering Aliens in the French 

Countryside: UFOs and the Fabrication of a New World in Quarouble, 

France, 1954” 

PANEL VII: POLITICIZING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Kai-Uwe Schrogl (European Space Policy Institute) 

Monica Rüthers (Universität Basel): “Outer Space, Children’s Material Culture and 

Soviet Imagery After Sputnik” 

Michael J. Neufeld (National Air and Space Museum): “ ‘Smash the Myth of the 

Fascist Rocket Baron’: East German Attacks on Wernher von Braun in the 1960s” 

continued on next page 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Space in Europe, Europe in Space: Symposium on 20th-Century Astroculture (continued) 

PANEL VIII: COMMUNICATING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Ralf Bülow (Berlin) 

Guillaume de Syon (Albright College): “Between the Bubble and the Moon: 

Visions of Space Travel in Francophone Comic Strips” 

Bernd Mütter (Universität Bielefeld): “Per Media Ad Astra? Outer Space in West 

Germany’s Media 1957–1987” 

Saturday, 9 February 2008 

PANEL IX: AUTOMATIZING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Paul Ceruzzi (National Air and Space Museum) 

James Schwoch (Northwestern University): “ ‘Short, Nasty, and Brutish’: The 

Curious Life of Telstar, 10 July 1962–21 February 1963” 

Gonzalo Munevar (Lawrence Technological University): “Self-Reproducing 

Automata and the Impossibility of SETI” 

PANEL X: DESIGNING OUTER SPACE 

Chair: Peter Davidson (National Museums Scotland) 

William R. Macauley (University of Manchester): “Inscribing Scientific Knowledge: 

Interstellar Communication, Universal Laws and Contact with Cultures of the 

Imagination” 

Tristan Weddigen (Universität Bern): “Alien Spotting: Damien Hirst’s Beagle 2 

Mars Lander ‘Calibration Target’ and the Exploitation of Outer Space” 

CONCLUSION 

Chair: Steven J. Dick (NASA)


Helmuth Trischler (Deutsches Museum): General Commentary


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VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

News from Headquarters and 

the Centers 

Historical Reference Collection 

Jane Odom continues to evaluate and acquire new material for the Historical 

Reference Collection. She appraises material and directs the subsequent processing 

of collections. Jane continues to answer reference requests and facilitate the entry of 

international visitors into the building. She and other members of the archival staff 

have been working with the information technology (IT) staff on a modification to 

the database that will allow several thousand PDFs in the database to be published 

to an external Web site. 

Colin Fries and John Hargenrader continue to scan the speeches of the Deputy 

Administrators, adding them to the History Division’s database. Colin, John, and 

Liz Suckow all share reference duties, answering inquiries received by e-mail, assisting walk-in researchers, and assisting with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 

requests. Liz and Colin are currently working together on reprocessing a large collection of human spaceflight (Gemini through Shuttle) reports. 

Individually, Liz completed the appraisal of several dozen boxes of Viking Program 

History files that had been recalled from the Federal Records Center. She made 

copies of historically significant items from those boxes and added them to the 

Historical Reference Collection. She is now doing the same with nearly 20 boxes 

of material on the Electronics Research Center, a former NASA installation. Liz 

is also carrying out preservation photocopying of our earliest astronaut biographical files and rehousing the originals in archival-quality folders. Last quarter, she 

completed the processing of a small collection of NACA/NASA Equal Employment 

Opportunity (EEO) files dated 1923–92. 

Colin continues to maintain and improve the History Division Web site. He recently 

finished processing a small collection from the Education Division, 1961–94, 

containing information on the Shuttle naming program, science fairs, and other 

material. He helped fact-check a 50th-anniversary publication and an article written 

for the forthcoming Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which will highlight NASA’s 50th 

anniversary. Also, Colin recently completed an “Introduction to HTML” course 

offered at NASA Headquarters. 

John is adding and captioning new images for the GReat Images in NASA (GRIN) 

photo database. He is currently processing a collection of source files collected by 

Dill Hunley for his recently published book on propulsion technology development 

for U.S. space-launch vehicles. John also continues to perform preservation photocopying as he sees items needing attention. 

continued on next page 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued) 

Ames Research Center (ARC) 

The NASA Ames History Office continued to expand its efforts at curating historical 

artifacts from around the Center. Notable accessions include some early virtual-reality 

visualization devices from Steve Ellis and materials from Earl Keener on visualization 

methods used in wind tunnels. 

Archivist April Gage drafted a basic data dictionary for the History Office artifacts 

database in order to standardize content entry and improve retrieval. The document, 

which was developed using rules in the Society of American Archivists approved 

standard, Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS), provides guidelines for 

entering artifact metadata. The dictionary identifies all variable and controlled fields, 

defines the possible input values for those fields, and includes sample entries. If anyone 

is interested in reviewing this document and providing feedback, please contact April 

at April.D.Gage@nasa.gov. 

Intern Allison Tara Sundaram cataloged 28 paintings depicting Pioneer spacecraft 

and space settlements. She measured, cleaned, and photographed each painting, then 

organized them for storage before generating a caption and a database record. The 

space settlement paintings, by Rick Guidice, were commissioned to illustrate two 

summer studies assessing the economic and technological requirements for settling 

space. The Pioneer paintings, by Paul Hudson and Rick Guidice, depict trajectories 

and planetary approaches by Pioneers 10, 11, and Venus, as well as the landscape of 

the planet Venus. The Pioneer artwork helps the viewer imagine what the spacecraft 

might look like while hard at work in outer space, far away from other cameras or 

human observers. 

The space settlement paintings have been in great demand lately as museums organize 

exhibits about past conceptions of the human-built environment. Four of the paintings were on exhibit during a recent NASA Ames conference on “Virtual Worlds 

and Immersive Environments.” The paintings provided historical insight into what 

was then considered to be the next step in our exploration of space, and they remain 

important as NASA prepares to return to the Moon and travel to Mars. 

Anniversary observations continue to provide opportunities for engagement in history. The NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division celebrated its 25th 

anniversary on 21 April with a series of lectures by the founders of computational fluid 

dynamics and supercomputing in NASA. The Stanford Aeronautics and Astronautics 

Department, cofounded by NACA engineer Walter Vincenti, celebrated its 50th anniversary from 8 to 10 May. NASA Ames staff also were asked to nominate a new class 

of inductees into the NASA Ames Hall of Fame. 

Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) 

Christian Gelzer has begun plans for a revision of Dryden’s visitors’ center. He is 

hoping to include several interactive displays, something new for the Center. He has 

submitted an article, part of a larger work he has under way, to the journal History 

and Technology. Of late, he has been advising a former engineer, whose years at the 

Center began in 1963, on crafting a memoir. He also has agreed to compile an oral 

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VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

history of the Center’s Flight Loads Laboratory and write a short monograph on its 

history. Finally, he continues to work on the truck fairing monograph in between 

time devoted to managerial responsibilities for the contractor that employs him. 

Curtis Peebles’s Road to Mach 10: Lessons Learned from the X-43A Flight Research 

Program has gone to press and should soon be released. It includes a DVD with videos 

of the flights, program reports, flight cards, and documents relating to that program. 

Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the 

book will be available directly from that organization at a price of $39.95. 

Curtis has also begun work on a complete history of the X-43 scramjet program; it 

devotes considerable time to the work done at Langley Research Center, rather than 

just the flight portion of the project. 

