National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 From the Chief Historian

1 The Langley Centennial: 

A Reading List

4 News from Headquarters and 

the Centers

13 Other Aerospace History News

14 Recent Publications

19 Upcoming Meetings

20 Obituaries

31 Image in NASA History

FROM

THE CHIEF 

HISTORIAN

The transition from 2016 to 2017 has 

been full of highs and 

lows (and I’m not 

being political here). 

On top of having a productive 2016, we saw 

a part of NASA’s history go from “hidden” to 

an international sensation. Isn’t it great to see 

a book about our past hit the top of the New 

York Times bestseller list and then become a 

multiple-Oscar-nominated movie? (I’m also 

struck by how many “space” movies there 

were over this last holiday season. Doesn’t that 

strike you as promising?) In both book and 

dramatized movie formats, Hidden Figures

has not only shed light on our history but 

has touched the hearts and minds of people 

around the world. I’ve seen the inspiration it 

provides our kids and the lessons it reinforces 

for those of us who are a bit older. It is our 

incredible good fortune to have such skilled 

authors and moviemakers leverage the work of 

NASA historians and archivists, both past and 

present. How lucky can we get?

But over the last few months, there have also 

been the many (sometimes it felt like far too 

many) sobering moments. I think, for example, of the recent deaths of childhood heroes 

like John Glenn and Gene Cernan—and of 

the passing of people whom I’ve come to 

know and love during my time at NASA, like 

Harriett Jenkins and Piers Sellers. At the end 

continued on next page

THE LANGLEY CENTENNIAL: A READING LIST

By Bill Barry

To kick off the centennial year for Langley Research Center, our last edition of News & Notes featured an appreciation of Langley’s broad impact on NASA. 

If you haven’t had a chance to read about the Langley diaspora at Ames Research 

Center, Glenn Research Center, and most of the rest of what we know as NASA, 

I urge you to take another look at our previous edition. This edition, we are going 

to feature some historical resources that will help you appreciate the history of 

Langley Research Center itself.

The incredible contributions of Langley to NASA history are suggested by the 

number of NASA history publications devoted to the Center—there are eight 

specifically about Langley and many 

more that touch on the Center and its 

contributions. At the very top of your 

Langley history reading list should be 

the seminal two-volume history of the 

Center by Professor Jim Hansen. Jim is 

now director of the Honors College at 

Auburn University and is renowned for 

his award-winning biography of Neil 

Armstrong, First Man. But he got his professional start in life as the Langley Center 

historian and made his prodigious skills 

apparent early on. Engineer in Charge: 

A History of the Langley Aeronautical 

Laboratory, 1917–1958 (PDF version: 

https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4305.pdf ) , 

published in 1987, was met with tremendous critical acclaim. Not only is it 

continued on page 3
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NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

From the Chief Historian (continued)

of this January, we also marked the 50th anniversary 

of the loss of Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger 

Chaffee in the Apollo 1 fire. Nadine Andreassen and 

I had the honor of serving as the family escorts for 

the Chaffee family at the ceremony we held marking 

NASA’s Day of Remembrance at Arlington National 

Cemetery on 31 January. The solemn ceremonies at 

Arlington are always powerful, but they were particularly poignant this year. This time, as we escorted the 

Chaffee family, it was particularly clear that the costs 

we pay for our mistakes in space exploration go far 

beyond the individual lives lost—they ripple through 

the generations that follow. Yet I was both humbled 

and buoyed by Mrs. Chaffee’s strength and graciousness. Although it has been a winter full of reminders 

of our mortality and our fallibility, it also carries the 

useful reminders of lessons we should never forget and 

the joy of lives lived to the full with purpose.

NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot stands with June Scobee Rogers, widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee, and Sergeant Ruth Hanks, 

along with other participants in NASA's 2017 Day of Remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery. (Photo credit: NASA)

This year is certainly shaping up to be full in many 

ways. We’ve got a number of publications reaching the 

end of the production pipeline in 2017. About the 

time that this newsletter is published, the “NASA and 

the ‘Long’ Civil Rights Movement” symposium will 

be taking place in Huntsville, Alabama. In May, historians and archivists from across NASA will gather at 

the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for our annual History 

Program Review. Throughout the spring and summer, 

we’ll be making plans for the upcoming 60th anniversary of the establishment of NASA (in 2018) as well as 

the 50th anniversary of the Apollo missions (in 2018, 

2019, and beyond). And, of course, this year we will 

continue to mark the centennial of Langley Research 

Center. The team at Langley has a long list of activities 

for the year, including a centennial symposium in the 

middle of July. If you are a fan of NASA history, you 

have lots to look forward to this year.

Until next quarter, Godspeed,

William P. Barry

Chief Historian
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Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

The Langley Centennial: A Reading List (continued)

a highly readable and insightful history of Langley 

during the era of the National Advisory Committee 

for Aeronautics (NACA), but it includes an invaluable set of appendices chock full of important (and 

fascinating) data about the personnel, facilities, 

aircraft, and organization of Langley during that 

period. Spaceflight Revolution: NASA Langley Research 

Center From Sputnik to Apollo (PDF version: https://

history.nasa.gov/SP-4308.pdf ) was released in 1995 

and won that year’s American Astronautical Society 

Emme Astronautical Literature Award. Recounting 

Langley’s history from 1958 through 1975, Spaceflight 

Revolution set the standard for Center histories. During 

this Langley centennial year, I urge you to read both 

of these excellent books—not only will you learn a lot 

and gain incredible insights into NASA history, but 

you’ll enjoy the ride.

For a look at more specific topics within Langley’s 100 

years of history, there are a number of other books 

in the NASA history series that you may enjoy. For 

a look at Langley’s contributions to the science of flight, 

see Crafting Flight by Jim 

Schultz (PDF version: https://

history.nasa.gov/SP-4316.

pdf ) . Published in 2003 to 

mark the centennial of flight, 

this richly illustrated volume 

provides a capsule view of 

aeronautics history and the 

critical role of Langley (and 

its staff ) in advancing that 

field. For an in-depth look at 

one specific flight program at 

Langley, check out Airborne 

Trailblazer: Two Decades with 

NASA Langley’s 737 Flying Laboratory, by Lane Wallace 

(PDF version: https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4216.pdf ) . 

Lane is one of my favorite living aviation writers, 

and she puts her talents to excellent use in this book. 

We have also published a pair of autobiographical 

monographs about the life of a researcher at Langley. 

Journey in Aeronautical Research: A Career at NASA 

Langley Research Center (PDF version: https://history.

nasa.gov/monograph12.pdf ) and Journey into Space 

Research: Continuation of a Career at NASA Langley 

Research Center (PDF version: https://history.nasa.

gov/SP-4540/sp4540_1.pdf ) provide the fascinating 

personal insights of W. Hewitt Phillips into what it 

was like to work at Langley during the heady days of 

high-speed aeronautics research and the transition to 

spaceflight. Finally, the inimitable Joe Chambers has 

written three books for us on Langley history: Partners 

in Freedom: Contributions of the Langley Research 

Center to U.S. Military Aircraft in the 1990s (PDF 

version: https://history.nasa.gov/monograph19.pdf ) , 

Concept to Reality: Contributions of the NASA Langley 

Research Center to U.S. Civil Aircraft in the 1990s (PDF 

version: https://history.nasa.gov/monograph29.pdf ) , 

and Innovation in Flight: Research of the NASA Langley 

Research Center on Revolutionary Advanced Concepts 

for Aeronautics (PDF version: https://history.nasa.gov/

monograph39/mon39_a.pdf ) . Joe has also written 

a number of other books in 

the NASA Aeronautics Book 

Series, including one on the 

Langley Full-Scale Wind 

Tunnel: Cave of the Winds,

available at https://www.nasa.

gov/connect/ebooks/cave_of_

the_winds_detail.html.

Sadly, most of these books are 

now out of print. If you prefer the old-school pleasures 

of having a hard-copy book 

in your hands, you can find 

copies of most of these books 

from online book retailers. 

I’ve actually come across copies of Jim Hansen’s books 

in a local used book shop, but we’ve made it even easier for you. The links above will take you to free PDF 

copies of each of these works, so you have no excuse 

not to indulge in some reading about the history of 

our oldest NASA Center. Enjoy!

Pictured are the covers for Engineer in Charge and Spaceflight 

Revolution: NASA Langley Research Center from Sputnik to Apollo.
4

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND THE CENTERS

NASA HEADQUARTERS

Washington, DC

History Division and Historical 

Reference Collection (HRC)

By Bill Barry

As usually happens after a presidential election, NASA Headquarters continues business as usual 

until the new team of political appointees arrives. 

Although President Kennedy nominated Jim Webb 

to be NASA Administrator just 10 days after his 

inauguration in 1961 (and even that was criticized by 

some as overly late), the process has become considerably slower in recent decades. For example, in 2009, 

President Obama nominated Charlie Bolden to be 

NASA Administrator on 23 May, over four months 

after his inauguration. So we have come to expect that 

the transition, and any changes in personnel and policy that may come with it, may take several months. In 

the meantime, NASA continues to make history—so 

we have lots to do.

