National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First and Second Quarters 2022

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 From the Acting Chief Historian

1 Bion: An Underappreciated 

History in Space Biology

6 Ed Saltzman, an 8-Mile Bicycle 

Commute, and a Box of LongLost Film Canisters

8 The First On-Orbit Microgravity 

Experiment

10 Important Contributions to Space 

Habitability

from the Ben Franklin

12 From Biplanes to Satellites: 

Percy Keffer’s 47-Year Career 

with the NACA/NASA

13 The NASA Hydrogen Fire Imager

14 News from Headquarters and 

the Centers

19 Other Aerospace History News

22 Upcoming Meetings

23 A Snapshot from Langley’s 

1935–36 Women’s Lecture 

Series

FROM THE 

ACTING 

CHIEF 

HISTORIAN

The theme for this issue of News & 

Notes is “Underappreciated Contributions.” 

At an agency working on so many projects 

across the worlds of human exploration and 

scientific discovery, many important contributions go unnoticed. At NASA, it’s often 

the big discoveries or monumental first steps 

that garner most of the attention. But it is 

the multitude of contributions happening 

behind the scenes that make any of those 

notable achievements possible. For Apollo, it 

was the more than 400,000 employees focusing on every action, every day that provided 

the platform for the lunar missions. The same 

has been true ever since, including during the 

design, development, or operational phases 

of historic programs such as the Space Shuttle, Hubble Space Telescope, or International 

Space Station. Today, programs ranging from 

Artemis to the Nancy Grace Roman Space 

Telescope are being built upon countless other 

underappreciated contributions.

Historians and archivists work diligently and 

deliberately to ensure that these underappreciated contributions are not lost to the ages. 

This work is doubly important to the larger 

historical enterprise. On one hand, it is imperative that we provide a full contextualization 

of the topics we cover to build a usable past. 

On the other, recognizing these contributions 

shines a light on the diversity of thought at 

work in the scientific enterprise. We know that 

continued on next page

BION: AN UNDERAPPRECIATED 

HISTORY IN SPACE BIOLOGY

By James Anderson, Ames Research Center

I

nternational collaboration in spaceflight has a history that extends back 

long before the planning and construction 

of the International Space Station, which 

has since achieved more than 20 years 

of continuous human presence and collaboration in space. Earlier high-profile 

milestones include the Space Shuttle–Mir 

program, in which Russian cosmonauts 

and NASA astronauts conducted joint 

missions aboard the Russian space station with the Shuttle docked to Mir. That 

program lasted for about four years in the 

mid-1990s and included the first Russian 

cosmonaut to fly aboard a Shuttle and the 

first NASA astronaut to fly to space in a 

Soyuz capsule. Roughly 20 years before 

the Shuttle-Mir milestone, the ApolloSoyuz Test Project of 1975 resulted in a 

potent symbol of détente as Soviets and 

Americans shook hands in orbit during 

the successful rendezvous and docking of 

an Apollo Command and Service Module 

with a Soyuz spacecraft. If any event 

signals a relaxing of the space race since 

the launch of Sputnik, Apollo-Soyuz is a 

strong contender.

continued on page 3
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NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

From the Acting Chief Historian (continued)

if we utilize only the top 1 percent of the archival 

record, the histories we produce are misleading fragments at best—representations of hegemonic power 

at worst. In this enterprise, archivists draft more inclusive collection development strategies while historians 

conduct oral histories, seek out new evidence, ask 

new questions, and develop more inclusive narratives. 

Locating “Hidden Figures” isn’t about storytelling—

it’s about gaining a more coherent picture of what 

really happened in the past.

LOCATING “HIDDEN FIGURES” 

ISN’T ABOUT STORYTELLING—

IT’S ABOUT GAINING A MORE 

COHERENT PICTURE OF 

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN 

THE PAST. 

In organizational news, the next step in the transformation of history and archives at the Agency recently 

occurred with the creation of the NASA History and 

Information Services Division (H&ISD). This organization represents a consolidation of the history and 

archival function with libraries and the Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) office. Another key milestone 

is the selection of longtime NASA Deputy Associate 

Administrator for Communications Bob Jacobs as 

Director of the Division. Bob’s wealth of experience in 

telling NASA’s story to the world should prove invaluable in helping our organization reach new audiences 

and stakeholders through new online and social media 

tools. Having built the Agency’s digital media footprint into what it is today, Bob’s guidance promises 

to open new doors to our core public history program 

without losing our solid academic foundations. Make 

sure to be on the lookout as we begin developing new, 

engaging products to share the Agency’s history.

Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to note another 

important transition. Earlier this year, the NASA 

History Office said goodbye as our longtime master of 

all trades, Cat Baldwin, embraced a new challenge in 

her educational and career journey. For those of you 

lucky enough to have worked with Cat, you’ll remember her eye for social media and willingness to do 

whatever was needed for the betterment of the team. 

We wish Cat the best in her future pursuits. On a 

brighter note, we welcomed a new colleague, Michele 

Ostovar, to the NASA History Office. Michele has 

a long history working with NASA publications in 

general and our history publications in particular, 

including our most recent works, Not Yet Imagined: 

A Study of Hubble Space Telescope Operations and 50 

Years of Solar System Exploration: Historical Perspectives. 

Michele’s incredible talents in editing and graphic 

design will take our ability to tell the Agency’s story 

to a whole new level. While our mission remains the 

capture, preservation, and communication of NASA’s 

history, we look forward to collaborating with the 

archivists, librarians, FOIA officers, and new leadership in the History and Information Services Division 

and finding new, exciting ways to bring this history to 

our audiences.

As we move forward to the next stage of our transformational journey, I’m sure we will encounter many 

new, unforeseen obstacles. I’m also sure there will be 

surprising new opportunities. But just as space is hard, 

so is its history.

Brian C. Odom

Acting Chief Historian
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Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

Bion: An Underappreciated History in Space Biology (continued)

An illustration depicting the Apollo spacecraft rendezvousing with the Soyuz. While the Apollo-Soyuz 

Test Project of 1975 is perhaps better known as an example of Cold War cooperation in space, Bion 

3 launched the same year as part of a series of missions that achieved more than two decades of 

cooperation in space biology. (Image credit: NASA/Davis Meltzer)

Perhaps less known, but well documented and clearly 

articulated by historians, are the early moments of contemplation and the examples of diplomatic overtures 

in the space race for an international lunar mission 

that President Kennedy made both before and after 

his 1961 declaration to a joint session of Congress 

that the United States should commit itself to landing 

on the Moon. Events such as the Bay of Pigs and the 

dissolution of the Soviet Union are not simply backdrops to space history. The geopolitical contexts for 

milestones in spaceflight are unquestionably important, since space endeavors are merely carried out in 

the literal vacuum of space, not some metaphorical 

vacuum. Missions of exploration and scientific collaboration always require some level of negotiation 

within political, cultural, and technical contexts.

While planning for Apollo-Soyuz was under way, 

an entirely separate and international collaborative 

effort had been initiated that included American 

space biologists as well as scientists from a handful 

of other countries participating in a Soviet (later 

Russian) program. That program was called Bion, and 

for more than two decades, from 

1973 through 1996, a series of 

missions launching from Plesetsk 

Cosmodrome aboard the Bion 

spacecraft provided investigators 

with a platform for conducting fundamental space biology 

research in orbit with organisms 

ranging from cells, plants, and 

insects to (eventually) rodents and 

primates. Of the 11 Bion missions, 

NASA participated in 9 of them, 

beginning with Bion 3 in 1975 

through Bion 11 in 1996. Roughly 

half of all the U.S. life sciences 

experiments that involved nonhuman subjects—more than 100 of 

them—occurred as a result of the 

collaboration. Over the course of 

the program, hundreds of U.S. scientists, bioengineers, and technology developers participated. The 

Russians provided the spacecraft and launch access 

to NASA researchers, and NASA researchers brought 

their scientific and technological expertise into closer 

coordination with their Russian counterparts.