Peter Merlin has been working as technical expert and historical adviser on a 

“lessons learned” DVD project in conjunction with Dryden’s safety offices and 

Dryden TV. The latter will put the DVD together while Pete collects written documents, conducts interviews, crafts a script, and helps select video. The project is 

patterned on Dryden’s X-31 Lessons Learned DVD, which was well received within 

the Agency. In fact, that DVD was shown to some people outside NASA, which led to 

requests for copies from the aerospace industry. 

Pete and copresenter Dr. Gregg A. Bendrick (DFRC Flight Surgeon) delivered 

“Possible Vertigo: Astronaut Michael J. Adams and the X-15 Mishap of November 

15, 1967” at the 1st Annual Aviation History Symposium, Antelope Valley College, 

Lancaster, California, an event sponsored by the local AIAA chapter. 

Pete has also been coordinating a display for the Dryden visitors’ center entitled 

“From Space Race to Space Cooperation” as part of our celebration of the Agency’s 

50th anniversary. The display incorporates documents and artifacts from a halfcentury of U.S.-Soviet space exploration, first as rivals and then as partners. 

We expect that From Archangel to Senior Crown: Design and Development of the 

Blackbird, Pete’s most recent book, will be released by the AIAA sometime in 

the next two months. It is a historical case study and lessons-learned analysis of 

Lockheed’s A-12/YF-12/SR-71 family of aircraft (including NASA’s use of the airplanes as flying laboratories). Copies of this book will be available from that organization directly at a price of $39.95. 

Betty Love has been cataloging material from Shuttle flights, and when that is 

done, she will focus her attention on records of earlier retirees whose collections 

have not been sorted. She continues to be an invaluable resource to anyone writing 

history about flight research in this area, as shown by the acknowledgments she 

receives in the latest books by Dennis Jenkins and Robert Kempel on the X-15 and 

X-1, respectively. 

Glenn Research Center (GRC) 

Two new publications about the historic Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) are in 

their final development stages. An interactive CD-ROM and a monograph, both 

by archivist Bob Arrighi (RSIS), are the culmination of a multiyear project to 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued) 

document the facility before its demolition this year. The AWT was the first wind 

tunnel in the United States, and possibly the world, capable of operating full-scale 

aircraft engines in conditions that replicated those actually encountered by aircraft during flight. The facility was later used to simulate the conditions spacecraft 

encountered in space. It had played a significant role in the progression of the 

nation’s aerospace programs, from the World War II reciprocating engine, to the 

first turbojet models, to more advanced jets of the 1950s, through Project Mercury, 

the Apollo Program, and the Centaur missions. 

The archive’s move to its new home is quickly approaching. Construction on the new 

space that will house Library, Records Management, and Archives/History operations is scheduled to be completed by early summer. The processed archival collection will now reside in a dedicated area within the library. Also, we will now have a 

separate, dedicated area for the staging and processing of acquisitions before they are 

brought into the reference area. We are looking forward to the new opportunities this 

move will bring and the positive impact it will have on our ability to assist researchers. 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) 

January 2008 marked the 50th anniversary of the first American satellite launch, 

Explorer 1. JPL celebrated in a number of ways, including the development of 

some commemorative audiovisual materials and publications. JPL historian 

Erik Conway prepared an article for the fall 2007 issue of the California 

Institute of Technology’s (Caltech) alumni magazine, Engineering and Science. 

The article is also available online via the magazine’s Web site. Frank O’Donnell 

prepared a beautiful paperback volume on the event that is also available on 

JPL’s Explorer Web site as a full-color Acrobat file. JPL’s Executive Director for 

Communications, Blaine Baggett, produced a documentary on Explorer that premiered at Caltech’s Beckman auditorium on 24 January to a full house. There were 

screenings for Lab personnel at JPL and for the public at Pasadena City College 

and the Griffith Observatory. It also aired several times on Los Angeles public 

television station KCET and the Discovery HD cable channel. 

JPL also had on-Lab events featuring the Explorer veterans. A private lunch for 

them, followed by tours of JPL and a public lunch for the entire JPL staff, allowed 

the retirees to see some of the Lab’s current ventures and for JPL staff to meet and 

talk with the retirees. JPL Chief Scientist Dan McCleese hosted an anniversary 

dinner for space scientists on 31 January at Caltech’s Athenaeum. On the evening 

of 1 February, JPL Director Charles Elachi hosted an anniversary dinner for the 

Explorer veterans, again at the Athenaeum. 

JPL’s Education Office also organized an educators’ conference on Explorer 1 

for high school teachers. This was held in JPL’s Von Karman auditorium on the 

weekend of 26–27 January. Erik Conway invited Zuoyue Wang from California 

State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and Craig McConnell of California State 

University at Fullerton to help present the history of rocketry and space science 

through the early 1960s. Their aid was much appreciated! 

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VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

One of the Explorer veterans, Henry Richter, helped the JPL Library and 

Archives branch identify key documents from the era. Charlene Nichols and Julie 

Cooper also assembled an exhibit for the library whose centerpiece is 

a “Project Deal” organization chart with photographs of the veterans attached. 

This, along with the documentary, has drawn the most positive comment of all the 

anniversary products. 

Erik Conway also continues to make progress on his Mars book. He has done 

three oral histories, including one with former Associate Administrator for Space 

Science Wesley Huntress, and completed a chapter on the definition phase of the 

Mars 2001 missions. He is currently drafting a chapter on the flights of the two 

doomed Mars 1998 missions and hopes to complete it in April. 

JPL will be launching a new climate science portal Web site in conjunction with 

the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory later this spring. Erik contributed 

a short essay on NASA’s historical role in climate science that is a summary of 

the paper he presented last November at the annual History of Science Society 

meeting: “Planetary Science and Global Warming: or, How NASA Became the 

Dominant Funder of Climate Science.” Erik has two new climate-science-related 

publications out as well: Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway, and Matthew Shindell, 

“From Chicken Little to Dr. Pangloss: William Nierenberg, Global Warming, 

and the Social Deconstruction of Scientific Knowledge,” Historical Studies in the 

Natural Sciences 38, no. 1: 113–156; Oreskes and Conway, “Challenging Knowledge: 

How Climate Science Became a Victim of the Cold War,” in Agnotology: 

The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance, ed. Robert N. Proctor and 

Londa Schiebinger (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2008), pp. 55–89. 

Erik also finished reviewing the copyedited manuscript of his History of 

Atmospheric Science at NASA and shipped it back to the editor. Bob Brugger at 

the Johns Hopkins University Press promises that the book will be out this fall. 

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) 

Tracy McMahan is working as a historian/writer embedded within the Ares 

Projects Office at Marshall Space Flight Center. She is part of an Ares 

Communications Team at Marshall focused on outreach, education, and technical communication. McMahan documents the history of the Ares program as 

it unfolds. For example, she recently traveled with a NASA television crew to 

Stennis Space Center to document work on the A-1 test stand for J-2X powerpack 

testing. There she also interviewed Stennis engineers about the upcoming J-2X 

testing and the construction of the A-3 test stand, a new stand being built for 

altitude testing of the Ares upper stage engine. Thus far, she has completed 14 

2- to 4-hour interviews, including interviews with all the Ares element lead managers. Other Ares historical products will include a chronology and an associated 

documents collection that will be used to archive project documents, white papers, 

technical papers, briefing charts, memos, publications, and key policy documents. 

Prior to joining the Ares communications team led by Bob Armstrong in the Ares 

Project Office at Marshall, McMahan assembled a “lunar library” consisting 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued) 

of hundreds of Apollo/Saturn-era documents, including many that have served 

as useful resources for the current generation of engineers working on Ares. 