One of the most important things we’ve started since 

the December News & Notes was kicking off the hiring 

process for a new chief archivist. Headquarters personnel budget issues had prevented us from backfilling Jane Odom immediately after she retired in May 

2016. In late December, we finally got the go-ahead 

to fill that position, and we put out an advertisement 

on USAJobs.gov with a very short turnaround time 

for applications. I was concerned that the timing of 

the advertisement over the holidays would reduce 

the number of applicants and the quality of the 

pool. I was, thankfully, wrong. We had a great pool 

of applicants, and narrowing the field was quite a 

challenge. Unfortunately, the day before we began 

interviews, President Donald Trump announced a 

government-wide hiring freeze. We completed the 

interviews but had to wait for clarification on whether 

the freeze applied to this position. There is a time limit 

on the freeze, so even in the worst case, I hope that 

we’ll be able to have a chief archivist in place by the 

time of our next quarterly newsletter.

The success of the movie Hidden Figures has been a 

delight and a continuing source of work. Not only 

has the movie done well in the box office, but it won 

three Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Best Adapted 

Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor—for Octavia 

Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan). As of this writing, it’s 

the highest-grossing Best Picture nominee. Many people at NASA, most notably our colleagues at Langley 

Research Center, made considerable contributions to 

the movie. Some of those people were recognized by 

name in the credits of the movie, but there were many 

more who dug up pictures, artifacts, and obscure facts 

throughout 2016 that contributed to the movie. With 

all of the financial success, the Oscar buzz, and premieres in other parts of the world, we have also had 

a stream of followup questions and requests for information from the media regarding our involvement 

in the movie. This has given us yet another opportunity to tell the stories of our past and also reflect 

on the successes and challenges of more recent times. 

As I’ve mentioned in a number of press interviews, 

having someone like Margot Lee Shetterly use our 

archival collections to write an insightful and original 

book is a government historian’s dream. Having that 

book turned into a major motion picture is simply an 

incredible stroke of luck. (By the way, did you know 

that screenplay writer Allison Schroeder’s parents and 

grandparents worked at NASA? That’s keeping it in 

the family.)

Our next major planning challenge this year will be 

working on NASA’s 60th anniversary and various 

Apollo missions’ 50th anniversaries. Typically, we 

celebrate NASA’s “birthday” on 1 October—the day 

in 1958 when NASA formally came into existence. 

Next year, that date will come just 11 days prior to 

the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 7. That 

will be followed by a series of Apollo mission anniversaries in quick succession through the next year. Such 
5

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

anniversaries present a great opportunity to reflect 

on what we have accomplished and learned and to 

consider our trajectory for the future. At present, we 

are reviewing the calendar and considering options.

This spring, we have Hannah Hotovy interning with us. 

Hannah is a senior at Nebraska Wesleyan University 

and comes to us directly from a fall semester abroad 

in the Czech Republic. She’ll be here from the end of 

January until the start of May. We’d like to keep her 

longer, but she does have her graduation ceremony 

to attend in mid-May, so I guess that we’ll have to 

let her go. One thing that Hannah will miss is the 

annual History Program Review, which will take place 

9–11 May at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). 

Thanks to our colleagues at JPL for hosting historians 

and archivists from across the Agency! We will have 

much to do, and it seems fitting to be doing our history work in such a historic location.

In the Press Site auditorium at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, members of the media participate in a news conference with key individuals from the 

motion picture Hidden Figures. From the left are John Zarrella, former CNN space correspondent, serving as moderator; Ted Melfi, director and one of the 

writers of Hidden Figures; Octavia Spencer, who portrays Dorothy Vaughan; Taraji P. Henson, who portrays Katherine Johnson; Janelle Monáe, who portrays 

Mary Jackson; Pharrell Williams, musician and producer of Hidden Figures; and Bill Barry, NASA Chief Historian.

AMES RESEARCH CENTER (ARC)

Moffett Field, California

Reference Collection

By April Gage and Danielle Lopez

The History Office Archives would like to extend a 

hearty thanks to Ames engineer, amateur videographer, and aerospace history enthusiast Michael F. 

Wright for donating to us a collection of his personal 

footage of our Center. We like to think of Mike as a 

citizen historian: just as citizen scientists gather raw 

data to support the endeavors of scientific research 

organizations, Mike has collected raw footage that 

enriches our historical collections and supplements 

the Center’s official media productions. For nearly a 

decade, Mike has been toting his camera equipment 

to various activities around Ames and unselfconsciously capturing slices of Center life. The result has 

been an assortment of moving pictures that provide 

a unique and eclectic view of the Center. Spanning 
6

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

from 2008 to the present, with durations ranging 

from 13 minutes to 3 hours, the bulk of this usually raw footage captures annual celebrations such as 

Halloween costume and pumpkin-carving contests in 

the cafeteria, as well as the chili cook-off and the car 

show that typically stretches down DeFrance Avenue 

from the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex 

to the History Office. In these movies, you will see 

employees from all stations, from food service workers 

to astronauts, reveling in festivities and sometimes 

answering Mike’s questions about their roles at Ames. 

Other films capture some of the spirit and flavor of 

special events involving the public, such as Moonfest 

in 2009 or the NASA Ames Science Night featuring the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment 

Explorer (LADEE) mission in 2013.

Michael F. Wright films himself hefting a new electronic news-gathering 

camera in his home studio. (Photo credit: Michael F. Wright)

In some videos, one can see an occasion from various 

perspectives, including a view of the stage during an 

Ames Jazz Band performance or during a speech by 

Senior Historian Jack Boyd. In others, Mike is actively 

engaged with event participants, catching people’s 

attention and conducting impromptu interviews with 

them. You never know who might be caught by Mike’s 

camera. While reviewing and cataloging this footage 

over the years, April was occasionally startled to find 

herself in Mike’s footage as a ceremony attendee or, in 

one mildly mortifying case, decked out in a lavender 

wig at a Yuri’s Night celebration.

GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC)

Cleveland, Ohio

By Anne Mills

On 5 October 2016, the NASA Glenn Research 

Center was designated a historic district in the state 

of Ohio. The “Lewis Field Historic District” recognizes GRC’s accomplishments in aircraft propulsion, 

spaceflight propulsion, aircraft and spaceflight safety, 

and aerospace materials research. In addition to the 

historical importance of the research performed at the 

Center over the past 75 years, the district acknowledges the architectural significance of the lab as an 

intact example of a federally planned, funded, and 

designed research facility. The original 1941 campus 

footprint that was built within the outline of the 

Cleveland National Air Races parking lot is considered the area of significance. A historic district marker 

from the Ohio History Connection was placed in 

front of the Administration Building and dedicated in 

a ceremony on 5 October. Historic district tours have 

been held for local historians and historic preservation 

experts. The tours include a video with an in-depth 

historical interpretation of the lab’s development and 

a stop at our National Historic Landmark (NHL), the 

Zero Gravity Research Facility.

It was with tremendous sadness that we bade farewell 

to our namesake, John H. Glenn. Long before the 

Center was named in his honor, he trained there with 

his fellow Mercury 7 astronauts in the Multi-Axis 

Space Test Inertia Facility (MASTIF)—one of the 

most dramatic of the early astronaut tests—in which 

they were spun simultaneously on the pitch, roll, and 

yaw axes at up to 50 revolutions per minute. As a 

U.S. Senator, he visited GRC many times and was an 

advocate for the value of the research performed here. 

In May 1999, the Center was renamed the NASA 

John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in 

honor of his many contributions to the space program 

and his civic leadership, as well as his connection to 

his home state of Ohio. He and his wife, Annie Glenn, 

continued to make stops at the Center, especially for 

events aimed at inspiring students. As with all of the 

trailblazers who have gone before him, the loss of John 
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Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

Glenn leaves a tremendous hole. We are honored to 

bear his name and carry on his legacy through the 

deep spirit of service he inspired in us all.

Pictured is the new historic district marker installed by the nonprofit organization Ohio History 

Connection. It was placed in front of the Administration Building at NASA’s Glenn Research Center and 

dedicated in a ceremony on 5 October 2016. (Photo credit: NASA/Marvin Smith)

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC)

Houston, Texas

By John Uri

As hoped, the new year is bringing some positive 

changes to the JSC History Office. Construction 

is rapidly wrapping up on our new offices in JSC’s 

Building 1, the Center’s main administration building, and we moved in during January. The new digs 

provide ample office and meeting space, as well 

as storage for books, files, and electronic equipment. Organizationally, we are well integrated into 

the Knowledge and Quality Systems Management 

Office and the overall Safety and Mission Assurance 

Directorate. We even had an official JSC History 

Office photo taken. I also want to personally thank 

everyone at the various NASA Centers who took the 

time to talk to me about their history and archival 

programs—I certainly learned a lot!

As we noted in the previous quarter’s newsletter, the National Trust 

for Historic Preservation held its 

annual meeting in Houston, Texas, 

on 15–18 November. Dr. Jennifer 

Ross-Nazzal and Sandra Tetley, the 

JSC Center Historic Preservation 

Officer, presented two workshops 

on the plans for the restoration 

of the Apollo Mission Operations 

Control Room (MOCR), a 

National Historic Landmark, to 

how it looked in July 1969 during 

the Apollo 11 mission; workshop 

participants toured the MOCR, 

learned about the restoration plans, 

and heard from former NASA 

Flight Directors Gene Kranz and 

Glynn Lunney. Jennifer and Sandra 

also held a brief breakout session at 

the George R. Brown Convention 

Center in downtown Houston. The 30-minute session 

was open to all conference attendees and summarized 

the restoration efforts thus far. Jennifer was interviewed by the New York Times regarding the MOCR 

restoration, and her comments appeared in an article 

in the 17 November 2016 issue. You can read the 

article here: http://go.nasa.gov/2iLlyOZ.