The bargain that NASA got for space biology research 

in those years is significant and likely contributed to 

the longevity of the collaboration as NASA researchers 

were able to “fly under the radar”—never attracting 

too much attention as the collaboration required only 

a modest investment from NASA. NASA and Russia 

would ultimately fund the program on more equal 

footing after the breakup of the Soviet Union, but that 

was late in the program, and space biology research 

had new platforms aboard the Shuttle and Mir by 

that time. Bion also served as a sort of programmatic 

bridge for space biology research, providing a path for 

space biologists at a time when Apollo had ended and 

NASA’s first substantive attempt at a dedicated space 

biology program—Project Biosatellite—had generated marginal scientific returns for what came to be a 

rather expensive program. Project Biosatellite had also 

suffered from timing and tragedy. The final mission, 
4

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

Biosatellite 3, returned to Earth less than two weeks 

before Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon. In an 

effort to maximize the scientific return of the mission 

that carried the first primate of the three launches, 

over-instrumentation was ultimately identified as the 

likely cause of stress—not spaceflight itself—that led 

to the loss of the monkey. The loss was not collateral 

damage in the name of science. It was a programmatic 

failure that deserved criticism even while providing an 

opportunity to learn from that failure. NASA would 

not go on to fund a similar program flying primates, 

save for its investment in what would become the 

Bion missions. Meanwhile, a separate development 

and key component of the Shuttle Program, Spacelab, 

provided another international collaboration that 

incorporated space biology. Prototype testing during 

Spacelab’s development further allowed researchers to address problems experienced during Project 

Biosatellite.

A mock-up of a Bion spacecraft on display at the Space Pavilion in Moscow. The central spherical module (similar to the Zenit bus) was adapted from the 

Vostok spacecraft, a smaller version compared to the Soyuz. (Photo credit: NASA)

The cadence of the Bion program, launching roughly 

every two years, also provided opportunities for regularly addressing new questions and applying insights 

from previous missions. Bion 6 flew the program’s 

first two primates in 1983, with a pair of primates in 

each subsequent flight joining the usual complement 

of other experimental packages from participating 

countries. NASA’s involvement in Bion ceased after 

Bion 11, when postflight anesthesia of the monkey 

named Multik contributed to the loss of the animal. 

NASA’s exit from the program essentially ended Bion 

and, for several years, shifted reliance to other model 

organisms in space biology research.

This history has been investigated to some extent 

already. The work of Kristen Edwards appeared in the 

fall 1999 edition of Quest, and that work informed 

much of the chapter on Bion appearing in the book 

Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space 

Shuttle, by Chris Dubbs and Colin Burgess. Only 
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Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

touched upon in these narratives, however, is a focus 

on the interactions, relationships, and significant 

collaborations within the international 

community of space biologists themselves. Managers, researchers, engineers, 

and translators all came together to make 

the program succeed for over 20 years, 

even as the geopolitical context shifted 

beneath their feet. While Bion was never 

as publicly visible as cosmonauts and 

astronauts shaking hands in space, the 

“soft” diplomacy that prevailed was carried out less by diplomats and more by 

the like-minded practitioners within the 

space biology community focusing on 

common goals.

MANAGERS, RESEARCHERS, 

ENGINEERS, AND TRANSLATORS 

ALL CAME TOGETHER TO MAKE 

THE PROGRAM SUCCEED FOR 

OVER 20 YEARS, EVEN AS THE 

GEOPOLITICAL CONTEXT 

SHIFTED BENEATH THEIR FEET.

That is the kind of story that resonates 

today as governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), industry, and 

scientific communities across the globe 

confront the current and future ramifications of climate change. Criticism 

has been levied against the highest levels 

of government and industry for inaction in this realm, making even more 

pressing the need to identify teams 

that are populated with expertise from 

across multiple sectors and levels of 

government, industry, and academia. This element 

of the cross-disciplinary, international, team-building 

approach to solving common problems is just one set 

of lenses through which to take a fresh look at this 

period of space biology research. NASA is not a monolith in this telling, as NASA-funded research enabled 

university research laboratories and small businesses 

to engage in this research. And a window into that 

historical development and the lessons learned are 

aspects captured in a manuscript that has been drafted 

over the years by an American participant in Bion and 

his coauthor. The NASA History Office is working 

with the authors on this Bion manuscript, and we 

are looking forward to encouraging this and related 

research into what has been an otherwise underappreciated historical development.

Rapid payload recovery during Bion missions was crucial for many of the experiments on board, 

including the many experiments that had nothing to do with primates. This bio-transporter 

case had environmental controls to keep bio-specimens stable for transport and distribution 

to NASA’s space biologists and their international collaborators once the specimens had been 

retrieved from the spacecraft shortly after landing. (Photo credit: NASA/Tom Trower)
6

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

ED SALTZMAN, AN 8-MILE BICYCLE COMMUTE, 

AND A BOX OF LONG-LOST FILM CANISTERS

By Christian Gelzer, Armstrong Flight Research Center

Edwin J. “Ed” Saltzman arrived at the National Advisory Committee 

for Aeronautics’ (NACA’s) High Speed 

Flight Research Station (now Armstrong 

Flight Research Center) in 1951 with a 

degree in mechanical engineering and 

work experience at a U.S. munitions 

plant in Iowa, his home state. His first 

work was to calculate the base drag of 

the Bell X-1 aircraft the Center was 

still flying, and for much of his career 

Saltzman continued to work on base 

drag questions for aircraft, including the 

X-15 and XB-70.

Living just over 8 miles from Edwards 

Air Force Base, where the Center is 

located, Saltzman usually rode his bicycle to work. It was on these rides in the 

early 1970s, more than a decade after 

the NACA had transformed into NASA 

and when the nation was roiled by its 

first peacetime gas crisis, that he began 

thinking of ways to lower the aerodynamic drag of long-haul tractor-trailers, 

improving their efficiency. (This was 

no coincidence: each approaching 

semi’s bow wave shoved him toward 

the roadside creosote bushes; then its 

base low-pressure region sucked him 

toward the middle of the road.) From 

his bicycle musings came the aerodynamic truck fairing project involving a 

highly modified delivery van and two 

tractor-trailer units. Long-haul trucks 

and trailers look the way they do today, 

with fairings front and back as well as 

side skirts, in large part because of the 

project’s empirical data.

Edwin Saltzman is pictured at his desk at the Flight Research Center. (Photo credit: NASA)

The final configuration of the tractor-trailer with the center modified to reduce its aerodynamic 

drag. (Photo credit: NASA)
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Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

Earlier in his career, in 1960, 

Saltzman needed material 

on the F-102 aircraft and 

recalled boxes of records from 

the nearest Federal Records 

Center. Rummaging through 

the boxes for the F-102 data, 

he came across a cluster of 

small-diameter, 4-inch-tall film 

canisters that he recognized 

from his work in the 1950s. 

These were rolls of film from 

on-board recorders with time 

histories of different sensors 

that the computers used to 

generate plots for aeronautical 

engineers. Curious, he opened 

several canisters and glanced 

at the writing on the masking 

tape on the film’s leaders. He 

instantly knew what he held: 

original rolls of film from 

Chuck Yeager’s Mach jump on 

14 October 1947—including 

the one showing the Mach 

jump itself, long thought to 

be lost forever. That film was 

accessioned by the National Air 

and Space Museum in 1976, 

and both the Center and the 

U.S. Air Force received copies.