McMahan coordinates her work with Marshall historian Mike Wright. She 

has also consulted with historians working on the Johnson Space Center Oral 

History Project. 

Stennis Space Center (SSC) 

The Stennis Space Center History Office welcomes Daphne Alford! Daphne 

has supported the Office of External Affairs and Education at NASA 

John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi since November 2006. She began as a 

professional writer in Media Services and now serves as an administrative professional in the History Office. She is employed by the Huntsville, Alabama–based 

Erica Lane Enterprises Inc., a subcontractor to Jacobs FOSC Group. 

Daphne is responsible for archiving historical documents, responding to historyrelated requests, and maintaining the daily operations of the History Office under 

the direction of the NASA Office of External Affairs and Education. 

As an established writer, Daphne has experience in communications including 

print journalism and public relations in the economic development, health care, 

and education fields. She has received numerous awards and community recognitions in communications. 

Daphne is a past board member of the Pine Belt chapter of the Public Relations 

Association of Mississippi (2002), member of the Mississippi Economic Council 

(2000), member of the College Public Relations Association of Mississippi (2006), 

and member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (2006). 

She is a graduate of William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where 

she earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration. 

Forthcoming NASA History 

Publications 

“Read You Loud and Clear!” A History of NASA’s Spaceflight Tracking and Data 

Network (SP-2007-4232), by Sunny Tsiao. At the height of the space race, 6,000 men 

and women operated NASA’s Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) 

at some two dozen locations across five continents. This network, known as 

STDN, ironically began its operation by tracking Sputnik I, the world’s first 

artificial satellite, which was launched into space by the former Soviet Union. 

Over the next 40 years, the network was destined to play a crucial role on every 

near-Earth space mission that NASA flew. Whether it was receiving the first 

television images from space, tracking Apollo astronauts to the Moon and back, 

or acquiring data for Earth science, STDN was that intricate network behind the 

scenes making the missions possible. Read You Loud and Clear! is a historical 

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VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

account of STDN, starting with its formation in the late 1950s and following its 

history to what it is today, in the first decade of the 21st century. It traces the 

roots of the tracking network from its beginnings at the White Sands Missile 

Range in New Mexico to the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) 

space-based constellation of today. The story spans the early days of satellite tracking 

using the Minitrack Network, through the expansion of the Satellite 

Tracking And Data Acquisition Network (STADAN) and the Manned Space 

Flight Network (MSFN), and, finally, to the space and ground networks of today. 

Other New Aerospace History 

Publications 

Compiled by Chris Gamble 

Rockets, Reactors, and Computers Define the Twentieth Century, by Charles L. 

Bradshaw (Franklin, TN: Providence House Publishers, November 2007). Space 

exploration, nuclear power, and computers are amongst the most world-altering 

developments of the mid-20th century; in this memoir, mathematician Charles L. 

Bradshaw, who is involved in all of those developments, gives a detailed account of 

these momentous changes. Successfully mixing anecdotal and technical information, he recounts the commission to beat the Soviets to the Moon, harness nuclear 

power, and develop what we now understand to be the modern computer. Educating and enthralling, Bradshaw not only engages the reader, but also explains the 

mathematics and science behind early rocket guidance systems, nuclear reactors, 

and pioneering computer programs. 

Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions, 2nd edition, by David M. Harland 

(Springer-Praxis, January 2008). Highlighted as a “commemorative edition” on 

the cover, this second edition has a new foreword by one of the original astronauts, 

contains a short extra section at the end previewing the prospect of a renewal 

of human exploration of the Moon, and includes new extra-high-quality graphics that are only now available, as well as 32 pages of color illustrations. David 

Harland opens with a review of the robotic probes, namely the Rangers, which 

returned television images before crashing into the Moon; the Surveyors, which 

“soft-landed” in order to investigate the nature of the surface; and the Lunar 

Orbiters, which mapped prospective Apollo landing sites. He then outlines the 

historic landing by Apollo 11 in terms of what was discovered and describes how, 

over the next several missions, the program was progressively geared up to enable 

the final three missions each to spend three days on comprehensive geological 

investigations. He concludes with a review of the robotic spacecraft that made 

remote-sensing observations of the Moon. 

The International Atlas of Lunar Exploration, by Philip J. Stooke (Cambridge: 

Cambridge University Press, January 2008). Bringing together a wealth of information from many sources, including some material never before published, this atlas 

is a comprehensive reference book on lunar exploration. It tells the story of every 

spacecraft mission to the Moon since the dawn of the Space Age, illustrating each 

continued on next page 

19

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Other New Aerospace History Publications (continued) 

account with a unique combination of maps and annotated photographs. Many 

of the illustrations were created especially for this atlas, including panoramic 

photographs from every lunar mission. The missions are listed in chronological 

order, providing readers with an easy-to-follow history of lunar missions. Special 

attention has been given to describing the processes involved in choosing landing 

sites for Apollo and its precursors. The atlas also includes missions that were 

planned but never flown; finally, it looks ahead to future missions as the world’s 

space agencies prepare for a new phase of lunar exploration. 

Tourists in Space: A Practical Guide, by Erik Seedhouse (Praxis, February 2008). 

Recent surveys have provided new and updated information into public insights of 

the nascent space tourism industry. Erik Seedhouse uniquely explores, in detail, 

the cutting-edge technologies, spacecraft capabilities, launch vehicles, and training that will define this commercial enterprise. Seedhouse also provides a manual 

for future suborbital and orbital private space explorers. This overview of the 

space tourism market is based upon choices the spaceflight participant must make, 

such as choice of agency, mode, and spaceport. A detailed explanation is given 

of the medical requirements for spaceflight participants, with special reference 

to potential waiver criteria. Over half of the book is a comprehensive astronaut 

training/instructional manual that addresses each of the 15 subjects required for 

suborbital and orbital flight. A DVD with instructional lectures in the form of 

PowerPoint slides is included. 

An Introduction to Space Weather, by Mark B. Moldwin (Cambridge: Cambridge 

University Press, February 2008). Space weather is an emerging field of space 

science focused on understanding societal and technological impacts of the solarterrestrial relationship. The Sun, which has tremendous influence on Earth’s space 

environment, releases vast amounts of energy in the form of electromagnetic and 

particle radiation that can damage or destroy satellite, navigation, communication, and power distribution systems. This textbook introduces the relationship 

between the Sun and Earth and shows how that relationship impacts our technological society. One of the first undergraduate textbooks on space weather aimed 

at non–science majors, it uses the practical aspects of space weather to introduce 

space physics and give students an understanding of the Sun-Earth relationship. 

Moldwin defines important terms throughout the text. Key concepts, supplements, and review questions appear at the end of each chapter to help students 

understand the materials covered. 

The MESSENGER Mission to Mercury, edited by Deborah Domingue and 

C. T. Russell (Springer, February 2008; reprinted from Space Science Reviews 

vol. 131, nos. 1–4, 2007). NASA’s MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, 

GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, launched on 3 August 

2004, is the seventh mission in the Discovery series. MESSENGER encounters the planet Mercury four times, culminating with an insertion into orbit 

on 18 March 2011. It carries a comprehensive package of geophysical, geological, geochemical, and space environment experiments, beginning with 

Mariner 10, to complete the complex investigations of this innermost planet 

20

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

of the solar system. The articles in this book, written by the experts in each 

area of the MESSENGER mission, describe the mission, spacecraft, scientific 

objectives, and payload. The book is of interest to all potential users of the data 

returned by the MESSENGER mission, to those studying the nature of the planet 

Mercury, and to all those interested in the design and implementation of planetary 

exploration missions. 