JSC History Office staff, from left to right: Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, John Uri, 

and Sandra Johnson, thrilled with the positive changes at JSC, give the 

upcoming year a thumbs-up. (Photo credit: NASA)
8

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

Participants enjoyed meeting Gene Kranz and Glynn Lunney, pictured on 

the right of each photograph. (Photo credit: NASA)

This fall, the NASA Headquarters Science Mission 

Directorate (SMD) requested that the JSC History 

Office conduct oral history interviews with past 

and present employees who worked on various 

SMD projects or held key SMD management positions. Approximately 20 individuals from NASA 

Headquarters, Ames Research Center, Goddard Space 

Flight Center, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have 

been identified, and planning is under way to complete the interviews in fiscal year (FY) 2017. Once the 

interviews are finished and the transcripts are released, 

they will be found on the JSC History Portal (http://

www.jsc.nasa.gov/history), along with transcripts 

from all oral history projects.

Finally, the JSC History Office provided support 

for the Apollo 1 Lessons and Legacies event held at 

JSC’s Teague Auditorium on 24 January, JSC’s Day of 

Remembrance. The knowledge-sharing event, part of 

the ongoing Lessons and Legacies series, was moderated 

by astronaut Nicole Mann. Panelists Apollo 1 Project 

Engineer Gary Johnson, Apollo 1 backup crewmember Walt Cunningham, former Flight Director Glynn 

Lunney, and former astronaut Frank Borman (who 

appeared on videotape) presented lessons learned from 

the accident and how those lessons can be applied 

to current and future spaceflight programs. The JSC 

History Office provided oral history transcripts with 

comments about the Apollo 1 fire, the recovery from 

the disaster, and lessons learned from the accident, as 

well as other relevant historical research.

LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER (LARC)

Hampton, Virginia

By Gail Langevin

NASA Langley Begins Centennial Year

The excitement at Langley is building as we begin our 

centennial year.

On 1 December 2016, Langley’s visitor center 

at the nearby Virginia Air & Space Center hosted 

an advanced screening of the film Hidden Figures, 

the Oscar-nominated movie based on Margot Lee 

Shetterly’s book about the African American female 

mathematicians who worked at Langley’s West Area 

Computing Unit. Actress Octavia Spencer, who portrayed Dorothy Vaughan, viewed the film, along with 

Katherine Johnson and Ms. Johnson’s daughters and 

grandchildren. Mary Jackson’s family and Dorothy 

Vaughan’s family also attended, as well as Pharrell 

Katherine Johnson, her daughter Joylette Hylick, and actress Octavia 

Spencer enjoy a few minutes of conversation prior to the viewing of 

Hidden Figures. (Photo credit: NASA Langley/Dave Bowman)
9

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

Williams’s parents. Williams wrote music for the film’s 

score and was one of the film’s producers. Then–NASA 

Administrator Charles Bolden recognized Johnson, 

Jackson, and Vaughan, as well as former West Area 

Computing Unit employee Christine Richie, in a special ceremony prior to the film.

Former NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden stands with former computer honorees Christine Richie (red sweater) and Katherine Johnson, along with 

Johnson, Jackson, and Vaughan family members. Langley Center Director Dave Bowles is in the back row. (Photo credit: NASA Langley/Dave Bowman)

A display case at left contains a 1957 Friden STW-10 mechanical calculator, the type used by NASA human computers, including Katherine 

Johnson. “If you were doing complicated computations during that 

time, this is what you used,” said Hampton History Museum Curator 

Allen Hoilman. The machine weighs 40 pounds. More photos of the 

exhibit and more details are available at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/

langley/museum-exhibit-highlights-nasa-langleys-human-computersfrom-hidden-figures. (Credit: NASA/Dave Bowman)

The Hampton History Museum in Hampton, 

Virginia, opened a new exhibit featuring the careers 

of computer-turned-programmer Dorothy Vaughan, 

computer-turned-engineer Mary Jackson, and 

computer-turned-aerospace-technologist Katherine 

Johnson. The exhibit also features a 1957 Friden calculating machine, similar to that used by Langley’s 

computers. Of special note is a 5 May 1958 memo 

from Associate Director Floyd Thompson that dissolved the West Area Computers. This historic memo 

was loaned by Dorothy Vaughan’s daughter, Ann 

Vaughan Hammond, for the exhibit.

Recently, a photograph was found in the NACA/

NASA Langley collection that shows the building 

where the West Area Computers worked. As mentioned in Margot Lee Shetterly’s book, the West 

Area Computers reported to work at building 1195. 

Although that building number is the same building 

number as a current NASA Langley building’s, the 

buildings are not the same. The historical building 

1195 sat partly on the site of the current 1195 and was 
10

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

sited perpendicular to the current building. See the 

photo above.

In this photo, the historical building 1195 is in the center of the photo. It is a long, light building 

with two rows of windows facing a parking lot that still exists. The streets that run along two 

sides of the building are currently pedestrian walkways. A partial view of the Langley racetrack 

is visible in the foreground, as is the 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel, which has since been demolished. Across the street from the 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel is building 1148, the Structures and 

Materials Lab, which is still standing. (Photo credit: NASA)

The historical building 1195 was then called a 

warehouse, but it also had offices for Accounting, 

the Air Scoop (precursor to Researcher News), the 

Cost Office, the Fiscal Officer, Insurance Hospital 

Claims, Insurance Collection, Insurance Information, 

the Personnel Officer, Personnel Records, the 

Procurement Officer, Purchase Files, the Purchase 

Office, and the Security Officer, as well as the 

West Area Computers. To the right of the 16-Foot 

Transonic Tunnel in the photo, the 4-Foot by 4-Foot 

Supersonic Pressure Tunnel is visible at the edge of the 

NACA Langley property line. This is the tunnel where 

Mary Jackson was working when she met Kazimierz 

“Kaz” Czarnecki, who encouraged her to pursue her 

groundbreaking career in engineering. The 4-Foot 

by 4-Foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel has since been 

demolished. The National Transonic Facility currently 

sits on this site.

Langley’s centennial celebration traveling trailer 

exhibit arrived at the Center in mid-January. After 

a few touch-ups, it will head out for a series of public events. The trailer features photos and hands-on 

exhibits about Langley’s past, present, and future.

A centennial symposium is being planned for 12–14 

July 2017. The event will feature panel discussions 

and speakers in areas of the past, present, and future 

of Langley’s research. Invitations are expected to be 

extended to the entire NASA family, as well as to 

members of the public.

An open house is also planned for 21 October 2017.

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER 

(MSFC)

Huntsville, Alabama

By Brian Odom and Jordan Whetstone

The Marshall Space Flight Center History Office and 

Archives has remained busy over the past few months 

processing archival collections, answering reference 

queries, and conducting oral history interviews. An 

exciting recent development was the creation of a 

paid summer internship position in the office. Over 

the summer term, the intern will assist in the collection and processing of oral histories and archival 

materials while also developing historical content for 

Web, podcasts, and social media. Throughout the term, 

the student will engage with the relevant professional 

literature as applicable to assigned historical and archival duties. The position is for an 8- to 10-week term 

beginning in late May or early June and concluding in 

early August and is open to both undergraduate and 

graduate students. The deadline for submission of the 

application was 1 March 2017. Additional information on student opportunities can be found on the 

NASA One Stop Shopping Initiative (OSSI) page at 

https://intern.nasa.gov.

In November, the office was asked by the MSFC 

exhibits coordinator to research those commissioned 

artists who created works of art to help invigorate 

public interest in space exploration. Some of the 

pieces are signed; others are not—making the task 
11

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

of finding information about the artists particularly 

difficult. At present, around 49 pieces from the exhibits warehouse are being cleaned up and arranged for 

display in the Wernher von Braun Civic Center in 

downtown Huntsville. This exhibit, which is hosted 

by the group Arts Huntsville, opened to the public on 

18 January 2017. The exhibit, along with some added 

pieces, will then be displayed at Lowe Mill ARTS & 

Entertainment, which houses over 200 artists in the 

United States’ largest privately owned arts facility.

Pictured is original artwork by Russ Arasmith. (Photo credit: NASA/

Russ Arasmith)

Shown here is 

Final Approach by 

Renato Moncini. 

(Photo credit: NASA/

Renato Moncini)

Pictured above are some of the pieces on display at the 

Von Braun Center.

On 16–17 March 2017, the MSFC History Office, 

together with the University of Alabama in Huntsville 

(UAH) History Department, will host the “NASA in 

the ‘Long’ Civil Rights Movement Conference” at the 

United States Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville 

to address the role/relationship of NASA to the “long” 

civil rights movement. No registration is required. 

The History Office is currently engaged in developing 

both a print and a digital exhibit to supplement the 

conference. The Web page will include a number of 

oral history interviews, biographies, primary sources, 

and additional resources on the topic. The goal is to 

continue the discussion beyond the conference.

For a schedule of the conference, visit https://www.

nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/nasa-in-the-longcivil-rights-movement-conference.html.

STENNIS SPACE CENTER (SSC)

Stennis Space Center, Mississippi

By Jessica Herr

On 25 October 1961, NASA announced that a rocket 

test site would be established in Hancock County, 

Mississippi. The site, then known as Mississippi Test 

Operations, would be the designated facility to test 

the Saturn rockets that would launch the Apollo missions to the Moon. For the last 55 years, every single 

rocket engine that has put humans in space has been 

tested at what is now known as Stennis Space Center. 