Top: The Bell X-1 rocket-powered experimental aircraft. Middle: Segment of film showing the pressure 

change as Chuck Yeager exceeded Mach 1 (seconds 147.4–164.5). Bottom: A rediscovered roll of data film 

from the first Mach 1 flight. (Photo credits: NASA)

Back in the 1950s, three years after coming to work 

for the NACA, Ed Saltzman and his wife Lois traveled 

back to Iowa to see family and friends. His grandfather 

asked him what he did, and Ed told him he worked 

on airplanes. Pushed for more detail, he explained 

that he worked for the NACA (and explained that, 

too) and what he did for work. His grandfather finished the conversation: “Hah. Sounds like a fly-bynight outfit to me.”1

1 NASA Headquarters NACA Oral History Project Interview with Edwin J. Saltzman. 17 February 2015. https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.

gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/NACA/SaltzmanEJ_2-17-15.htm.

Ed Saltzman retired from NASA in 2003, and he and 

Lois finally moved more than 8 miles from Armstrong 

Flight Research Center.

The transcript of a 2015 oral 

history interview with Saltzman 

is available online.
8

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

THE FIRST ON-ORBIT MICROGRAVITY EXPERIMENT

By Bob Arrighi, Glenn Research Center

Preparation of a Lewis-designed microgravity experiment in March 1962 to be conducted during Aurora 7 

mission. (Photo credit: NASA)

Microgravity research has been a regular component of human spaceflight since the early 

Space Shuttle flights in the 1980s and is an essential 

function of the International Space Station today. 

Decades earlier, however, researchers at NASA’s Lewis 

Research Center (known as Glenn today) designed 

the nation’s first on-orbit microgravity experiment for 

Scott Carpenter’s Mercury-Atlas Aurora 7 mission in 

May 1962.

The effect of microgravity on humans was one of the 

primary concerns of the early space program. The biological effects of low gravity were studied by launching 

a wide range of lifeforms, most famously monkeys, 

into the upper atmosphere on missiles and by subjecting the Project Mercury astronauts to brief periods of 

“weightlessness” on aircraft.

Researchers at NASA Lewis, 

however, were more concerned 

with how fluids, particularly liquid hydrogen, would 

behave in space. The Center 

led the Agency’s work on cryogenic propellants that would 

be used in the Centaur and 

Saturn upper-stage rockets. In 

the low-gravity environment 

of space, liquids would not 

settle at the bottom of the 

tank. Instead, the propellants 

might disperse inside the tank 

or cling to the walls, making 

pumping to the combustion 

chamber difficult.

In 1958, researchers at Lewis 

began using a 12.5-foot counterweight rig to subject fluids 

to 1 second of microgravity. 

The testing ramped up in 1960 

and 1961 with the addition of 

a 79-foot drop tower that produced 2.2 seconds of 

microgravity, then an AJ-2 Savage aircraft whose parabolic flight pattern could generate roughly 27 seconds 

of microgravity, and subsequently sounding rockets 

capable of producing several minutes of low gravity. 

The Mercury missions planned for early 1962 offered 

the opportunity to study the effects of microgravity for 

several hours.

Lewis’s initial research revealed that fluids were randomly distributed throughout the tank in microgravity, but the surface tension of a cylindrical baffle in the 

center of the tank helped stabilize the fluid’s position 

and guide it to an outlet port. The ground-based tests, 

however, did not provide sufficient time to determine 

if the liquid would completely flow through the baffle. 

The researchers were also anxious to examine the effect 
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Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

of spacecraft maneuvers and deceleration on the baffle’s performance.

Center Director Abe Silverstein shows reporter Helen Waterhouse the Lewis microgravity 

experiment that was flown that day on the Aurora 7 mission. Cary Nettles (left) and Warren 

Plohr look on. (Photo credit: NASA)

Donald Petrash, Ralph Nussle, and Edward Otto of 

the Space Experiments Section designed a small glass 

sphere containing a 1.1-inch cylindrical baffle and 

filled it 20 percent full with dyed water. The container 

was encased in a metal frame that could be mounted 

behind the astronaut so that it could be continuously 

monitored by the observation camera. The Space Task 

Group assigned the experiment, along with two other 

unrelated tests, to the nation’s second orbital human 

spaceflight in the spring of 1962.

Mercury-Atlas 7 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 

7:45 a.m. on 24 May 1962. Five minutes and 26 seconds later, the dyed liquid completely filled the tube 

as the capsule entered space. The fluid remained in the 

tube throughout the capsule’s nearly 4.5 hours in orbit.

Although the experiment did not require any human 

interaction, Mission Control asked Carpenter for an 

update on it as the capsule entered its third and final 

orbit. Carpenter glanced over his right shoulder and 

reported, “At this moment, the fluid is all gathered 

around the standpipe; the standpipe 

appears to be full and the fluid outside the 

standpipe is about halfway up.” The firing of the retrorockets for reentry caused 

the liquid to briefly exit the tube, but it 

returned to the steady-state position until 

the capsule reentered the atmosphere.

The experiment was a success. Although 

damaged by seawater during the recovery, 

the film showed that the dyed liquid completely filled the baffle and remained there 

throughout the flight. It also revealed that 

the spacecraft movements and deceleration for reentry did not cause any significant change in the liquid’s position.

Although additional studies would be 

needed to perfect tank and baffle designs, 

the Aurora 7 experiment was significant in 

that it confirmed the researchers’ prediction that the 

tube provided sufficient surface tension to accomplish 

the critical role of controlling fluids in low gravity. 

Since that first in-space test in 1962, Glenn Research 

Center has conducted hundreds of microgravity 

experiments in space to study combustion, biotechnology, materials science, and fluid physics.

The Lewis experiment is visible to the right of astronaut Scott Carpenter’s 

helmet. The film was subsequently water damaged during the capsule 

recovery. (Photo credit: NASA)
10

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO SPACE HABITABILITY

FROM THE BEN FRANKLIN

By Brian Odom, Marshall Space Flight Center

Living away from Earth has never been easy. Capturing a bit of the Earth environment for the 

trip into space is critical no matter how short the 

mission. But beyond the goal of providing air, water, 

and food, what other factors should be considered to 

make human space exploration possible and, to some 

degree, palatable? What are the long-term effects of 

space travel both on the physiology and psychology of 

the crew, and how can these be mitigated? In the early 

years of the space program, no one knew the answers 

to these questions or had a good idea of how to get 

them. What was needed was an isolated laboratory 

that would combine a harsh environment with a rigorous program of scientific discovery. In the summer 

of 1969, NASA utilized a now largely forgotten expedition to try to answer its questions.

The undersea laboratory chosen for the mission was 

the Ben Franklin (also called the PX-15)—a submersible vessel conceived by Swiss oceanographer Dr. 

Jacques Piccard and designed, built, and operated by 

the Grumman Aerospace Corporation. Known as the 

Gulf Stream Drift Mission (GSDM), the 30-day study, 

supported by the Naval Oceanographic Office, sought 

to explore the environment of the Gulf Stream as the 

vessel drifted north at a depth varying between 600 

to 2,000 feet. The GSDM gave NASA an opportunity to observe the effects of prolonged isolation on 

the six-person crew while exploring concerns around 

psychology and physiology, habitability, microbiology, 

and maintainability in spacecraft design.