Spacecraft Structures, by Jacob Job Wijker (Springer, February 2008). 

This book provides insight into the design, construction, and analysis 

aspects of spacecraft. “Spacecraft” includes both satellites and launch vehicles. However, the book’s emphasis is on the construction of spacecraft rather than that of 

launch vehicles. 

Mars: An Introduction to Its Interior, Surface and Atmosphere, by Nadine G. Barlow 

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, February 2008). This textbook covers 

humanity’s current understanding of the planet’s formation, geology, atmosphere, 

interior, surface properties, and potential for harboring life. This interdisciplinary textbook encompasses the fields of geology, chemistry, atmospheric sciences, 

geophysics, and astronomy. Each chapter introduces the necessary background 

information to help the nonspecialist understand the topics explored. The book 

includes results from missions through 2006, including the latest insights from 

Mars Express and the Mars Exploration Rovers. 

Satellite Communication Systems, Part 1: Theory, Technology & Applications, 

by Marcin Swiston (Goodyear, AZ: Exposure Publishing, February 2008). This 

research covers the emerging technology of satellite and Global Positioning 

System (GPS) communications. It gives a view of how this technology is adding 

a new dimension to daily activities. Its applications range from a defending a 

country to locating a local store in any area. GPS is the only fully functional 

satellite navigation system. A constellation of more than two dozen GPS satellites 

broadcasts precise timing signals by radio, allowing any GPS receiver (abbreviated 

to GPSr) to determine its location (longitude, latitude, and altitude) accurately in 

any weather, day or night, anywhere on Earth. GPS has become a vital global utility, indispensable for modern navigation by land, sea, and air around the world, as 

well as an important tool for mapmaking and land surveying. GPS also provides 

an extremely precise time reference, required for telecommunications and some 

scientific research, including the study of earthquakes. GPS receivers can gauge 

altitude and speed with a very high degree of accuracy. 

NASA: The Complete Illustrated History, by Michael H. Gorn (Merrell, March 2008; 

revised and updated edition). This fascinating book—now updated and available 

in paperback to mark the 50th anniversary of NASA in 2008—tells the remarkable 

history of America’s unrivaled contribution to the exploration of space from the 

early 20th century to the present. Award-winning historian Michael H. Gorn covers 

the spectrum of U.S. space missions, including those of projects Mercury, Gemini, 

and Apollo, and the development of the Space Shuttle. He brings the story up to 

date by explaining the functions of NASA’s two windows in space: the Hubble Space 

Telescope and the International Space Station. He reveals the personalities 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Other New Aerospace History Publications (continued) 

involved—the personal ambitions and temperaments of astronauts, scientists and 

engineers, as well as the influence of America’s Presidents on the U.S. space program—as much as the technological advances that have made space exploration 

possible. Authoritatively and engagingly written, the book is profusely illustrated 

throughout with 500 stunning photographs. 

Beyond: Visions of the Interplanetary Probes, by Michael Benson (Abrams, March 

2008; paperback edition). To create Beyond, Michael Benson spent years compiling and digitally processing 295 of the greatest photographs taken by the amazing 

spacecraft that have been exploring the solar system for almost half a century. 

The images, many revealing iconic landmarks, are of a quality to rival the greatest 

landscape photography on Earth. 

Road to Mach 10: Lessons Learned from the X-43a Flight Research Program, by 

Curtis Peebles (AIAA, March 2008). This is the first full-length history of the 

X-43 project, written by the project historian at Dryden Flight Research Center. 

The project achieved the first in-flight testing of a scramjet engine, at speeds of 

nearly Mach 7 and Mach 10. Based on his exclusive access to historical data from 

the project, Peebles illustrates—with real-world examples—how groundbreaking technology unfolds. It details the development of the scramjet over the last 

half-century, providing the reader with an understanding of how external factors 

influence a new technology. 

NASA Space Science Vision Missions, by Marc S. Allen (AIAA, March 2008). In 

order to extend analyses of the scientific objectives, system design, and operations 

of potential future space science missions and to identify precursor technology 

requirements, NASA has funded studies for a variety of advanced missions—the 

Space Science Vision Missions. The investigator teams have completed their 

formal final reports for these studies. The teams were invited to develop shorter, 

summary versions of these final Vision Mission reports suitable for a broader audience. This book, published in partnership with NASA, is the culmination of that 

effort. Each of the reports sketches out a revolutionary mission concept, providing 

information on its science rationale, architecture, implementation approach, technology challenges, and deployment and operations. A final chapter describes an 

analysis of directions for future technology development inspired by this portfolio 

of mission concepts. 

Advanced Propulsion Systems and Technologies: Today to 2020, by Claudio 

Bruno (AIAA, March 2008). Commissioned by the European Space Agency, 

this book details specific propulsion technologies as envisioned by 2020. Each 

technology has been considered in terms of concept, associated key technologies, development status, and proposed roadmaps. The book leads the reader 

through all the steps that propulsion will likely take between now and the 2020s 

in a clear, concise, and detailed way, including market and feasibility perspectives 

when applicable. 

22

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

Space Warfare and Defense: A Historical Encyclopedia and Research Guide, by 

Albert Chapman (ABC-CLIO, March 2008). The book provides a comprehensive 

coverage of the development of space as a possible arena for warfare, exploring the military uses of space—past, present, and future—and specific details 

of actual space weapons systems. The encyclopedia spans the breadth of U.S. 

military space policy; comparable programs in the Soviet Union, China, and 

the European Union; and the full array of international agreements designed 

to regulate the military uses of space. In addition, the encyclopedia includes 

an extensive reference guide (nearly 40 percent of the book) directing readers 

to the essential literature on space weapons and defense systems produced by 

the United States, other governments, research institutions, and additional 

sources. At a time when space is becoming an increasingly important place 

of military competition and potential conflict, Space Warfare and Defense 

dispels the myths and examines the realities of what may become humanity’s 

ultimate battlefield. 

To a Distant Day: The Rocket Pioneers, by Chris Gainor (Lincoln: University of 

Nebraska Press, April 2008). The book introduces the reader to pioneers such as 

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, and Hermann Oberth, who pointed the 

way to the cosmos and created the earliest wave of international enthusiasm for 

space exploration. It shows us German engineer Wernher von Braun creating the 

V-2, the first large rocket, which opened the door to space but failed utterly as the 

“wonder weapon” it was meant to be. From there Gainor follows the space race to 

the Soviet Union and the United States and gives us a close look at the competitive 

hysteria that led to Sputnik, satellites, space probes, and—finally—human flight 

into space in 1961. As much a story of cultural ambition and personal destiny as of 

scientific progress and technological history, To a Distant Day offers a complete 

and thoroughly compelling account of humanity’s determined efforts—sometimes 

poignant, sometimes amazing, sometimes mad—to leave Earth behind. 

Exoplanets: Detection, Formation, Properties, Habitability, edited by John Mason 

(Springer, April 2008). This multi-author volume will be an invaluable introduction 

and reference to all key aspects in the field of exoplanet research. The reviews cover 

detection methods and properties of known exoplanets; the detection of exoplanets 

by gravitational microlensing; the formation and evolution of terrestrial planets 

in protoplanetary and debris disks; the brown dwarf–exoplanet connection; the 

formation, migration mechanisms, and properties of hot Jupiter-like planets; the 

dynamics of multiple exoplanet systems; Doppler exoplanet surveys; the search for 

exoplanets in the stellar graveyard; the formation and habitability of exoplanets in 

multiple star systems; exoplanet habitats and their possibilities for sustaining life; 

and the Moons of exoplanets as possible habitats for life. 