It started in August 1961 with an ad hoc committee 

made of members from NASA Headquarters and 

Marshall Space Flight Center. They were tasked with 

finding the perfect place to test rockets that would 

send humans to the Moon. Because the rockets 

would be assembled at the Michoud Assembly Facility 

located outside of New Orleans, Louisiana, and then 

launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, there were 

several variables to consider. NASA needed a facility 

To build the Mississippi Test Operations, now Stennis Space Center, many 

trees were cut down beginning on 17 May 1963. (Photo credit: NASA)
12

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

that, ideally, would be between these two places, be 

away from a densely populated area because of the 

noise testing the rockets would make, have access to 

both waterways and highways, have a mild climate 

so that rocket testing could 

conceivably be done yearround, and have supporting 

communities nearby. Several 

already-existing facilities 

were in the running, but 

the committee kept coming 

back to a marshy, pine tree–

covered area along the Pearl 

River in Mississippi. Eventually, the Pearl River site 

was selected over the final six sites, and construction 

would begin as soon as possible. But first, residents 

living along the Pearl River would need convincing to 

leave their homes in preparation for the building of the 

test site. Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi was a 

proponent of the site from the beginning, using his 

contacts in Washington, DC, to plant the seed of having NASA operations in Mississippi. Senator Stennis 

himself visited residents of the Pearl River communities and appealed to their patriotism, asking them to 

give up their land and their homes “as a sacrifice in 

America’s crusade against the Soviets.” By this time, 

the Soviet Union had already put humans in space, 

and America was aiming to win the space race to get a 

person on the Moon. Senator Stennis made a promise 

to the residents of the Pearl River communities that 

he would make sure their 

sacrifice was not in vain, 

that they would be compensated for their property, 

and that they would never 

be forgotten for “taking 

part in greatness.”1

The sacrifices of the residents of the Pearl River 

communities do not go 

unnoticed. Over the last 55 years, Stennis Space 

Center has tested the rockets for the Apollo missions, 

the engines for the Space Shuttle missions, and now 

the engines that will take humans farther than they 

have ever been in space. Our next goal: Mars. From 

the speech Senator Stennis gave to the residents of 

the Pearl River communities to NASA’s current plans 

to send humans to Mars, the sacrifices of these small 

lumber communities are not forgotten.

1 Quoted in chapter 2 of Mack R. Herring, Way Station to Space: 

A History of the John C. Stennis Space Center (Washington, DC: 

NASA SP-4310, 1997), available online at https://history.nasa.

gov/SP-4310.pdf.

THE SACRIFICES OF THE 

RESIDENTS OF THE PEARL 

RIVER COMMUNITIES DO 

NOT GO UNNOTICED.

NASA HEADQUARTERS HISTORY DIVISION 

STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION

William Barry bill.barry@nasa.gov

Chief Historian 202-358-0383

Nadine Andreassen nadine.j.andreassen@nasa.gov

Program Support Specialist 202-358-0087

Colin Fries colin.a.fries@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0388

Stephen Garber stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov

Historian 202-358-0385

Chief Archivist (Vacant)

Andres Almeida andres.almeida@nasa.gov

Editor 202-358-0044

Elizabeth Suckow elizabeth.suckow-1@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0375

Hannah Hotovy hannah.m.hotovy@nasa.gov

Intern 202-358-0680
13

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

OTHER AEROSPACE HISTORY NEWS

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) is accepting proposals for open sessions for its 

annual meeting, which will be held 26–30 October 

2017 in Philadelphia.

Submitting an Open-Session Proposal

Open-session proposals are limited to two pages total. 

The first page should include a title, session organizer 

name, and contact information at the top, followed by 

a paragraph or two clearly describing the proposed session topic or theme and its significance in the broader 

study of the history of technology.

Submit open-session proposals in a single PDF or 

Word file to the secretary’s office (SHOT.Secretariaat@

tue.nl). The secretary’s office will post the proposals on 

the SHOT Web site as soon as possible.

Joining a Proposed Panel

To join a proposed panel from the open-session list, 

contact the organizer for that panel, not the Program 

Committee. Open-session organizers will then assemble 

full panel sessions and submit them to SHOT by the 

end of the regular call for papers on 31 March 2017. 

The Program Committee will review the resulting fully 

formed session proposals, whether traditional or unconventional, for quality and adherence to SHOT standards of gender, geographic, and institutional diversity.

For more information, visit http://www.

historyoftechnology.org/media/Philadelphia_2017_

open_panel/Open_Sessions_Call_for_Proposals.pdf.

TRACEE HAUPT WINS 2016 SACKNOFF 

PRIZE FOR SPACE HISTORY

University of Maryland graduate student Tracee 

Haupt has won the 2016 Sacknoff Prize for Space 

History for her paper titled “The NASA Art Program: 

Technology, Art, and Conflicting Visions of Progress, 

1962–1973.”

The winning paper from Ms. Haupt examines the 

NASA Art Program from 1962 to 1973 in the context 

of cultural debates on the societal impact of science 

and technology. Art seemed capable of responding 

to the public’s doubts in a unique way, and it was 

one of the strategies that NASA used to “humanize” 

its technology and boost the space program’s waning popularity. Most of what has been written about 

the art program tends to be celebratory, emphasizing 

positive depictions of NASA, but this paper analyzes 

the artwork and written accounts of the participants 

to demonstrate that there was more ambivalence 

toward NASA within the art program than has been 

previously suggested, and some of the artists used their 

work to caution against the potential dangers of a 

society blindly driven by technology.

Established in 2011, the annual prize is designed to 

encourage students to perform original research and 

submit papers with history-of-spaceflight themes. The 

winner receives a cash prize, trophy, and publication 

in the peer-reviewed journal Quest: The History of 

Spaceflight, along with an invitation to present at the 

annual meeting of SHOT.

Chosen from entries representing students at universities throughout the world, papers submitted over the 

years have covered a wide range of topics, including 

early animal research, the Korean space program, public diplomacy behind astronaut world tours, a history 

of space debris, and a military space visionary.

This year’s jury consisted of four professional Ph.D. 

historians and members of the Society for the History 

of Technology–Albatross Committee (aerospace).

More information about the prize and the journal can 

be found at http://www.spacehistory101.com/prize.

For more information, contact Scott Sacknoff at 703-

524-2766 or scott@spacehistory101.com.
14

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

COMMERCIALLY PUBLISHED WORKS

By Chris Gamble

Russian Aviation, Space Flight, and Visual Culture 

(Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe 

Series), edited by Vlad Strukov and Helena Goscilo 

(Routledge, October 2016). This book explores how 

the themes of spaceflight and aviation were depicted 

in Soviet films, art, architecture, and literature. 

Incorporating many illustrations, the book covers the 

representation of Soviet heroes, the building of myths, 

and the relationship between this visual art form and 

wider Soviet culture and society. The book also relates 

the subject to contemporary cultural theory.

The Politics and Perils of Space Exploration: Who 

Will Compete, Who Will Dominate? by Linda Dawson 

(Springer, December 2016). Written by a former aerodynamics officer in the Space Shuttle Program, this 

book provides a look at how NASA coordinates and 

provides funding for commercial enterprises, as well 

as what is planned for space tourism and deep space 

exploration. In order to tell this story, it is important 

to understand the dangers of deep space and why it is a 

challenge to explore and utilize the resources found in 

deep space. The science of exploring space is explained, 

including types of rockets and current technologies. 

To illustrate the risks associated with space exploration, 

the specifics of some recent and long-ago failures will 

be discussed.

British Secret Projects 5: Britain’s Space Shuttle, by 

Daniel Sharp (Crecy Publishing, September 2016). As 

the United States and Russia stepped up their efforts 

during the early 1960s to design ever-faster bombers 

and put humans and equipment into space, Britain 

quietly set to work devising its own hypersonic aircraft 

and crewed space vehicles. This book tells the story 

of how, from 1963 to 1966, English Electric/BAC’s 

(Preston, England) works secretly led the world in reusable spacecraft design. A huge variety of designs formed 

the P42 project, and the end result was the Multi-Unit 

Space Transport And Recovery Device (MUSTARD), 

which predated the Space Shuttle Program by six 

years. Based on access to the original project drawings, 

photographs, archives, and interviews with surviving 

members of the design team, the book offers insight 

into this chapter in U.K. space science history.

Spaceships: An Illustrated History of the Real and 

the Imagined, by Ron Miller (Smithsonian Books, 

October 2016). How have actual spaceships influenced 

the design of fictional ones like the Millennium Falcon 

and the Starship Enterprise? Did a fiction series in 

Collier’s magazine really inspire us to create real-life 

space stations like Mir and the International Space 

Station? How have our depictions of space travel 

developed as the reality of space travel changed? In 

his new book, the author shows that when it comes to 

spacecraft, art can imitate life—and, bizarrely, life can 

imitate art. In fact, astronautics has roots in art. Long 

before engineers and scientists took the possibility of 

spaceflight seriously, virtually all of its aspects had been 

explored in art and literature. Miller takes readers on 

a visual journey through the history of the spaceship 

both in our collective imagination and in reality.