NASA recommended the Ben Franklin as an analog 

of a space vehicle because the vessel provided the crew 

with several characteristics of the space environment, 

including confinement in a closed ecosystem and 

isolation from normal family and social contacts. As 

an analog for future space stations, the mission provided an opportunity for the Agency to learn to anticipate challenges faced in long-duration spaceflight, 

including providing a normal Earth atmosphere in 

both gaseous composition and pressure; determining 

approximate size and habitable volume as planned 

concepts for future space missions; and designing a 

scientific mission relative to the type of discovery typical of spaceflight.

NASA officials survey the deep-sea research submarine Ben Franklin 

while docked in July 1969. (Photo credit: NASA)

Habitability studies at NASA were nothing new. The 

Agency had conducted various ground-based static 

simulator or chamber studies along these lines from 

its founding in 1958. What made the Ben Franklin 

mission different was its ability to move beyond issues 

such as the effects of confinement, social isolation, 

deprivation, and cramped space by adding the elements of a meaningful mission, a hostile environment, 

operational stress, abort difficulty, remote operations, 

and the sustained motivation that resulted from participating in a real scientific undertaking.

Leading the mission for NASA was Chester “Chet” 

May, at that time an aerospace engineer in the 

Mission and Payload Planning Office of Program 
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Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

Development at Marshall Space Flight Center. The 

mission would not be May’s first experience with space 

analogs. Before coming to Marshall, May had worked 

for the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base 

at Dayton, Ohio. There, he conducted tests in the 

weightless environment produced by the KC-135 

aircraft during parabolic flights. Experiments in the 

KC-135 led to the development of mechanical weightless simulators and produced new space maintenance 

techniques and astronaut maneuvering units. One 

example of May’s innovative work was a space maintenance experiment testing the minimum reaction characteristics of a space power tool for which he served as 

principal investigator. The experiment was flown on 

the Gemini VIII and XI missions.

Interviewed before the mission, May described exactly 

what stood at the core of the effort, noting that “we 

are self-contained down here—we have no ties to the 

surface. So, here we are, away from regular society, 

away from the actual social environment [in] which 

each of us normally move. This is one of the things we 

are interested in in the space program, how does man 

effectively perform isolated from his normal social 

environment.”1

If national attention was important to the mission, the 

organizers could not have picked a worse spot on the 

calendar. Overshadowing the Gulf Stream mission was 

the flight of Apollo 11, which landed on the Moon on 

20 July. On 16 July, two days into the journey north 

from West Palm Beach, Florida, the crew of the Ben 

Franklin sent a message to the crew of Apollo 11, the 

text of which read, “We all wish you a fair wind and a 

following sea, good luck!”

After drifting in the Gulf Stream for 31 days and 

traveling over 1,400 nautical miles, the Ben Franklin 

surfaced on Thursday, 14 August 1969. Chet May 

and the rest of the six-person crew were transported 

by the United States Coast Guard to Portland, Maine. 

The trip provided NASA with a wealth of new information about team dynamics, hygiene, health, and 

1 32934 Grumman Piccard PX-15 Submersible Ben Franklin Gulf Stream Research Mission “Thirty Days Beneath the Sea” film available 

at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaNfbOb9ZhY

provisioning. Some data points were easily predicted, 

such as the crew’s dislike of the available food, and 

that reading and listening to music proved beneficial. 

Other findings pointed to more unforeseen but serious issues. The study found that the crew exhibited 

increased signs of depression during the midpoint of 

the mission and, as the mission progressed, began to 

take meals alone, reflecting both a need for privacy 

and avoidance of conflict. The results of this experiment provided a baseline for human factors in the 

design and development of subsequent spacecraft.

Pictured is an interior view of the Ben Franklin showing the 

living quarters of the research submarine. (Photo credit: NASA)

The experience of the crew aboard the Ben Franklin 

never garnered many headlines and remains largely 

forgotten today. However, the lessons learned from 

that brief excursion along the bottom of the Gulf 

Stream informed later successes of Skylab, Spacelab, 

and the International Space Station. As we journey 

back to the Moon with the Artemis program, it is 

worthwhile to reconsider just how far we have come 

since the summer of 1969.

For more information on the Ben Franklin mission, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/

px15.html and watch the video: Meanwhile, At the 

Bottom of the Ocean, found at https://images.nasa.gov/

details-GSFC_20111012_BF_m10849_Bottom_Ocean.
12

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

FROM BIPLANES TO SATELLITES: 

PERCY KEFFER’S 47-YEAR 

CAREER WITH THE NACA/NASA

By Teresa Hornbuckle, Photo Archives, Langley Research Center

According to Percy Keffer, he had no claim to fame; 

he had just been working steadily since 1920.

Born in Blacksburg, Virginia, on 16 April 1897, Percy 

R. Keffer moved to Newport News at an early age and 

attended public schools in that city. Around the age 

of 16, he started an apprenticeship as a patternmaker 

in the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock 

Company, which he completed in 1917. Back on the 

Peninsula on a visit in 1920, he read an advertisement in the local paper. It seemed that NACA Langley 

Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (LMAL) needed a 

patternmaker, so Keffer applied and was hired on 21 

September 1920, soon after the official dedication of 

the Laboratory in June of that year. With the entire 

LMAL staff numbering around 40, he was the only 

worker of his kind. Keffer worked as a patternmaker 

at Langley from 1920 to 1941 and was named as 

superintendent of the Langley carpenter shop in 

1941. He ended his career in the Mechanical Services 

Division as manager of the Model Making Branch. 

One of the last large projects he participated in before 

his retirement on 30 December 1967 was the Echo I 

Communications Research Satellite. His children, 

Percy R. Keffer, Jr., and Julia Welch, followed in his 

footsteps, also enjoying careers with NASA.

Percy Keffer in December 

1941 (Photo credit: NASA)

Besides his work at the NACA/

NASA, Keffer served his community in various ways. He 

was division chairman for the 

Laboratory’s United Fund 

Drive Campaign, Community 

Chest, and March of Dimes. 

He was known to lead as the 

volunteer “table hop,” earning 

the nickname “Percy ‘Short 

Order’ Keffer,” and served as 

an instructor for apprentices in mechanical drawing 

and other classes held for students at Langley. In the 

wider community, Keffer served on the Hampton 

City Council, on the board of directors for the city’s 

Department of Public Welfare, and as president of the 

local Kiwanis Club.

Percy Keffer passed away in March 1983. His 47-year 

career at the NACA/NASA granted him a frontrow seat to the early years of aerospace history, with 

hands-on experience working with everything from 

biplanes to spacecraft.

Top: Percy Keffer at Sphere Making Apparatus. Bottom:Workers in the pattern makers’ 

shop manufacture a wing skeleton for a Thomas-Morse MB-3 airplane for pressure 

distribution studies in flight, June 1922. (Photo credits: NASA)
13

Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

THE NASA HYDROGEN FIRE IMAGER

By Jessica Herr, Stennis Space Center

Safety at NASA is never taken for granted, and the Agency 

continually looks to improve 

the safety of the employees on 

site. One invention developed in 

the early 1990s to improve the 

safety of employees at Stennis 

Space Center (SSC) is the NASA 

Hydrogen Fire Imager.

NASA Stennis engineers devised a way to scan for hydrogen fires as part of rocket engine test programs. 

The technology fostered the development of FIRESCAPE, a commercial unit to “see” the invisible flames of 

hydrogen and alcohol fires. (Photo credit: NASA)

Stores of liquid hydrogen are 

commonplace at SSC, where it 

is used at test stands to power 

rockets. Experts at Stennis are 

proficient in the transportation, 

storage, system design, training, 

safety standards, hazard analysis, and testing of hydrogen 

propellant. The site was once 

the world’s largest user of liquid 

hydrogen, consuming and storing 

great amounts for testing Space Shuttle main engines. 