23

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

New Online Resources


NASA History Web Sites 

Four series from the NASA Headquarters Historical Reference Collection have 

been digitized and made available in a new online database for use by researchers. The database is now available at https://mira.hq.nasa.gov/history/; it also may 

be accessed through the History Division Web site. Included are PDFs of press 

kits, press releases, mission transcripts, and Administrators’ speeches. Researchers may use either the Basic Search or Advanced Search to access these. The 

Headquarters History Division staff has digitized all press kits, press releases, 

mission transcripts, and Administrators’ speeches that were available to them in 

the Historical Reference Collection. Links are provided to other sources where 

similar and/or additional information may be found. 

Other New Electronic Resources 

The Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG) has a new Web site, 

thanks to the efforts of SHFG’s Webmaster, Jennifer Levasseur. If you have not yet 

had a chance to check it out, visit http://shfg.org/. This is still a work in progress, so 

if you have any information you believe should be added or you find any mistakes, 

please contact Jennifer through the Webmaster link at the bottom left-hand corner 

of the Web site. 

Interested in learning more about the history of the Moon? The Lunar and 

Planetary Institute has created a Web site dedicated to lunar science and exploration. The Web site has links covering a wide swath of spaceflight history, from 

Apollo-era science to spacecraft, including the lunar rover, Lunar Module, and 

Command and Service Module. Visit http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/ to learn more. 

Apollo Talks is an interesting site that features podcast versions of oral histories 

with “those who went to the Moon and those who sent them.” It is located at 

http://apollotalks.com/ online. 

The publisher of Quest magazine has a new history Web site (http://history. 

spacebusiness.com) that offers additional interviews and other materials that cannot fit into the pages of Quest. The first special feature added was on Sputnik and 

is located at http://history.spacebusiness.com/sputnik/. 

24

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

Quarterly Series: NASA’s 

National Historic Landmarks 

The National Park Service (NPS) manages the National Register of Historic Places 

(NRHP), the 80,000 buildings, districts, structures, and objects that are significant 

to America’s history. The NRHP contains approximately 2,900 National Historic 

Landmarks (NHLs). While NASA’s historic accomplishments in aeronautical research, 

science, and space exploration are well documented, less is known about the buildings 

and structures that supported and enabled these accomplishments. This series provides an 

overview of NASA’s 20 NHLs. This issue features NASA’s 8-Foot High-Speed Tunnel, 

located at Langley Research Center (LaRC) in Hampton, Virginia. 

From New Deal to New Discoveries: 8-Foot HighSpeed Tunnel 

Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia 

By Tina Norwood and Caroline Diehl 

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) New Deal. 

The anniversary provides NASA with an opportunity to showcase an NHL built under 

the New Deal. Kathryn Flynn is the Executive Director of the National New Deal 

Preservation Association (NNDPA), which is leading anniversary events throughout the year. In 2007, she came to a meeting of federal preservation officials in 

Washington, DC, asking them to consider what role the New Deal may have had in 

their agencies. Ms. Flynn states, “I’m pleased NASA followed up on this request. It’s 

fascinating to learn that the reach of FDR’s New 

Deal programs directly supported four NASA 

facilities including a national landmark.” 

Throughout the 1920s, the National 

Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), 

the predecessor agency to NASA, built the 

first wind tunnel complex at what was then 

Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory 

(“Langley”) located in Hampton, Virginia. Yet 

even with the world’s first Full Scale Tunnel, 

completed in 1931, all the tunnels were subsonic. 

As Joseph Ames, Chairman of the NACA, 

recognized, the need to develop transonic 

research capabilities was a committee priority. 

By the late 1920s, Langley was already focused on 

designing the world’s first high-speed 

tunnel (HST). The challenge was how to meet this 

emerging research need in the face of the Great 

Depression of the 1930s. 

25 

The 8-Foot HST at the NACA Langley Aeronautical Laboratory 

provided the means for testing large models and some full-scale 

components at a simulated speed of 500 miles per hour. (Image 

Number GPN-2000-001821) 

continued on next page 
NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Quarterly Series: NASA’s National Historic Landmarks (continued) 

An engineer from the NACA handles a wing model in the 

test section of the 8-Foot HST. (Image Number NASA 

L-46821) 

The 8-Foot High-Speed Tunnel, Facility Number 641, was the world’s first large 

HST. Constructed at Langley in 1936, it is one of NASA’s NHLs. It is renowned for 

its contribution to aeronautics and aerodynamics as well as to wind tunnel design and 

construction. Often overlooked are the challenges the NACA overcame to build the 

tunnel during the Depression. The NACA utilized two New Deal agencies to support 

the high-speed research needs at Langley. The 8-Foot HST was, in fact, the third highspeed tunnel constructed; it was preceded by two small HSTs. 

Langley engineers not only faced the challenges of 

the Depression, but also the technical challenge of 

limited electrical power. To address these concerns, 

Dr. George W. Lewis, Director of Langley, encouraged 

the design engineers to utilize the power reserve created by 

the high-pressure exhaust of the existing Variable Density 

Tunnel (VDT). The resulting first HST was constructed 

in 1928 and had a vertically mounted, 11-inch test section. Though test runs were limited to 1 minute because 

the VDT exhaust after that time was too much for safety 

standards, this tunnel was successful in demonstrating the need to research flight instabilities further near 

Mach 1. The test results prompted Langley engineers to 

begin designing a 24-inch HST immediately. To meet 

the construction funding needs of this second small 

HST, Langley turned to a New Deal agency, the Public 

Works Administration (PWA). 

The PWA was established by President Roosevelt in 

1933. With the primary purpose of providing funding for the construction of public works, it supported the construction of several federal and nonfederal wind tunnels. The 1939 PWA publication Public 

Buildings; A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other 

Governmental Bodies Between 1933 and 1939 (C. W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown) cites 

$200,000 of PWA funds used for the construction of the “24-inch wind tunnel capable 

of producing wind velocities of 750 m.p.h., a free-spinning wind tunnel, and an engine 

research laboratory.” The 24-inch HST and the engine research laboratory were both 

completed in 1934. The 24-inch HST no longer exists. The free-spinning wind tunnel 

referenced was the 15-Foot Spin Tunnel opened in 1935. Used to investigate airplane 

spin characteristics and corrective measures, it was replaced by the larger 20-Foot 

Spin Tunnel (Facility Number 645) in 1941. This tunnel remains in service. The 

engine research laboratory, now called the Engineer Technology Laboratory (Facility 

Number 646) is still in use. 

Like the 11-inch HST, the 24-inch HST also had a vertically mounted test section 

and relied on the VDT to operate. While it could generate higher Reynolds numbers, 

the 24-inch HST also choked near Mach 1. It did, however, have the NACA’s first 

schlieren optics system, which allowed researchers to see the shock waves produced. 

These first two HSTs were instrumental in providing NACA aerodynamic data used by 

the aviation industry. They also pointed to the need for an HST that could test much 

larger models and provide longer test runs. Recognizing that a large HST could give 

the United States an international advantage in aviation, Dr. Lewis authorized the 

design and construction of a large HST in July 1933. Eastman N. Jacobs suggested 

26

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

the initial concept for the 8-Foot HST, and Russell G. Robinson and Manley J. Hood 

lead the design team. Again, Langley met its research needs through support from New 

Deal agencies. 