Overview: Unexpected Images of the World We’ve 

Shaped, by Benjamin Grant (Amphoto Books, 

October 2016). This book offers breathtaking photographs that showcase how humans have shaped 

Earth’s landscape. Through more than 250 photographs—which highlight extraordinary patterns while 

also revealing a deeper story about humanity and our 

inextricable ties to the environment—and accompanying captions, readers are given an opportunity to 

appreciate our home in its entirety, to reflect on its 

beauty and fragility all at once.

Mars: The Story of Our Future on Mars, by Leonard 

David (National Geographic, October 2016). The 

National Geographic Channel looks years into the 

future with Mars, a six-part series documenting and 

dramatizing the next 25 years and showing how 

humans may one day land on and learn to live on 

Mars. This companion book to the series explores 
15

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

the science behind the mission and the challenges 

awaiting those brave individuals.

Space Mining and Its Regulation, by Joseph Pelton, 

Ram Jakhu, and Yaw Otu Mankata Nyampong 

(Springer-Praxis, August 2016). This book reviews 

the current and possible future regulatory oversight 

of the state and nonstate actors now engaged in or 

planning to become engaged in the exploration and 

possible exploitation of space-related natural resources, 

whether they be liquid, gaseous, or mineral.

US Spy Satellite Owners’ Workshop Manual—1959 

Onwards, by David Baker (Haynes Publishing, 

December 2016). This book takes a look at the programs that resulted from the clandestine decision in 

the United States to build highly secret spy satellites in 

parallel with civilian space activities, showing details 

of the design and layout of photographic reconnaissance (spy) satellites including the Manned Orbiting 

Laboratory (MOL), America’s once-planned military 

space station. This book focuses on the development of 

the spy satellites themselves and on the political arena 

in which their successes, and failures, were played out.

Making Jet Engines in World War II: Britain, 

Germany, and the United States, by Hermione 

Giffard (University of Chicago Press, October 2016). 

With this book, Hermione Giffard uses the case of the 

development of jet engines during World War II to 

offer a different way of understanding technological 

innovation, revealing the complicated mix of factors 

that go into any decision to pursue an innovative 

(and therefore risky) technology. Giffard compares 

the approaches of Germany, Britain, and the United 

States, showing that each approached jet engines in 

different ways because of its own particular war aims 

and industrial expertise.

Rocket Propulsion Elements, by George P. Sutton and 

Oscar Biblarz (9th edition, Wiley, January 2017). This 

guide for students and professionals combines fundamental concepts with industry applications to provide 

a practical introduction to rocket propulsion principles, mechanisms, and design as applied to guided 

missiles, spaceflight, satellite flight, and more. This 

new ninth edition has been updated to cover new 

technologies in systems design, materials, propellants, 

applications, and manufacturing, with an emphasis on 

system types commonly used around the world today.

Star Ark: A Living, Self-Sustaining Spaceship, edited 

by Rachel Armstrong (Springer, November 2016). As 

space ventures have become more numerous, leading 

scientists and theorists have offered ways of building 

a living habitat in a hostile environment, taking an 

“ecosystems” view of space colonization. This book 

challenges prevailing ideas about sustainability and 

proposes a new approach to resource austerity and 

conservation. Readers will learn the details of the plans 

for Persephone, a project that is part of the company 

Icarus Interstellar’s plans for the design and engineering of a living interior on a future multigenerational 

space station.

A Space Traveler’s Guide to the Solar System, by Mark 

Thompson (Pegasus, November 2016). From preparations for takeoff and the experience of leaving Earth’s 

atmosphere to the reality of living in the confines of a 

spaceship, astronomer Mark Thompson takes readers 

on a tour of the solar system.

Controlling Risk: Thirty Techniques for Operating 

Excellence, by Jim Wetherbee (Morgan James 

Publishing, November 2016). Since the beginning 

of the space program, astronauts have been developing techniques based on principles of operations to 

help flightcrews execute successful missions in the 

unforgiving environment of space. Astronauts, like 

operators in every hazardous profession, have learned 

that these techniques can create better performance, 

helping them accomplish more missions with higher 

quality. Controlling Risk discusses how these 30 techniques can enable operators to work together, improve 

performance in high-risk businesses, and accomplish 

much more in challenging environments.

Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes 

Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the 

Cosmos, by Nancy Atkinson (Page Street Publishing, 

December 2016). In this book, the author takes 

readers beyond the surface of what some of the most 
16

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

sophisticated space rovers, satellites, and telescopes are 

discovering. This guide provides information on these 

missions and the science surrounding them, as well as 

inside interviews with the scientists and engineers who 

devise mission concepts, build the spacecraft, study 

the data, and care for the spacecraft.

Beyond Earth: Our Path to a New Home in the 

Planets, by Charles Wohlforth and Amanda R. 

Hendrix (Pantheon, November 2016). In this book, 

the authors use research to argue that Titan—a moon 

of Saturn with a nitrogen atmosphere, a weather cycle, 

and a vast supply of cheap energy—offers the prospect 

of life without support from Earth.

Deep Life: The Hunt for the Hidden Biology of Earth, 

Mars, and Beyond, by Tullis C. Onstott (Princeton 

University Press, November 2016). This book takes 

readers to regions deep beneath Earth’s crust in search 

of life in extreme environments, and it reveals how 

new discoveries by geomicrobiologists are helping in 

the quest to find life in the solar system.

Space Warfare in the 21st Century: Arming the 

Heavens, by Joan Johnson-Freese (Routledge, 

November 2016). This volume explores the issues 

arising from evolving space capabilities across the 

world and the security challenges these pose. The book 

subsequently discusses the complexity of the space 

environment and argues how tools of national power 

can be used, with some degree of balance, toward 

addressing space challenges and achieving space goals.

Saturn V Rocket (Images of Modern America), by 

Alan Lawrie (Arcadia Publishing, November 2016). 

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set the challenge 

of landing a human on the Moon by the end of the 

decade. To achieve that goal, NASA partnered with 

U.S. industry to build the largest rocket ever produced, 

the Saturn V. The rocket was designed and tested in 

record time; its first flight was in 1967. This book tells 

the story of the Saturn V.

Eisenhower at the Dawn of the Space Age: Sputnik, 

Rockets, and Helping Hands, by Mark Shanahan 

(Lexington Books, November 2016). This book 

presents an alternative view of the development of 

space policy during Eisenhower’s administration, 

assessing the hypothesis that his space policy was 

not a reaction to the heavily propagandized Soviet 

satellite launches, or even the effect they caused in 

the U.S. political and military elites, but the continuation of a strategic journey. This study engages 

with three distinct but converging strands of literature 

and proposes a revised interpretation of Eisenhower’s 

actions in relation to rockets, missiles, and satellites. 

In reassessing the United States’ first space policy, the 

book adds to the revisionism under way in relation to 

the Eisenhower presidency, focusing on the “helping 

hands” that enabled him to wage peace.

Space Race Archaeologies: Photographs, Biographies 

and Design, edited by Pedro Alonso (DOM Publishers, 

December 2016). By bringing together the work of 

photographer Petr Antonov, architect Philipp Meuser, 

designer Hugo Palmarola, and historian of science Asif 

Siddiqi, this book comes from a conference held at the 

Princeton University School of Architecture in March 

2016 on technology and the Cold War, contesting 

the historiographical status of space race objects like 

rockets, launch pads, and satellite tracking stations.

Seeing Our Planet Whole: A Cultural and Ethical 

View of Earth Observation, by Harry Eyres (Springer, 

September 2016). This book shows how our newfound ability to observe Earth has wide and profound 

cultural and ethical implications. The 1968 Earthrise 

photograph helped spark a worldwide environmental 

movement; now the comprehensive coverage of global 

climate change provided by satellites has the potential 

to convince humanity that Earth’s altering landscape is 

a product of Earth’s changing climate system.

Earth in Human Hands: The Rise of Terra Sapiens 

and Hope for Our Planet, by David Grinspoon (Grand 

Central Publishing, December 2016). Without minimizing the challenges of the next century, Dr. David 

Grinspoon discusses how the 10,000-year view could 

be both essential and hopeful. In contrasting Earth’s 

story with those of other planets, he illustrates that 

the present moment is not only one of peril, but also 

one of great potential. This book aims to reveal how 
17

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

our geological, biological, technological, and moral 

histories have now converged to present us with a 

doorway into a new era, one where we can shape our 

planet for the better.

The Projects of Skunk Works: 75 Years of Lockheed 

Martin’s Advanced Development Programs, by Steve 

Pace (Voyageur Press, December 2016). This book tells 

the stories behind more than 50 secret projects undertaken by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works on behalf 

of the U.S. Armed Forces, the Defense Advanced 

Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Central 

Intelligence Agency (CIA)—all illustrated with official Skunk Works photography and commissioned 

artworks. This illustrated history tackles Skunk Works 

programs ranging from jet fighters and jet engines to 

missiles and rockets, as well as helicopters, research 

aircraft, airships, unmanned aerial vehicles and recon 

drones, and even the seagoing stealth ship Sea Shadow.

Apollo Pilot: The Memoir of Astronaut Donn Eisele, 

edited by Francis French (University of Nebraska Press, 

January 2017). In October 1968, Donn Eisele flew 

with fellow astronauts Walt Cunningham and Wally 

Schirra into Earth orbit on Apollo 7. The first crewed 

mission in the Apollo program and the first crewed 

flight after a fire during a launch pad test killed Gus 

Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White in early 1967, 

Apollo 7 helped restart NASA’s human spaceflight 

program. Known to many as a lighthearted prankster, 

Eisele worked his way from the U.S. Naval Academy 

to test pilot school and then into the select ranks of 

America’s prestigious astronaut corps. Unbeknownst 

to everyone, after his retirement as a technical assistant 

for human spaceflight at NASA’s Langley Research 

Center in 1972, Eisele wrote in detail about his years 

in the Air Force and his time in the Apollo program. 