As hydrogen is a very flammable gas and hydrogen fires 

are invisible, if a hydrogen leak is believed to be present, it should always be presumed that a flame is also 

present. The Hydrogen Fire Imager, developed by Heidi 

L. Barnes of Stennis Space Center and Harvey S. Smith 

of Lockheed Martin, made it possible for technicians to 

visually spot a hydrogen flame and immediately respond 

by shutting down the hydrogen source and extinguishing 

the hydrogen fire. The imager allows users to see at infrared wavelengths, causing hydrogen fires to appear bright 

relative to the background light of the Sun. In addition 

to hydrogen fires, the imager also aids in the detection of 

alcohol and hydrocarbon fires, which emit light in the 

same spectral regions.

This little-known invention has helped many stay 

safe from invisible threats and has contributed to the 

Agency’s mission success.

The Stennis Space Center fire department illustrates how the Hydrogen 

Fire Imager can be used to see through dense smoke to find a staged 

victim trapped in a building. (Photo credit: NASA)
14

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND THE CENTERS

NASA HEADQUARTERS (HQ)

Washington, DC

With Cat Baldwin’s departure from the 

Headquarters History 

Office to pursue her education, we are joined by 

Michele Ostovar, former 

Publications Specialist with 

the Communications and 

Support Services Center at 

Headquarters, to fill Cat’s 

communications support 

role. Originally from the 

Canadian prairies, Michele 

has bachelor’s and master’s 

degrees in paleobotany but left a Ph.D. program at 

the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to 

pursue other career interests. After working in science 

publishing for several years, she returned to school 

to study graphic design, specializing in book design. 

Since 2015, she has worked with the History Office 

on the design and production of books in the NASA 

History Series, the annual President’s Report, and 

News & Notes, as well as working on graphic design 

needs from other offices across the Center. Michele 

jumped at the chance to join the NASA History team 

and looks forward to exploring how NASA’s history 

can be communicated more broadly and to a wider 

audience.

Headquarters Intern Update

This summer, the NASA Headquarters History 

Office welcomes four interns, serving from 6 June to 

12 August. Sedrick Billups, Priscilla Foreman, Aneka 

Kazlyna, and Madelyn Pollack, working virtually from 

their homes, are doing research projects, bolstering 

NASA History’s social media presence, and building 

professional connections within the Agency.

Sedrick Billups is a student at the University of 

West Alabama, majoring 

in computer information 

systems and minoring in 

history. Currently living 

in Tuscaloosa, he is taking 

two classes this summer and 

having a great experience 

networking and learning 

during his internship with 

the History Office.

Priscilla Foreman is a rising 

senior at Rhodes College 

in Memphis, Tennessee, 

majoring in history and 

media studies. Her past 

projects mainly focused 

on social history, typically 

accompanied by a media 

element such as photo 

essays, ArcGIS map elements, and videos. She is 

excited to spend her summer with the talented staff at 

the NASA History Office and cannot wait to see the 

fantastic projects that arise from this experience.

Aneka Kazlyna is a graduate student at Columbia 

University, where she studies the history and philosophy of science and technology. She is interested in the 

history of the physical sciences, especially astronomy. 

This summer, Aneka is an intern working with both 

the History Office and Astrobiology Program. She is 

excited to research historical paradigms that provide 

context for understanding and communicating the 

discovery of extraterrestrial life.

Michele Ostovar is pictured on 

the California central coast.

Sedrick Billups, summer intern

Priscilla Foreman, summer intern
15

Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

Madelyn Pollack is a DC 

area native, hailing from 

Rockville, Maryland. A rising junior at the University 

of Maryland, Baltimore 

County (UMBC), she is 

majoring in history with 

minors in public history 

and Judaic studies and is 

a member of UMBC’s 

Ho n o r s C o l l e g e a n d 

Humanities Scholars Program. She is looking forward to engaging in interdisciplinary research that will 

merge her humanities-based academic background 

with the many disciplines that contribute to NASA’s 

mission success.

Madelyn Pollack, summer intern

ARMSTRONG FLIGHT RESEARCH 

CENTER (AFRC)

Edwards Air Force Base, California

By Christian Gelzer

Christian Gelzer continues working through readers’ comments on his book manuscript about the 

PRANDTL-D wing aircraft, as well as assisting the 

Center’s video office in creating a set of videos to 

celebrate the Center’s 75th anniversary. There have 

been more FOIA requests involving him this year 

than expected. Additionally, he has been interviewing engineers at AFRC performing computational 

fluid dynamics work on a bell-shaped spanload wing 

(Prandtl 1933 theory) and has completed a review of a 

book on ballooning in the U.S. southwest for the New 

Mexico Historical Review.

Most significantly this quarter, after three years of 

work trying to finish the task, Christian deaccessioned 

almost the entire “artifact” collection registered in his 

name (keeping more than 5 percent of it). Unable 

to establish provenance or descriptions for nearly all 

the items, and knowing the building in which they 

reposed will be leveled soon, he and the Center’s 

Property Office coordinated the final steps to transfer 

the items for listing with the U.S. General Services 

Administration (GSA). Christian still has about 20 

items in his name, many already on display at the 

Center and elsewhere, but they will soon be transferred to a colleague in the Exhibits office.

AFTER THREE YEARS OF WORK 

TRYING TO FINISH THE TASK, 

CHRISTIAN DEACCESSIONED 

ALMOST THE ENTIRE 

“ARTIFACT” COLLECTION 

REGISTERED IN HIS NAME.

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC)

Houston, Texas

By John Uri, Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, Sandra Johnson, 

and Jessica Kelly

Johnson Space Center in Houston and the White 

Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, exited 

NASA’s COVID response framework effective 15 May 

2022, lifting all previous pandemic-related restrictions. The JSC History Office continues to operate in 

a hybrid manner, with John Uri, Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, 

Sandra Johnson, and intern Jessica Kelly dividing 

their time between on-site work and telework as 

activities demand.

Jennifer’s book Making Space for Women: Stories from 

Trailblazing Women of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, 

published in January 2022 by the Texas A&M 

University Press, has generated much interest. The 

book explores how careers for women at JSC have 

changed over the years, as told by the women themselves through oral histories conducted by the JSC 

History Office. Jennifer has had the opportunity to 

speak about her book at several invited venues both 

inside and outside NASA. Willie Lyles and Nathan 

Vassberg, Director and Deputy Director of JSC’s 
16

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

DOWNLOAD THE FREE E-BOOK

http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/

NEW RELEASE

NASA HISTORY

THE MUCH-ANTICIPATED THIRD VOLUME of 

The Wind and Beyond: A Documentary Journey 

into the History of Aerodynamics in America 

is now available in both digital and print formats. 

Following up on the first two volumes on the birth 

and evolution of the airplane, this volume explores 

the aerodynamics of airships, flying boats, and 

rotary-wing aircraft.

Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Directorate, 

where the History Office resides organizationally, 

hosted a book signing with Jennifer and invited her 

to speak about her book at the S&MA control board 

meeting. Several employee groups at JSC and at 

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, 

Alabama, invited Jennifer to talk about her book. 

Sandra chaired a virtual panel sponsored by JSC’s 

Women Excelling in Life and Leadership (WELL) 

Employee Resource Group that included Jennifer and 

three women featured in the book.1

 The WELL group 

also featured Making Space for Women in their virtual 

book club. During Women’s History Month, at Space 

Center Houston, Jennifer and three women featured 

in the book sat on a panel chaired by JSC Associate 

Director Donna Shafer. A book signing followed the 

event. Jennifer presented her book during a NASA 

Headquarters History Lunchtime Brownbag event, 

attended by former Chief Historian Roger Launius.