The 8-Foot HST is featured in the 1939 Short and Stanley-Brown PWA publication, 

which states that it was designed and constructed under the supervision of NACA 

staff for $474,000. It is also reported in NASA records that the tunnel was financed by 

the Works Project Administration (WPA) for $266,000. To address this apparent discrepancy, the authors contacted the NNDPA. Robert Leighninger, NNDPA member 

and faculty associate at Arizona State University, explains that the PWA was the first 

and largest of the New Deal agencies. It focused on the traditional heavy-lifting public 

works like large public buildings, bridges, dams, and so on. These required planning, 

skilled labor, and machinery, all of which did little to make an immediate dent in the 

widespread unemployment of the Great Depression. As a result, the WPA was created 

in 1935 to concentrate on labor-intensive projects that would use lots of unskilled labor, 

require less planning, and be less dependent on machinery. As a rule of thumb, the PWA 

managed big projects and the WPA handled the smaller ones. So while Dr. Leighninger 

states that the two New Deal agencies typically operated independently, it appears that 

the construction of the 8-Foot HST involved both agencies. 

Originally, Robinson and Hood planned a welded steel pressure vessel to support the 

test section. They designed this to address the Bernoulli effect, where the high-speed air 

in the test section would cause the static air pressure within it to be lower than in the 

rest of the tunnel. PWA officials proposed the idea of using concrete for the entire wind 

tunnel. To address the inward pressure, up to 750 pounds per square foot, 1 foot of 

reinforced concrete was used around the test section. This resulted in the unique iglooshaped dome around the test section. 

Using reinforced concrete instead of steel made the project relatively inexpensive and 

enabled the use of WPA laborers. Construction included the closed-circuit structure 

that tapers from 24 feet to 8 feet in diameter, supported on steel and concrete columns, 

as well as a two-story, steel-framed building containing offices and technician areas supporting tunnel operations. Construction was completed in March 1936. 

The 8-Foot HST was first equipped with an 8,000-horsepower (hp) engine that drove 

an 18-blade propeller 16 feet in diameter. This generated wind speeds of up to 575 miles 

per hour (mph), 10 percent more than anticipated in the initial design. However, the 

mechanical energy of this propeller generated a lot of heat—theoretically enough for the 

temperature to reach the melting point of steel and damage tunnel structures and equipment. At the very least, major temperature swings would detrimentally affect tests. 

Robinson therefore designed a heat-exchanger tower above the tunnel that allowed 

the continuous exchange of some cool, outside air for heated air. Operating personnel 

located inside the tunnel’s igloo-shaped test section were subjected to low atmospheric 

pressures, equivalent to a 12,000-foot altitude, when the engine ran at top speeds. To 

counteract these conditions, test personnel were housed in a special work station, 

wore deep-sea diving suits that provided oxygen, and entered and exited through 

an airlock. In all, the PWA funded the construction of four facilities at Langley. 

President Roosevelt must have been proud of New Deal contributions and research 

accomplishments when he toured Langley on 29 July 1940. 

continued on next page 

27

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Quarterly Series: NASA’s National Historic Landmarks (continued) 

The onset of World War II increased the demand for aeronautical research, especially 

after test pilot Ralph Virden was killed in December 1941 while investigating the 

instability caused when diving a Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter. The 8-Foot HST 

had already contributed to the development of high-speed propellers and engine cowlings; in 1942, it provided critical testing that led to the development of “dive recovery 

flaps.” These were immediately designed into U.S. fighter aircraft and the first U.S. 

jet aircraft, the XP-59 Airacomet. Then, in December 1943, the tunnel’s 8,000-hp 

motor failed. In February 1945, the wind tunnel reopened with a 16,000-hp motor and 

second-stage fan. 

The most significant research contributions associated with this tunnel were realized in the postwar era. Aeronautical engineers had long suspected that solid-walled 

test chambers suppressed flow streamlines, thereby causing deceptive aerodynamic 

effects. They theorized that this interference problem could be counteracted by placing slots in the throat of a wind tunnel’s test section. Langley physicist Ray H. Wright 

was the first to engineer a practical design for a “slotted throat” or “slotted wall” in 

the tunnel. In 1948, the NACA approved the conversion of the 8-Foot HST to a slotted 

test section. Engineers, including Richard T. Whitcomb, spent seven months finetuning the test section by hand. The tunnel was redesignated the 8-Foot Transonic 

Tunnel (TT) in October 1950. However, because this was confused with a later 16-Foot 

Transonic Pressure Tunnel (TPT), this designation was not kept. It is often referred to 

as the 8-Foot High-Speed/Transonic Tunnel. Langley engineers, led by manager John 

Stack, were recognized in 1951 for the successful application of the slotted throat and 

for achieving smooth transonic flow distributions in 

this tunnel. 

Research conducted in the tunnel is also associated with 

Richard T. Whitcomb. He earned the Collier Trophy 

in 1954 for one of the greatest achievements in aviation, an innovation called the “area rule” that revolutionized aircraft design. This work led to the use of a 

compressed, or “wasp-waisted,” fuselage design for 

supersonic jet fighters; this design would allow them 

to break what was popularly known as the “sound 

barrier.” However, even with the upgrades, Langley 

would only reach speeds of Mach 0.95 in the 8-Foot 

HST. The last major renovation to the tunnel was made 

in 1957, when wood fan blades were replaced with blades 

made of fiber-reinforced epoxy. The tunnel remained 

in use until 1961, when it was deactivated by NASA. 

NASA kept the tunnel operational for the next 15 years 

through scheduled maintenance. Then, in 1976, the fan 

blades, hub, nacelles, shaft, and turning vanes were 

removed and sent to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 

in Ohio, where they were used in the construction of 

a new facility. Since then, the HST building has only 

been used for office and storage space by Langley Air 

Force Base. 

NACA physicist Ray Wright suits up in a deepsea diving suit in preparation for entering the 

test section of the 8-Foot HST. (Image Number 

NASA L-64110) 

28

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

J. Lawrence Lee, Ph.D., P.E., is an engineerhistorian with the National Park Service Historic 

American Engineering Record (HAER) Office in 

Washington, DC. Dr. Lee states, “The 8-Foot HST 

provided NACA with significant, unprecedented 

capabilities that placed Langley at the forefront of 

the world’s transonic aeronautical research. The 

unique design characteristics and major research 

milestones represented some of the foremost technological developments of the twentieth century.” The 

historical significance of the facility and its many 

contributions to aerospace technology were recognized when it was designated an NHL in 1985 as 

part of the Man in Space Theme Study prepared by 

the NPS. The 8-Foot HST was grouped with facilities recognized as inactive sites that lack much of 

their original historic fabric but are still significant 

because of important events that occurred there. 

When the tunnel was excessed by NASA in 1999, 

Langley subsequently initiated consultation in accordance with the National Historic 

Preservation Act (NHPA). Langley also solicited outside organizations and universities 

to explore possible adaptive reuse or heritage tourism opportunities for the tunnel. Due 

to the lack of interest and funding to support such alternatives, Langley is now preparing to demolish the tunnel circuit. This course of action will enable NASA to return 

the site to the U.S. Air Force, which owns the land (the NACA leased the site). NASA 

plans to transfer the office wing portion of the facility for continued Air Force use. In 

order to mitigate the adverse effect of demolishing the tunnel, Langley has conducted 

additional documentation and recordation of the facility. This includes preparation of 

HAER Level 1 documentation, which provides a permanent record of drawings, photographs, and histories that will be maintained in a special collection at the Library of 

Congress. It not only supports the preservation of the NACA legacy, but it also provides information that will be available to future architects and aeronautical engineers. 