Long after his death, author Francis French discovered 

Eisele’s unpublished memoir, and Susie Eisele Black 

(Eisele’s widow) allowed the author access to her late 

husband’s NASA files and personal effects.

Faith 7: L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., and the Final Mercury 

Mission, by Colin Burgess (Springer Praxis, July 

2016). This book celebrates the final spaceflight in 

the Mercury series, flown by NASA astronaut Gordon 

Cooper, who led an adventurous life in the cockpit of 

airplanes and spacecraft alike. On his Mercury mission, he became the last American ever (to date) to 

rocket into space alone. He flew in the Mercury and 

Gemini programs and served as head of flightcrew 

operations in both the Apollo and Skylab programs.

The New Gold Rush: The Riches of Space Beckon!

by Joseph N. Pelton (Copernicus, November 2016). 

This book captures the advances being made in the 

harnessing of space as a global resource. The author 

tracks the growing number of space businesses and 

opportunities for investors, along with the possible 

benefits of spaceplanes, space stations, and even space 

colonies. The author also argues for more regulatory 

reform. This book is based on a study of international 

experts commissioned ahead of the UNISPACE+50 

meeting; it distilled the results of this comprehensive 

fact-finding process into a compact form.

Apollo 11 PAO Mission Commentary Transcript, July 

16–24, 1969, presented by Philip R. Wolfe (Lulu.

com, November 2016). This book contains all 633 

pages of the Apollo 11 Public Affairs Office (PAO) 

Spacecraft Commentary transcripts, documenting the 

events during the historic mission to the lunar surface.

Large-Scale NASA Programs: 2015 in Review, edited 

by Lucas Fletcher (Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 

December 2016). This book assesses the performance 

to date of NASA’s portfolio of major projects; NASA’s 

progress in developing and maturing critical technologies and stabilizing design; and NASA’s initiatives 

to reduce acquisition risk and work that remains to 

strengthen the management of the Agency’s largest, 

most complex projects. It also provides data on past 

and current NASA appropriations as well as proposed 

NASA appropriations for FY 2015 and proposed 

authorizations of NASA appropriations for FY 2015 

and FY 2016.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky: The Pioneering 

Rocket Scientist and His Cosmic Philosophy, by 

Daniel H. Shubin (Algora Publishing, August 2016). 

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky is considered to be the founder of Russian astrophysics and 
18

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

cosmonautics. He was a self-taught scientist, inventor, 

philosopher, and science fiction writer despite having 

lost his hearing at age 10. Historian and biographer 

Dan Shubin presents Tsiolkovsky’s life story and a 

selection of his compositions, including autobiographical notes, his cosmic and political philosophy, 

and his science fiction writings.

Bossart: America’s Forgotten Rocket Scientist, by Don 

Mitchell (Mental Landscape, LLC, November 2016). 

Born in Belgium, Karel Jan Bossart moved to the 

United States and worked with skilled aircraft designers in the 1930s. After the Second World War, he 

developed the first American intercontinental ballistic 

missile, the Atlas.

TIME Special Edition: John Glenn, by the editors 

of TIME (TIME, December 2016). On 20 February 

1962, astronaut John Glenn spent 4 hours and 

56 minutes in space, orbiting Earth three times in one 

of the most highly anticipated events in American history. The historic mission propelled the United States 

in the space race, and Glenn became a national hero. 

He followed that feat with an extraordinarily rich and 

productive life, serving four terms as a Senator from 

Ohio and, remarkably, returning to space at age 77 in 

1998. This 100-page special edition of TIME showcases Glenn and his signature achievements.

Skylab 4: The NASA Mission Reports, by Dwight 

Steven Boniecki (CGP/Apogee Books, December 

2016). The Skylab Orbital Workshop had already 

successfully carried two crews in low-Earth orbit 

when Apollo astronauts Jerry Carr, Bill Pogue, and Ed 

Gibson strapped themselves atop one of the remaining 

Saturn IB boosters in 1973. In Skylab 4: The NASA 

Mission Reports, you will find details of NASA’s final 

Skylab experiment through the documents published 

at the time of the mission, including the mission 

debriefing that tells the story in the crew’s own words. 

Included with this book is a DVD featuring launch 

video of the Skylab 4 mission, audio of the reentry of 

Skylab, a Skylab slideshow, a Skylab 4 status report, a 

Skylab 4 in-flight press conference, and more.

Space Launch Complex 10: Vandenberg’s Cold 

War National Landmark, by Joseph T. Page II (The 

History Press, November 2016). Situated in the sand 

dunes of California’s Central Coast, Space Launch 

Complex Ten, often called SLC-10 or “Slick Ten,” is 

a National Historic Landmark that commemorates a 

Cold War legacy. Home to Vandenberg’s Space and 

Missile Technology Center (SAMTEC), the facility 

contains the rich technological heritage of the U.S. 

Air Force’s space and missile launch systems. As the 

only remaining Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile launch site in the world, SLC-10’s noteworthy 

achievements span the globe. The complex trained 

British Royal Air Force missileers for Project EMILY, 

assisted during nuclear atmospheric tests in the Pacific, 

and launched military weather satellites in support of 

the covert National Reconnaissance Program.

The Father of Canadian Astronautics: The Life of 

Dr. Philip A. Lapp, O.C., edited by Robert Godwin 

(Apogee Prime, November 2016). Using Dr. Philip 

Lapp's own words, Robert Godwin explains how 

Canada became a respected force in the world of 

astronautics. Topics covered include the Avro Arrow, 

the Alouette satellites, the birth of DirecTV, the Space 

Shuttle’s Canadarm, and Radarsat.

The Quest for Speed: Air Racing and the Influence of 

the Schneider Trophy Contests, 1913–31, by Mike 

Roussel (The History Press, November 2016). This 

book charts the impact of the Schneider Trophy on 

aircraft design and discusses how air racing placed 

emphasis on both flying skills and aircraft capability.

The Flying Man: Hugo Junkers and the Dream of 

Aviation, by Richard Byers (Texas A&M University 

Press, November 2016). Hugo Junkers (1859–1935) 

was a German engineer and aircraft designer generally 

credited as the pioneer of all-metal airplanes. Although 

his company’s humble beginnings included producing 

boilers and radiators, by World War II it was producing 

some of the most successful Luftwaffe planes, including 

the Ju-88, the primary bomber of the German air force. 

Hugo Junkers himself, however, was a socialist pacifist 

who saw aviation as a way to unify the world. Soon 

after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, Junkers 

was forced to surrender his patents, found his holdings 

seized by the state, and was placed under house arrest. 

He died in 1935, a tortured genius exiled from his life’s 
19

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

work—but, perhaps fortunately, he was spared from 

seeing his inventions destructively unleashed across 

Europe. The book not only contributes to the history 

of aviation but also adds to humankind’s understanding of the consolidation of power in Germany’s march 

toward World War II.

Disclaimer: The History Division wishes to thank volunteer Chris Gamble, who compiles this section for us 

every quarter. Please note that the descriptions have been 

derived by Chris from promotional material and do not 

represent an endorsement by NASA.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The “NASA in the ‘Long’ Civil Rights Movement Conference” will be held 16–17 March 2017 at 

the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Visit https://

www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/nasa-in-thelong-civil-rights-movement-conference.html for details.

The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) 

Spring Meetings will be held 21–23 March 2017 in 

Paris, France. Visit http://www.iafastro.org/events/iafspring-meetings/spring-meetings-2017 for details.

The annual meeting of the Organization of American 

Historians (OAH) will be held 6–9 April 2017 in 

New Orleans, Louisiana. Visit http://www.oah.org/

meetings-events/2017/ for details.

The annual meeting of the Society for History in the 

Federal Government (SHFG) will be held 13 April 

2017 at the National Archives Building in Washington, 

DC. Visit http://shfg.org/shfg/events/annual-meeting

for details.

The annual meeting of the National Council on 

Public History (NCPH) will be held 19–22 April 

2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Visit http://ncph.org/

conference/2017-annual-meeting for details.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics (AIAA) Aviation and Aeronautics Forum 

and Exposition (AIAA Aviation 2017) will be held 

5–9 June 2017 in Denver, Colorado. Visit https://

www.aiaa-aviation.org for details.

The Kenneth E. Behring National History Day will 

be held 11–15 June 2017 in College Park, Maryland. 

Visit https://www.nhd.org for details.

The annual meeting for the Society for Historians of 

American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) will be held 

22–24 June 2017 in Arlington, Virginia. Visit http://

shafr.org/conferences/annual/2017-annual-meeting

for details.

The NASA Langley Centennial Symposium will be 

held 12–14 July 2017 in Hampton, Virginia. Visit 

https://www.nasa.gov/langley/100/events for details.

ARCHIVES 2017, the annual meeting of the Society 

of American Archivists, will be held 23–29 July 2017

in Portland, Oregon. Visit http://www2.archivists.org/

am2017 for details.

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) 

AirVenture Oshkosh will be held 24–30 July 2017

in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Visit https://www.eaa.org/en/

airventure for details.