1 A video of the panel discussion is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1T7gRzi790.

Left to right: Willie Lyles, Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, and Nathan Vassberg 

during the book signing at JSC’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate. 

(Photos courtesy of NASA/John Uri)

Outside NASA, Texas NPR’s radio program The 

Texas Standard interviewed Jennifer about her book. 
17

Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

Texas Women’s University (TWU) in Denton, which 

had sponsored Making Space for Women as the inaugural book in the Pioneering Women: Leaders and 

Trailblazers series, invited Jennifer to speak at a special 

event. A book signing and reading followed the event. 

Jennifer appeared on The Bookmark, a half-hour television program by Texas A&M University Press in 

partnership with the local public broadcasting station 

KAMU in College Station. The episode will air in the 

autumn of 2022 and then will be available online.

Top: The panel discussion at Space Center Houston, with Donna Shafer, Jennifer RossNazzal, Estella Hernández Gillette, Sharon McDougle, and Ginger Kerrick. Bottom: Jennifer 

at the book signing at Space Center Houston. (Photos courtesy of NASA/John Uri)

Sandra and Jennifer continue to conduct oral history 

interviews in person and in the Microsoft Teams environment for projects for JSC’s S&MA Directorate 

and for NASA Headquarters acting Chief Historian 

Brian Odom. Those interviewed included senior 

NASA leaders and flight directors at JSC. Sandra and 

Jennifer continue to process transcripts from already 

completed interviews to add them to the JSC History 

Portal throughout the year.

Another oral history project under way, sponsored by 

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, works to capture 

the history of NASA’s Discovery Program in anticipation of its upcoming 30th anniversary. Sandra is conducting interviews in cooperation with historian Erik 

Conway at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that will 

serve as material for a book celebrating the program’s 

anniversary. Sandra has completed 12 interviews with 

Discovery Program management, project and science 

managers, and principal investigators involved in the 

Discovery Program missions.

The JSC History Office continues to elucidate NASA’s 

history through presentations and publications. On 

the 60th anniversary of John Glenn’s Friendship 7 

mission, Jennifer gave a plenary talk to the Human 

Research Program Investigators’ Workshop, held in 

Galveston, Texas. The talk focused on reframing the 

mission as an international event. Jennifer and Steve 

Garber, the NASA Historian at Headquarters, are 

coauthoring a chapter in an upcoming book entitled Stars in Space: Makers of the United States Space 

Force. This project aims to enhance the understanding 

of character and leadership in military space from 

the experiences of past space leaders. For the chapter, 

Jennifer will interview astronauts who have risen to 

senior leadership positions in the military and had 

an impact on the service. Jennifer also submitted an 

invited article about JSC mathematician Josephine 

Jue to the Notices of the American Mathematical Society.

The JSC History Office welcomed Jessica Kelly as 

our intern for the spring semester; impressed by her 

outstanding work, we invited her back for the summer semester. Jessica is nearing the completion of her 
18

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

master’s in library sciences at the University of North 

Texas, with an expected graduation date of December 

2022. Her primary task in our office consists of creating metadata for the existing scanned content of 

the JSC History Collection using a template created 

by Goddard Space Flight Center archivists and standards provided by the NASA acting Chief Archivist 

for ingesting into Archivematica and AtoM. As a second task, Jessica organized and cataloged the History 

Office library.

THE JSC HISTORY OFFICE 

WELCOMED JESSICA KELLY AS 

OUR INTERN FOR THE SPRING 

SEMESTER, AND IMPRESSED 

BY HER OUTSTANDING WORK, 

WE INVITED HER BACK FOR 

THE SUMMER SEMESTER.

The JSC History Office is working with JSC’s External 

Relations Office (ERO) to assist in the celebration 

of the Center’s 60th anniversary. A series of articles 

about JSC’s history are published on the www.nasa.

gov/history website and on JSC’s social media pages. 

Information about JSC’s 60th anniversary can also be 

found at JSC’s 60th anniversary Sharepoint website 

(internal to NASA users). In other work with ERO, we 

continue to publish articles about poetry in space and 

commemorating significant historical milestones, such 

as the 60th anniversary of John Glenn’s Friendship 7 

mission, the 50th anniversary of Apollo 16, the 40th 

anniversary of STS-3, and special features for heritage months. Erik Conway and James Anderson, 

historians at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames 

Research Center respectively, provided expert help 

for several articles relating to missions managed at 

their respective Centers. The features often highlight 

less-heralded events and people that nevertheless contributed significantly to various spaceflight endeavors. 

In March, we reached a significant milestone with the 

publication of the 450th article since the series began 

in August 2017.

In 2016, NASA took on a new responsibility: defending our planet from 

devastating impacts by asteroids and comets that approach Earth, or nearEarth objects. That event, which followed the prominent Chelyabinsk meteor 

explosion in 2013, reflected a growing interest in, and concern about, the 

threat of celestial impacts. In ancient times, the solar system’s small 

bodies—asteroids and comets—were sometimes seen as ill omens and 

warnings from the gods. In modern times, they have come to be seen as 

the solar system’s rubble, leftovers from its formation, but they were still 

largely ignored until the late 20th century. Increasingly, they have been 

seen by scientists as objects worthy of study, by the general public and 

the U.S. government as potential threats to be mitigated, and by space

advocates as future resources. This book tells the fascinating story of

these reinterpretations and NASA's role in them.

A HISTORY OF NEAR-EARTH

OBJECTS RESEARCH

By Erik M. Conway, Donald K. Yeomans, and Meg Rosenburg

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

NEW RELEASE

DOWNLOAD THE FREE E-BOOK

http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/

history-of-neo-research.html
19

Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

OTHER AEROSPACE HISTORY NEWS

UPDATE FROM THE SMITHSONIAN 

INSTITUTION’S NATIONAL AIR AND 

SPACE MUSEUM

By Margaret A. Weitekamp, Curator and Department Chair, 

Department of Space History

I

n addition to the usual schedule of scholarly 

appearances, public outreach, and ongoing exhibit 

development being carried out by the curators in the 

Department of Space History at the Smithsonian’s 

National Air and Space Museum, we are excited 

to announce two new curators in our group. The 

museum also organized a significant outreach effort 

around women and girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and continues to 

work toward the reopening of the building on the 

National Mall in fall 2022.

Dr. Colleen Anderson

Dr. Colleen Anderson is the 

new curator of post-1945 

rocketry in the Department of 

Space History.

On 16 January 2022, the 

Department of Space History 

welcomed Dr. Colleen 

Anderson as the new curator 

of Post-1945 Rocketry. She 

will be working with Senior 

Curator Michael Neufeld, 

who retains his purview 

curating Rocketry Pre-1945.

Dr. Anderson was most 

recently a German Academic 

Exchange Service (DAAD) 

Postdoctoral Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute 

of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International 

Studies. She studies the culture and history of Germany, 

and her research focuses on how science and technology have shaped Germany’s roles in the wider world. 

Her first book-length project, Undivided Heavens: 

Outer Space Travel in Divided Germany (under review), 

focuses on how East and West Germany’s space programs contributed to German efforts at internationalism during the Cold War.

Dr. Anderson earned her Ph.D. in history from 

Harvard University in 2017. She was a Mellon 

Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at Stanford 

University from 2017 to 2020. Her research has been 

funded by organizations including the American 

Historical Association and NASA, the Smithsonian, 

the Berlin Program for Advanced German and 

European Studies, the DAAD, the American Institute 

for Contemporary German Studies, and the Central 

European History Society.

Dr. Andrew Meade McGee

Dr. Andrew Meade McGee 

joins the Department of 

Space History as the curator 

of the History of Computing. 

On 22 May 2022, Dr. 