Langley has also prepared documentation on the tunnel, which is available to the 

public via Langley’s Master Plan Web site. The Web site includes interior and exterior 

photographs of the tunnel, film clips of old research projects, a virtual-reality tour of 

the tunnel, and copies of the HAER documentation and is available at http://gis.larc. 

nasa.gov/masterplan/section7_public/. 

Information for this article was provided by Rodney Harris, LaRC Historic 

Preservation Officer, and presented in the Historic American Engineering Record 

Addendum, prepared in February 2006 for NASA LaRC under contract with Science 

Applications International Corporation (SAIC), as well as by J. Lawrence Lee, Ph.D., 

P.E., of the National Park Service. For additional information, contact Caroline Diehl, 

SAIC, at caroline.a.diehl@nasa.gov, or Tina Norwood, NASA Federal Preservation 

Officer, at tnorwood@hq.nasa.gov. 

29


President Roosevelt visits Langley on 29 July 1940. (Image 

Number NASA LaRC 2000-00360) 
NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Other Aerospace History News 


News from the National Air and Space Museum 

Michael J. Neufeld (Chair of the Division of Space History) has won the Richard W. 

Leopold Prize of the Organization of American Historians for Von Braun: Dreamer of 

Space, Engineer of War. The prize is presented every two years for the best book by a 

historian in government service. In addition, the book has been nominated as a finalist in 

the biography category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. The prizes were awarded at 

a dinner in Los Angeles at the end of April. Neufeld has been speaking extensively about 

the book, as well as papers spun off from the book, in such areas as Kansas City; New 

Haven (Yale); Bielefeld, Germany; Copenhagen; Huntsville; Cleveland (Case Western); 

Baltimore (Johns Hopkins); and Atlanta (National Archives/Georgia Tech). The book 

will appear in paperback by Vintage in November 2008, and in Danish and German 

in 2009. 

Roger D. Launius (Space History), has published “An Historical Overview of U.S. 

Manned Space Exploration,” in Daniel Lee Kleiman, Karen A. Cloud-Hansen, Christina 

Matta, and Jo Handlesman, eds., Controversies in Science and Technology: Volume 2, 

From Climate to Chromosomes (New Rochelle, NY: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., 2008), 

pp. 205–236. 

Roger has also participated in several professional conferences: as a panelist on “Careers 

in Federal History: A Panel Discussion,” American Historical Association, Washington, 

DC, 5 January 2008; as presenter of “Abandoned in Place: Interpreting the Material 

Culture of the Space Race” and “An Unintended Consequence of the IGY: Eisenhower, 

Sputnik, and the Founding of NASA,” both at the 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences 

Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, Nevada, 7 January 2008; as a participant on the 

Synthesis Panel, “National Space Forum 2008: Space Challenges Facing the New 

American Administration of 2009,” Washington, DC, 7 February 2008; and as 

moderator for the “Fifty Years of the Space Age” session, American Association for 

the Advancement of Science, Boston, Massachusetts, 15 February 2008. In addition, 

he was selected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of 

Science in 2007. The awards ceremony was held at the AAAS annual meeting in Boston 

on 16 February 2008. 

Finally, Roger Launius received the Charles Thomson prize awarded by the Society for 

History in the Federal Government for his article “Sphere of Influence: The Sputnik Crisis 

and the Master Narrative,” Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 14, no. 4 (2007): 

6–18. The awards committee said this of the article: 

It is a rare scholar who has the breadth and depth of experience to challenge the master narrative in an important area of history, but that is what 

Roger Launius has done in this impressive article. The “master narrative” 

regarding the 1957 launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite has it that America 

was taken by surprise by this event and that it produced a climate of fear 

and crisis; and that the nation rallied behind the leadership of President 

Eisenhower to a concerted effort that led to the creation of NASA and our 

subsequent success in dominating the world in space science. The Launius 

paper convincingly calls into question key parts of this narrative. Launius 

suggests that it was not so much shock and fear as it was a loss of prestige 

that America suffered in the face of Sputnik. And while the public may 

30

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

have been surprised, government scientists and military officials were well 

aware of the Soviet efforts and were actively engaged in similar efforts of 

our own. He also suggests that President Eisenhower was politically outmaneuvered over the issue and that NASA was created against his wishes. 

And finally, he questions the whole aura of triumphalism involved in this 

story and suggests that the course of America’s role in space would probably have been more or less the same if there had been no Sputnik. This 

bold and innovative paper is an outstanding example of the kind of scholarship that the Society wishes to honor with its Charles Thompson prize. 

Von Hardesty (Aeronautics Division) has published a new book, Black Wings: 

Courageous Stories of African Americans in Aviation and Space History (with an introduction by astronaut and former NASA Deputy Administrator Fred Gregory), a joint 

HarperCollins/Smithsonian publication. Also recently published was his Milestones of 

Aviation (Universe). He served as editor and contributor for this revised and expanded 

version of the 1989 title, edited by John T. Greenwood. It is an illustrated anthology with 

contributions from several historians, including the Aeronautics Division’s own John 

Anderson. 

National Geographic Books plans to issue a paperback of Epic Rivalry, which Hardesty 

coauthored with Gene Eisman. The paperback edition will coincide with the 50th anniversary of NASA. The book was recognized at a special reception at the Embassy of the 

Russian Federation on 16 November 2007. 

Calls for Papers 

Society for History in the Federal Government Online 

Journal 

The Society seeks papers for its new online, peer-reviewed history journal to be published 

in the fall of 2008. The journal will promote scholarship on all aspects of the history 

and workings of the federal government, from 1776 to the present, and on relationships 

between the development of American society and government. In addition, the journal 

will feature research articles on methodological developments in federal historical work, 

including the fields of history, archival science, historic preservation, public history, 

museum studies, Web-based history, memory studies, and other related areas. Submitted manuscripts must be fully documented and follow the submission standards posted 

at our Publications link at http://www.shfg.org. Send the manuscript, an abstract, brief 

biographical information, and information on available images to editor-shfg-journal@ 

shfg.org. Deadline: 30 May 2008. 

Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 

David Arnold, editor of Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly, is seeking articles 

for publication. For more about the journal, see http://www.spacebusiness.com/quest/. 

Dr. Arnold sent a note to the editorial board indicating that he has a terrific issue 

coming together for the 50th anniversary of the Space Age but is looking for additional items pertaining both to the anniversary and to other non-anniversary-related 

continued on next page 

31

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Calls for Papers (continued) 

topics for upcoming issues. If you have possible articles for publication or know 

of people who might have articles for publication, please contact Dr. Arnold at 

historyofspace@aol.com. 

International Test and Evaluation Association Journal 

The Journal of the International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA) is looking 

for history articles. Each quarter, there is a column entitled “Historical Perspectives” 

involving short historical sketches of up to 1,200 words, with three or four photographs 

to accompany them. Longer historical pieces have also been published in the main part 

of the journal about subjects of special interest to the association. 

The subject matter for these columns has been intentionally broad. The editors are 

appealing to a wide range of test and evaluation (T&E) practitioners—not so much 

professional historians—so it is important to publish subjects that are varied and novel 

to keep the readers interested. The journal has done one article about an incident 

involving flight testing during World War I, another on truck fairing tests designed to 

increase fuel economy during the energy crisis of the 1970s, and a third on the human 

factors—not just the machinery—involved in the near-fatal crash of a pilot of one of the 

NASA lifting bodies. All have endnotes and, although short, offer good scholarship to 

pique further reading and fresh perspectives. 