The annual meeting of the Society for the Social Studies 

of Science (4S) will be held 30 August–2 September 

2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. Visit http://

www.4sonline.org/meeting for details.

AIAA Space 2017 will be held 12–14 September 2017

in Orlando, Florida. Visit http://www.aiaa-space.org

for details.

The International Astronautical Congress will be held 

25–29 September 2017 in Adelaide, Australia. Visit 

http://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/iac-2017 for details.
20

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

OBITUARIES

JOHN GLENN, 1921–2016

Portions of this piece are excerpted from our John Glenn 

tribute Web page, found at https://www.nasa.gov/

johnglenn.

Former astronaut and U.S. Senator John H. Glenn died on 8 December 2016 at the Ohio State 

University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus,Ohio.

Glenn, who served four terms as a U.S. 

Senator from Ohio, was one of the 

original Mercury Seven astronauts. His 

history-making flight aboard Friendship 7 

on 20 February 1962 made him the first 

American to orbit Earth, showing the 

world that the United States was a formidable force in the space race.

John Herschel Glenn, Jr., was born 

18 July 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio. He 

received a bachelor of science degree in 

engineering from Muskingum College in 

New Concord, Ohio.

Glenn entered the Naval Aviation Cadet 

Program in March 1942. Following 

graduation, he was commissioned in the 

Marine Corps in 1943, where he joined 

Marine Fighter Squadron 155 and spent 

a year flying F-4U fighters in the Marshall 

Islands. He flew 59 combat missions in 

the Pacific theater during World War II.

After the war, he was a member of Marine 

Fighter Squadron 218 on the North 

China patrol and served in Guam. From 

June 1948 to December 1950, he served 

as an instructor in advanced flight training in Corpus Christi, Texas. He then 

attended Amphibious Warfare Training 

in Quantico, Virginia.

During the Korean War, he flew 63 missions with 

Marine Fighter Squadron 311. As an exchange pilot 

with the Air Force, Glenn flew 27 missions in the 

F-86 Sabre.

John Glenn is shown in his Mercury flight suit.

Glenn attended Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test 

Center, Patuxent River, Maryland. After graduation, 

he was the project officer on a number of aircraft. He 
21

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

was assigned to the Fighter 

Design Branch of the Navy 

Bureau of Aeronautics 

(now the Bureau of Naval 

Weapons) in Washington 

from November 1956 to 

April 1959. During that 

time, he also attended the 

University of Maryland.

In July 1957, while he was 

the project officer of the 

F-8U Crusader, he set a 

transcontinental speed 

record from Los Angeles 

to New York—3 hours and 

23 minutes. It was the first 

transcontinental flight to 

average supersonic speed.

Glenn accumulated nearly 

9,000 hours of flying time, 

about 3,000 of it in jets.

After his selection as a Mercury astronaut, Glenn was 

assigned to the NASA Space Task Group at Langley, 

Virginia, in April 1959. The Space Task Group was 

moved to Houston and became part of the NASA 

Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space 

Center) in 1962.

Glenn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross on 

six occasions and held the Air Medal with 18 Clusters 

for his service during World War II and Korea. Glenn 

also received the Navy Unit Commendation for service in Korea, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the 

American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory 

Medal, the China Service Medal, the National Defense 

Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United 

Nations Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit 

Citation, the Navy’s Astronaut Wings, the Marine 

Corps’ Astronaut Medal, the NASA Distinguished 

Service Medal, and the Congressional Space Medal 

of Honor.

John Glenn climbs inside the Mercury capsule he dubbed Friendship 7 on 20 February 1962 before launching on the mission that 

would make him the first American to orbit Earth.

On 16 January 1964, Glenn resigned from the astronaut corps. The Marine Corps promoted him to colonel in October 1964, and he retired from the Corps 

on 1 January 1965.

He soon found another calling—in politics. Glenn 

won his U.S. Senate seat in 1974, carrying all 88 Ohio 

counties. He was reelected in 1980 with the largest 

margin in Ohio history.

Ohio returned him to the Senate for a third term in 

1986, again with a substantial majority. In 1992, he was 

elected yet again, becoming the first popularly elected 

senator from his state to win four consecutive terms.

During his last term, he was the ranking member 

of both the Governmental Affairs Committee and 

the Subcommittee on Air/Land Forces in the Senate 

Armed Services Committee. He also served on the 

Select Committee on Intelligence and the Special 

Committee on Aging.
22

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

John Glenn and his wife, Annie, ride a float in a parade at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. 

In 1999, NASA Lewis Research Center was renamed NASA John H. Glenn Research 

Center at Lewis Field in Glenn’s honor.

Then-President Barack Obama presented former United States Marine 

Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States Senator John Glenn with 

the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, 

on Tuesday, 29 May 2012, during a ceremony at the White House in 

Washington, DC.

Glenn was considered one of the Senate’s leading 

experts on technical and scientific matters, and he 

won wide respect for his work to prevent the spread of 

weapons of mass destruction. He took pride in using 

his position on the Governmental Affairs Committee 

to root out waste in government and to clean up the 

nation’s nuclear material production plants.

On 29 October 1998, at the age of 77, Glenn made 

history yet again when he became the oldest human 

ever to venture into space. As a payload specialist 

aboard the nine-day STS-95 mission, he and the other 

crewmembers supported a variety of research tasks, 

including Glenn’s own investigations on spaceflight 

and the aging process, as well as the deployment of 

the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft and the Hubble 

Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform.

Katherine G. Johnson, the “human computer” who 

verified the mathematics behind Glenn’s flight on 

Friendship 7, an event portrayed in the film Hidden 

Figures, honored him after learning of his passing:

A good man has left Earth for the last time. 

John Glenn’s life will long be remembered for 

his time in space, his courage, and his service 

to all Americans.

A GOOD MAN HAS LEFT 

EARTH FOR THE LAST TIME. 

JOHN GLENN’S LIFE WILL 

LONG BE REMEMBERED 

FOR HIS TIME IN SPACE, HIS 

COURAGE, AND HIS SERVICE 

TO ALL AMERICANS.

—Katherine G. Johnson
23

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

GENE CERNAN, 1934–2017

Portions of this piece are excerpted from our Gene Cernan 

tribute Web page, found at https://www.nasa.gov/

astronautprofiles/cernan.

Eugene Cernan, the last Apollo astronaut to walk on 

the Moon, died on 16 January 2017, surrounded by 

his family. Cernan, a U.S. Navy captain, holds the 

distinction of being the second American to walk in 

space and the last human (to date) to leave his footprints on the lunar surface.

Former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said 

in a statement shortly after Cernan’s death, “Truly, 

America has lost a patriot and pioneer who helped 

shape our country’s bold ambitions to do things that 

humankind had never before achieved.”

Cernan was one of 14 astronauts selected by NASA 

in October 1963. He piloted the Gemini IX mission 

with commander Thomas P. Stafford on a three-day 

flight in June 1966. On that mission, Cernan logged 

more than 2 hours outside the orbiting capsule.

In May 1969, he was the Lunar Module pilot for Apollo 

10, the first comprehensive lunar orbital qualification 

and verification test of the lunar lander. The mission 

confirmed the performance, stability, and reliability of 

the Apollo Command, Service, and Lunar Modules; it 

also included a descent to within 8 nautical miles of 

the Moon’s surface.

Cernan concluded his historic space exploration career 

as commander of the Apollo program’s last human 

mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, in December 1972.

Gene Cernan prepares for a mission simulation in 1970 at NASA’s 

Kennedy Space Center.

Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan was photographed by fellow astronaut 

Harrison H. Schmitt inside the Lunar Module following an extravehicular 

activity. Note the lunar dust on Cernan's suit.

Apollo 17 commander Eugene A. Cernan holds the lower corner of the 

American flag during the mission’s first extravehicular activity on 12 

December 1972. (Photo credit: Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt)
24

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

On their way to the Moon, the Apollo 17 crew took 

one of the most iconic photographs in space-program 

history: the full view of the Earth dubbed the “Blue 

Marble.” The image shows Africa, the Arabian 

Peninsula, and the south polar ice cap. Despite its 

fame, the photograph has not really been appreciated, 

Cernan said in 2007:

This classic photograph of Earth was taken on 7 December 1972 during Gene Cernan’s Apollo 17 mission.

What is the real meaning of seeing this picture? 

I’ve always said, I’ve said for a long time, I still 

believe it, it’s going to be—well, it’s almost 50 

now, but 50 or a hundred years in the history 

of mankind before we look back and really 

understand the meaning of Apollo. Really 

understand what humankind had done when 

we left, when we truly left this planet, we’re 
25

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

able to call another body in this universe our 

home. We did it way too early considering 

what we’re doing now in space. It’s almost as if 

JFK reached out into the 21st century where 

we are today, grabbed hold of a decade of time, 

slipped it neatly into the [nineteen] sixties and 

seventies [and] called it Apollo.

Gene Cernan celebrates the 25th anniversary of Apollo 17 at Space Center 

Houston, the visitor center of Johnson Space Center.

Apollo 17 established several new records for human 

spaceflight, including the longest lunar landing flight 

(301 hours, 51 minutes), longest lunar surface extravehicular activities (22 hours, 6 minutes), largest lunar 

sample return (nearly 249 pounds), and longest time 

in lunar orbit (147 hours, 48 minutes).

Cernan and crewmate Harrison H. “Jack” Schmitt 

completed three highly successful excursions to the 

nearby craters and the Taurus-Littrow Mountains, 

making the Moon their home for more than three days. 