Andrew Meade McGee joined 

the department as the new 

curator of the History of 

Computing, including guidance and navigation artifacts, 

a collection inherited from 

Dr. Paul Ceruzzi. Dr. McGee 

was most recently a visiting 

assistant professor at Carnegie 

Mellon University, where he 

also served as the Council 

on Library and Information 

Resources Fellow in the History of Science and 

Computing from 2018 to 2020. In addition, he held 

the Kluge Fellowship in Digital Studies at the Library 

of Congress in 2018. He is a historian of the politics, 

culture, and technology of the 20th-century United 

States. His book in progress, Mainframing America, is 

a political history of the computer from the 1940s to 

the 1980s, examining the institutional, intellectual, 

and governmental policy origins of modern American 

information society.

Raised in small-town Alabama, Dr. McGee studied history and literature at Harvard (where he was 

awarded the Reuben E. Brower Prize for Excellence 

in the Humanities). He then worked in distance education in his home state before pursuing graduate 

studies at the University of Virginia. There he held 
20

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

a President’s Fellowship; edited the journal Essays in 

History; and was affiliated with the Miller Center of 

Public Affairs, the Russell Lab environmental history group, and the National Endowment for the 

Humanities–funded MapScholar research project. He 

has held national fellowships in technology history 

(the Tomash Fellowship in the History of Information 

Technology from the Charles Babbage Institute) and 

political history (the Dissertation Year Fellowship from 

the Harry S. Truman Library). Recipient of a History 

Department teaching prize from the University of 

Virginia (UVA), he also spent a year as a visiting faculty member at Washington and Lee University. In 

addition, he has worked as a professional researcher at 

the Darden School of Business at UVA, overseeing historically focused big data research into U.S. financial 

crises and the American presidency.

LAUNCHED IN 2021, SALLY’S 

NIGHT IS AN ANNUAL CELEBRATION INSPIRED BY THE LIFE 

AND LEGACY OF DR. SALLY K. 

RIDE, ASTRONAUT, SCIENTIST, 

EDUCATOR, AND ADVOCATE.

Sally’s Night

Launched in 2021, Sally’s Night is an annual celebration inspired by the life and legacy of Dr. Sally K. Ride, 

astronaut, scientist, educator, and advocate. Each June, 

the museum marks the anniversary of Dr. Ride’s historic spaceflight by recognizing the contributions of 

women, past and present, to science, and celebrating 

how science shines in all our lives.

Top: The Sally’s Night logo is displayed on the jumbotron at Nationals Park. Middle: Families 

learn about spacesuits and the women who design, manufacture, and maintain them. Bottom: 

Rev. Dr. Bear Ride throws out the first pitch in honor of Sally’s Night at Nationals Park. (Photo 

credits: Jim Preston, National Air and Space Museum)

This year, Sally’s Night kicked off with an in-person 

celebration at Nationals Park on Sunday, 12 June 

during the Washington Nationals game against the 
21

Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

Milwaukee Brewers. Rev. Dr. Bear Ride, Sally Ride’s 

sister, threw out the first pitch. Videos, fun facts, and 

trivia on the jumbotron amplified the theme throughout the game. The museum hosted hands-on activities 

along the concourse in collaboration with Sally Ride 

Science and Yuri’s Night.

The celebration continued through Saturday, 18 June, 

with a social media campaign. All were encouraged 

to #ShineLikeSally using the resources on the Sally’s 

Night website (https://airandspace.si.edu/sallys-night) 

and by following the National Air and Space Museum 

on social media.

The impetus for Sally’s Night came from Dr. Emily A. 

Margolis, the American Women’s History Initiative 

curator who splits her time between the Space History 

and Aeronautics departments at the museum as well 

as at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 

Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Museum Reopening Planned for 14 October 2022

The National Air and Space Museum’s building on 

the National Mall has been completely closed since 

the end of March 2022 in order to allow the construction being done as a part of Revitalization and 

Transformation to proceed unabated. Construction 

on the west end of the building is already complete, 

and new exhibits are being installed in eight galleries, 

with opening dates scheduled for 14 October 2022. 

The east end of the building is now completely a construction site, with the repairs and reconstruction that 

were already done on the west end being carried out 

on the second half of the building on the National 

Mall. In addition, plans are being drawn for the Bezos 

Learning Center that will be added to the building, 

thanks to a generous donation from Jeff Bezos.

Throughout this whole process, the museum’s second 

facility, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, 

Virginia, remains open to the public.

When the museum building on the National Mall 

reopens to the public in the autumn of 2022, we 

anticipate that timed tickets will be used to regulate 

the traffic through the space, especially since only half 

of the building will be open—with the other half 

undergoing construction. Information about and 

photos of the ongoing process can found at https://

airandspace.si.edu/about-transformation.

NEW JEROME PEARSON FELLOWSHIP 

FOR SCHOLARS CONDUCTING 

AEROSPACE HISTORY RESEARCH

The Linda Hall Library has announced the new Pearson 

Fellowship that will provide one or two months of 

funding to a postdoctoral scholar conducting research 

related to any aspect of aerospace history, including, 

but not limited to, engineering, physics, astronomy, 

astrophysics, and other disciplines related to space 

travel and exploration. The Pearson fellow will conduct research on-site in Kansas City and receive a 

stipend of $4,200 per month.

Linda Hall Library will be accepting applications for 

this new research opportunity this fall as part of its 2023–

24 application cycle. Learn more about this fellowship 

at https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/linda-halllibrary-to-offer-new-jerome-pearson-fellowship-forscholars-conducting-aerospace-history-research.

LINDA HALL LIBRARY WILL 

BE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS 

FOR THIS NEW RESEARCH 

OPPORTUNITY THIS FALL 

AS PART OF ITS 2023–24 

APPLICATION CYCLE. 
22

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The annual meeting for the Society of American 

Archivists will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, 

20–27 August 2022. See https://www2.archivists.org/

conference for more details. 

The 73rd International Astronautical Congress will be 

held in Paris, France, on 18–22 September 2022. To 

learn more, visit https://iac2022.org/. 

A two-day symposium on the History of NASA and 

the Environment will be held both at Georgetown 

University, Washington, DC and virtually on 29–30 

September 2022. To learn more, visit https://www.

nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/call-for-papershistory-of-nasa-and-the-environment-symposium.html.

The annual meeting of the Oral History Association 

will be held in Los Angeles, California on 19–22 

October 2022. See https://www.oralhistory.org/

annual-meeting/ for more information.

The annual meeting of the Society for the History of 

Technology will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana 

on 10–13 November 2002. For details, go to https://

www.historyoftechnology.org/. 

The History of Science Society (HSS) will hold its 

2022 annual meeting in Chicago, IL from 17–20 

November 2022. Learn more at https://hssonline.org/

page/hss22. 

A joint meeting of the Society for Social Studies 

of Science (4S) and ESOCITE (Asociación 

Latinoamericana de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y 

la Tecnología) will take place in Cholula, Mexico from 

7–10 December 2022. See https://www.4sonline.org/

meeting/ for more information. 