All periods of history are open, and T&E is defined liberally: in the modern sense of complex, computerized experiments, but also the much less complex T&E as understood in 

earlier periods. For example, articles can be about specific aircraft (or subsystem) tests, 

influential individuals in the field of testing, technological turning points, or unique 

supporting subjects (for instance, the T&E of airline food!). It can also be a first-person 

account. Moreover, submissions need not be dominated solely by test and evaluation; 

ideally, they will feature T&E in some broader context. 

Finally, the journal is informal in its editorial process. The journal gives the historical 

editor wide latitude to find submissions, so once he makes contact with a potential 

author and hashes out a subject, it is very likely that it will indeed be published. For 

more information, please contact Michael Gorn, Ph.D., NASA Dryden Flight Research 

Center, at michael.gorn@dfrc.nasa.gov. 

Space Times 

Space Times, the bimonthly magazine of the American Astronautical Society (AAS), is in 

search of articles for publication. Articles may cover virtually any topic involving space 

science, technology, exploration, law, or policy. Articles that touch on issues relevant to 

the civil, commercial, military, and intelligence space sectors alike are also welcomed. 

Articles should be written for a well-educated audience that has a great interest in space 

topics but may not necessarily be familiar with the author’s specific topic. They should 

thereforebewritteninactivevoice,withaclearexplanationoftechnicalconceptsprovided. 

Submission of photos or other visual support is encouraged, but not required, and must 

be provided in high resolution (at least 300 dpi) and in JPG, TIF, or GIF format. Please 

provide proof of permission from the owner of any photos or visuals; if permission has not 

alreadybeenobtained,providecontactinformationfortheowner.Formoreinformation, 

visit http://www.astronautical.org.

32

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

Upcoming Meetings 


25–27 September 2008, “John F. Kennedy: History, Memory, and Legacy: An 

Interdisciplinary Conference” will be held at the University of North Dakota in Grand 

Forks, North Dakota. President Kennedy’s special counsel, adviser, and speechwriter, 

Theodore Sorenson, will be one of the keynote speakers for the conference. Please visit 

http://www.und.nodak.edu/instruct/jfkconference/ for more information. 

11–14 October 2008, The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) will be 

hosting “SHOT @ 50: Looking Beyond” in Lisbon, Portugal. Please visit http://www. 

shotlisbon2008.com/ for more information.

13–15 November 2008, “Aeronautical Culture: Artifacts, Imagination, and the 

Practice of Aeronautics 18th–20th Century,” organized by the Centre d’histoire 

des techniques et de l’environnement (CDHTE/CNAM) and the Centre Alexandre 

Koyré—Centre de recherches en histoire des sciences et techniques (CAK-CRHST/ 

CNRS), with the participation of the Aéro-Club de France, the Département d’histoire 

de l’armement (DGA/CHEAr), and the Musée de l’air et de l’espace, and supported 

by numerous institutions, will be held in Paris. Please see http://shotnews.net/?p=419 

for more information. 

Obituaries 

Donald S. Lopez, 84 

Donald Lopez, deputy director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, 

died on 3 March in Durham, North Carolina. According to his son, Donald Jr., the cause 

was a heart attack. 

Mr. Lopez had been with the Smithsonian Institution since 1972 and was instrumental in the construction and development of the National Air and Space Museum. As 

Assistant Director for Aeronautics, he collaborated with Apollo 11 astronaut Michael 

Collins in coordinating the opening of what is now today’s most visited museum in 

the world. 

Mr. Lopez became deputy director in 1983 and served in that capacity until 1990, at 

which point he acted as senior adviser to the director before retiring in 1993. From 1993 to 

1996, Mr. Lopez functioned as senior adviser emeritus and was again appointed deputy 

director in 1996. 

Before joining the Smithsonian, Mr. Lopez was an acclaimed fighter pilot. He began 

his military service in 1942 upon graduation from the University of Tampa in Florida. 

During World War II, he shot down five Japanese planes, giving him recognition as an 

ace. Following World War II, Mr. Lopez was an Air Force test pilot, flew jets in the 

Korean War, and received a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air 

Force Institute of Technology; he also received a master’s degree in aeronautics from the 

California Institute of Technology. He then began teaching at the U.S. Air Force 

continued on next page 

33

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Obituaries (continued) 

Academy as an associate professor of aeronautics and chief of academic counseling. 

He retired from the U.S. Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 1964 and began work as a 

Systems Engineer on the Apollo-Saturn Launch Vehicle and Skylab Orbital Workshop 

for Bellcomm, Inc. 

In addition to his son, Mr. Lopez is survived by his wife, Glindel; his daughter, Joy 

Lopez; and granddaughter, Laura Lopez. The family has asked that anyone who 

would like to honor his memory make donations to the National Air and Space 

Museum Donald S. Lopez Memorial Fund. 

For more information on Donald Lopez, please visit http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/ 

pressroom/presskits/lopez/lopez_background.cfm. 

Robert Jastrow, 82 

Robert Jastrow, an astronomer and science administrator, died of pneumonia on 

8 February at his home in Arlington County, Virginia. 

Dr. Jastrow was the former head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in 

New York and helped found the George C. Marshall Institute in Washington, DC, in 

1984. 

Dr. Jastrow was born in 1925 in New York. He graduated from Columbia University 

with undergraduate and doctoral degrees in physics. He became an assistant professor at Yale University and then joined the Naval Research Laboratory. In 1958, 

Dr. Jastrow joined NASA as the head of its theoretical division, where he conducted 

research in fields such as cosmology and astronomy. 

In 1961, Dr. Jastrow became Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and 

worked on projects such as Pioneer, Voyager, and Galileo. In 1984, he helped found 

the George C. Marshall Institute and was chairman emeritus of the institute until his 

death. In 1992, he also became chairman of the Mount Wilson Institute, which runs the 

Mount Wilson Observatory in California. 

Dr. Jastrow was a frequent television guest and the author of numerous magazine and 

newspaper articles. He was often quoted by both policy-makers and partisans and was 

a commentator on a wide variety of subjects such as the space program, astronomy, 

Earth science, and national security issues. 

Dr. Jastrow was briefly married to the former Ruth Witenberg in 1967, and he leaves 

no immediate survivors. 

34

VOLUME 25, NUMBER 2 May 2008 

The NASA History Division, under the Office of External Relations, NASA 

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We also welcome comments about the content and format of this newsletter. Please 

send comments to Steve Garber, newsletter editor, at stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov. 

NASA Headquarters History Division Staff Contact Information: 

Steven J. Dick, Chief Historian steven.j.dick@nasa.gov 

202-358-0383 

Nadine Andreassen, Program Support Specialist nadine.j.andreassen@nasa.gov 

202-358-0087 

Colin Fries, Archivist cfries@mail.hq.nasa.gov 

202-358-0388 

Stephen Garber, Historian stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov 

202-358-0385 

John Hargenrader, Archivist jhargenr@mail.hq.nasa.gov 

202-358-0387 

Jane Odom, Chief Archivist jane.h.odom@nasa.gov 

202-358-0386 

Elizabeth Suckow, Archivist elizabeth.suckow-1@nasa.gov 

202-358-0375

Created and produced by the following: 

Steve Garber, NASA Headquarters History Division 

Lisa Jirousek, Editor, NASA Headquarters Communications Support Service Center 

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35

36

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration 

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Office of External Relations 

Washington, DC 20546 

http://www.nasa.gov 

http://history.nasa.gov