NASA HEADQUARTERS HISTORY AND ARCHIVES 

STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION

HISTORY

Brian Odom brian.c.odom@nasa.gov

Acting Chief Historian 256-541-8974

Nadine Andreassen nadine.j.andreassen@nasa.gov

Program Support Specialist 202-358-0087

Stephen Garber stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov

Historian 202-358-0385

Michele Ostovar michele.e.ostovar@nasa.gov

Senior Analyst/Editor 202-358-4808

Sedrick Billups sedrick.j.billups@nasa.gov

Intern

Priscilla Foreman priscilla.a.foreman@nasa.gov

Intern

Aneka Kazlyna aneka.kazlyna@nasa.gov

Intern

Madelyn Pollack madelyn.e.pollack@nasa.gov

Intern

ARCHIVES

Holly McIntyre holly.a.mcintyre@nasa.gov

Acting Chief Archivist 301-286-6126

Sarah Jenkins sarah.h.jenkins@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-1033

Sarah LeClaire sarah.k.leclaire@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-1380

Laura Kathryn Nicole Jones laura.k.jones@nasa.gov

Intern

Robin Klemm robin.n.klemm@nasa.gov

Intern
23

Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

Future ARC 

Asst. Director

Abe Silverstein

Future GRC Director

Amateur poet

Eastman 

Jacobs

Designed first 

bridge over the 

Panama Canal

Pearl 

Young

Future LaRC 

Head Librarian

Future LaRC 

Director

Henry Reid

Virginia Tucker

Future Chief of Engine 

Installation Division, GRC

Future ARC 

Chief of 

Research

Back Row: (from the left) John Dawson, Starr Truscott, David Biermann, John Crowley, Floyd Thompson, E.W. Miller, Robert Spencer, E.G. Whitney, Jack Parkinson, Donald Wood; 

Middle: Carl Bioletti, Abe Silverstein, Jane Adams, Ruth Belle, Wilhelmina Krowl, Catherine Wood, Janie Burroughs, Betty Gilman, Martha Bloom, Ina Hoffman, Amy Zukoff, Vera Sharp, Indie Atkins; 

Seated: Iris Woodhouse, Eastman Jacobs, Alice Rudeen, Pearl Young, Henry Reid, Virginia Tucker, Margaret Darden. (Photo credit: H.R. Clason, LMAL Photographic Section, 1936)

Key: ARC: Ames Research Center, LaRC: Langley Research Center, GRC: Glenn Research Center

A SNAPSHOT FROM LANGLEY’S 1935–36 

WOMEN’S LECTURE SERIES

By Michael Pritz, Librarian, Langley Research Center

During the winter of 1935–36, the 26 women of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory 

(LMAL) were presented with a series of classes arranged 

by Pearl Young and Henry J.E. Reid. Speakers from 

branches across the Laboratory addressed a host of 

topics that surveyed the aeronautical field, including 

flight, propulsion, engines and cylinders, structures, 

fuel, and wind tunnels. The lecture series culminated 

with a group celebration at the Langley Hotel on 

24 March 1936.

The invitation that was mailed to the participants 

leading up to the event was inscribed with a tonguein-cheek verse penned by Miss Iris Woodhouse:

The last and final lecture 

Will be given without question

On the twenty-fourth of March

Five to six.

Chiefs and speakers erudite

And the girls, both dumb and bright,

Are to gather at the Langley,

Just to mix.

There will be a little program

And perhaps a little “hokum”,

Just a small informal gathering,

Nothing fixed.
24

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

So please signify acceptance

By informing us your presence

Will grace the Langley foyer,

(Not the Ritz!)

At the tail end of the party, the ladies presented customized medals of appreciation to their favorite—and 

in Floyd L. Thompson’s case, least favorite—speakers. 

(Note the large medallion with string held by both 

Reid and Young in the foreground). A few notable 

awards highlighted in the event’s transcript include 

the following:

“Mr. Henry J.E. Reid and Ms. Pearl I. Young, a fine 

example of the teamwork of the NACA. We have 

therefore decided to award you both a medal: Twohorse team.”

“Abe Silverstein, your wind tunnel will be very useful three months hence. For your foresight: Golfer 

swinging.”

“John Parkinson, your talk was the favorite; it was the 

wettest. Three liquor bottles.”

THE GUY WHO 

NAMED IT 

“APOLLO”

Abe Silverstein is best 

known for his efforts 

in establishing NASA 

during the early years 

of the Space Age, when 

he promoted the use 

of liquid hydrogen, 

created Goddard Space Flight Center, and named 

Project Apollo. (He said that the image of the Greek 

god “riding his chariot across the Sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the program.”) Silverstein 

got his start at LMAL in 1929 helping design and 

operate the Full-Scale Tunnel. Before he left in 1943, 

his staff playfully awarded him a bachelor’s degree in 

“Aeronautical Skullduggery.”

THE ECCENTRIC 

GENIUS

Aerodynamicist and 

engineer Eastman 

Jacobs contributed 

many advancements 

in aeronautics. As 

the head of Langley’s 

tunnel section from 

1928 to 1939, Jacobs 

pioneered the systematic, mathematical definition 

of airfoil profiles and oversaw experimental studies 

of airfoil shapes, ultimately providing designers with 

unprecedented data for new airplanes. His team’s 

1933 report The Characteristics of 78 Related Airfoil 

Sections is regarded as one of the seminal publications 

from the NACA’s early years.

While recognized as a technical genius, Jacobs was 

also known to be eccentric. In 1938, he initiated the 

first U.S. experiment to achieve thermonuclear fusion, 

though further studies were canceled due to the dangerous nature of the work and its lack of focus on 

aeronautics.

THE DYNAMIC 

TRAILBLAZER

Pearl Young was the 

first female professional 

hired by the NACA 

when she joined LMAL 

as a physicist in 1922. 

In 1929, Young was 

appointed Langley’s 

first Chief Technical 

Editor, where she developed guidelines and procedures that vastly improved the quality of the research 

published at the Laboratory. Young’s rigorous system 

required all prospective documents to first be reviewed 

by a panel of engineering peers, then vetted by her 

editorial staff for consistency, logical analysis, and 

accuracy. In 1943, Young published her Style Manual 
25

Volume 39, Numbers 1 & 2 First & Second Quarter 2022

for Engineering Authors, which served as the guiding 

reference resource for authors NACA-wide.

Famous for their thoroughness and precision, research 

reports became the rock upon which the NACA built 

its reputation as one of the world’s preeminent aeronautical institutions.

THE ENGINEERIN-CHARGE

12 April 1921: It was 

the age of the Jenny 

biplane; air mail was 

the latest sensation; 

and junior engineer 

Henry Reid had just 

reported to LMAL for 

his first day of work. 

Back then, the Lab, still in the infancy of its research in 

the fledgling science of aeronautics, consisted of only 

40 employees, one small wind tunnel, a flight hangar, 

and two old converted military barracks sitting on a 

muddy airfield owned by the U.S. Army. Five years 

later, Reid was named Engineer-in-Charge. 

Dr. Reid grew up with the NACA in the air age and 

helped guide NASA into the Space Age. When he 

retired in 1961, he had served as the Director of 

Langley for all but 10 of its 44 years of existence, 

watching it grow—through peace and war—to a 

staff over 3,200 strong operating 40 major research 

facilities.

THE ORIGINAL 

COMPUTER

When she first arrived 

o n t h e V i r g i n i a 

Peninsula in the summer of 1935, Virginia 

Tucker discovered “a 

serious woman shortage” at LMAL. In 

addition to her work 

as one of Langley’s first five human computers, she 

often traveled to universities and colleges across the 

south to recruit more women to join the NACA. By 

1946, Tucker presided over a vastly expanded department that trained nearly 400 women and placed them 

into various computing sections across the facility. In 

her 2010 best-selling book, Hidden Figures, Margot 

Lee Shetterly writes: “Over the course of twelve years, 

Virginia Tucker had ascended from a subprofessional 

employee to the most powerful woman at the lab. She 

had done so much to transform the job of computer 

from a proto-clerical post into one of the laboratory’s 

most valuable assets.”

Contact Michael Pritz at 

michael.a.pritz@nasa.gov

for the full transcript.

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