As he left the lunar surface, Cernan said, “America’s 

challenge of today has forged man’s destiny of tomorrow. As we leave the Moon and Taurus-Littrow, we 

leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, 

with peace and hope for all mankind.”

On 1 July 1976, Cernan retired from the Navy after 

20 years and ended his NASA career. He went into private business and served as a television commentator 

for early flights of the Space Shuttle.

Cernan was born in Chicago on 14 March 1934. He 

graduated from Proviso Township High School in 

Maywood, Illinois, and received a bachelor of science 

in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 

1956. He earned a master of science in aeronautical 

engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School 

in Monterey, California.

Cernan had this to say about human ambition 

and capability:

We truly are in an age of challenge. With that 

challenge comes opportunity. The sky is no 

longer the limit. The word “impossible” no 

longer belongs in our vocabulary. We have 

proved that we can do whatever we have the 

resolve to do. The limit to our reach is our 

own complacency.

WE TRULY ARE IN AN AGE OF CHALLENGE. 

WITH THAT CHALLENGE COMES 

OPPORTUNITY. THE SKY IS NO LONGER 

THE LIMIT. THE WORD ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ NO 

LONGER BELONGS IN OUR VOCABULARY. 

WE HAVE PROVED THAT WE CAN DO 

WHATEVER WE HAVE THE RESOLVE TO 

DO. THE LIMIT TO OUR REACH IS OUR 

OWN COMPLACENCY.

—Gene Cernan
26

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

DR. HARRIETT JENKINS: EDUCATOR 

AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ADVOCATE

By Andres Almeida

Dr. Harriett Jenkins passed away on 21 December 

2016 at the age of 90. From 1974 until 1992, Jenkins 

served as NASA’s Assistant Administrator for Equal 

Opportunity Programs, advancing workforce diversity in technical and administrative areas as well as 

the astronaut corps, where her leadership led to the 

recruitment of the first African American astronauts.

Prior to NASA, Jenkins served for 19 years as a public school educator in Berkeley, California, where 

she became the city’s first African American female 

vice-principal. She later became principal and then 

assistant superintendent of schools. In 1974, she 

moved to Washington, DC, to be with her husband; 

shortly thereafter, she began working at NASA. 

Jenkins chaired the Agency’s Task Force on Equal 

Opportunity and Affirmative Action, one of nine task 

forces of the Personnel Management Project, which 

led to the landmark Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. 

Her work earned her the Civil Service Commissioners’ 

Award for Distinguished Service.

Jenkins was recognized with NASA’s highest award, the 

Distinguished Service Medal, as well as the President’s 

Meritorious Executive Award, NASA’s Outstanding 

Leadership Medal, and the President’s Distinguished 

Executive Award.

DR. JENKINS’ MANY PROFESSIONAL 

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND THE 

TREMENDOUS CONTRIBUTIONS SHE 

MADE IN FURTHERING CIVIL RIGHTS 

EFFORTS AT NASA AND THROUGHOUT 

THE COUNTRY WILL NEVER BE 

FORGOTTEN....

Dr. Harriett Jenkins is sworn in by NASA Administrator James Fletcher 

in 1974 as the Agency’s Assistant Administrator for Equal Opportunity 

Programs. (Photo credit: NASA)

—Former Administrator Charles Bolden

In 2000, she was honored by NASA with a graduate fellowship program bearing her name: the NASA 

Harriett G. Jenkins Pre-doctoral Fellowship. This 

fellowship provided funding for students to pursue 

graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, 

and mathematics (STEM) fields. Even after her retirement from the federal government in 1996, Jenkins 

personally attended the annual meetings of the fellows to share her legacy, inspiring the next generation 

of scholars.

In an Agency-wide e-mail sent shortly after her passing, former Administrator Charles Bolden expressed 

his gratitude for Jenkins:

Dr. Jenkins’ many professional accomplishments and the tremendous contributions she 

made in furthering civil rights efforts at NASA 

and throughout the country will never be 

forgotten.... I owe her a great debt of gratitude, as she helped recruit the agency’s first 

African American astronauts in the late 1970s, 

which enabled me to have the life-changing 
27

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

experience of traveling to space in furtherance 

of our nation’s journey of discovery.

As we celebrate Katherine Johnson and the 

Hidden Figures of the past who helped integrate our agency and advance NASA’s goals 

even in a segregated society, I also want us all 

to celebrate the life of this iconic figure here 

at NASA without whom we may have had no 

Modern Figures—the women of color advancing all aspects of our work today. Much of our 

progress would not have been possible without 

Dr. Jenkins’ dedicated work helping to ensure 

that all who wish to participate in science and 

space exploration have the opportunity to do 

so and to succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

For more information, read Jenkins’s oral history, part 

of the NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History 

Project, at https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_

histories/NASA_HQ/Administrators/JenkinsHG/

JenkinsHG_8-5-11.htm.

PIERS SELLERS: SCIENTIST AND 

ASTRONAUT

By Andres Almeida

Dr. Piers Sellers left a legacy of stewardship when he 

died of pancreatic cancer on 23 December 2016 in 

Houston, Texas. He was 61.

A renowned climate scientist and veteran of three 

spaceflights from 2002 to 2010, Sellers would go on 

to become a speaker on the challenges of confronting 

global climate change.

Piers J. Sellers, STS-112 mission specialist, works on the Starboard One (S1) Truss, newly installed on the ISS.

Born in Sussex, England, on 11 April 1955, Piers 

John Sellers arrived at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight 

Center in 1982 as a climate research scientist. From 

1982 to 1996, he was involved in constructing and 

analyzing computer models of the global climate system and conducting large-scale field experiments in 

the United States, Canada, Brazil, and parts of Africa. 

In the 1990s, Sellers served as the first project scientist for the Terra mission, the first satellite in NASA’s 
28

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

Earth Observing System and a flagship of the Agency’s 

Earth-observing fleet.

Astronaut Piers J. Sellers is pictured on the aft flight deck of Space Shuttle 

Atlantis during the STS-112 mission in 2002.

With 70 papers under his name, 30 of them as first 

author, Sellers was undoubtedly a prime candidate 

when he was selected to join the NASA astronaut 

corps in 1996. From 2002 to 2010, Sellers flew to the 

International Space Station (ISS) three times (STS112, -121, and -132), contributing to research projects and assisting in Space Station assembly.

After being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in 

2015, Sellers’s optimism appeared to only strengthen. 

He leveraged his 35 total days in space and decades of 

science research to empower people around the world 

to confront Earth’s changing climate. He gave dozens 

of interviews sharing his hopeful perspective, and he 

even appeared in Leonardo DiCaprio’s documentary 

Before the Flood.

Goddard Center Director Chris Scolese remarked on 

Sellers’s ability to energize those around him. “We 

remember Piers as an exceptional scientist and leader, 

but most importantly as an inspiring human being,” 

Scolese said. “He could make you think anything was 

possible, was always up for the adventure, and would 

remind you along the way how lucky we are to do the 

work we do here at Goddard.”

Sellers offered this optimistic outlook in a New York 

Times op-ed in January 2016:

As for me, I’ve no complaints. I’m very grateful 

for the experiences I’ve had on this planet. As 

an astronaut I spacewalked 220 miles above 

the Earth. Floating alongside the International 

Space Station, I watched hurricanes cartwheel 

across oceans, the Amazon snake its way to 

the sea through a brilliant green carpet of 

forest, and gigantic nighttime thunderstorms 

flash and flare for hundreds of miles along the 

Equator. From this God’s-eye[ ]view, I saw 

how fragile and infinitely precious the Earth is. 

I’m hopeful for its future. And so, I’m going to 

work tomorrow.

DR. NEIL GEHRELS: 

GODDARD ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS 

LABORATORY CHIEF

By Hannah Hotovy, NASA History Division Intern

Pictured is the official NASA portrait of 

Dr. Neil Gehrels as the chief of Goddard’s 

Astroparticle Physics Laboratory.

NASA and the space 

community lost an 

innovator in the 

field of astronomy 

with the passing of 

Dr. Neil Gehrels on 

6 February 2017 at 

the age of 64.

Gehrels began his 

work at NASA’s 

G o d d a r d Sp a c e 

Flight Center in 

1982 after earning his doctorate 

from the California 

Institute of Technology. Over a career spanning more 

than 30 years, Gehrels established himself as a global 
29

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

figure in the study of gamma-ray bursts and the 

larger gamma-ray universe. As chief of the Goddard 

Astroparticle Physics Laboratory from 1995 until 

his death, Gehrels served as a project scientist and 

Principal Investigator for a number of notable missions, 

including the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the 

Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, the Wide Field 

Infrared Survey Telescope, and the Compton Gamma 

Ray Observatory.

Gehrels smiles and points at the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer spacecraft in the 

clean room at Goddard Space Flight Center. The mission, for which Gehrels was 

Principal Investigator, launched in 2004 and is now managed by Pennsylvania State 

University. (Photo credit: NASA)

Gehrels’s work has been broadly documented throughout the scientific community, having been published 

in a wide range of science journals and popular 

scientific magazines. He was recognized with many 

high-profile accolades, including the NASA 

Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, the 

NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and 

Goddard’s own John C. Lindsay Memorial 

Award. Additionally, he was recognized by the 

American Astronomical Society, the American 

Association for the Advancement of Science, 

the National Academy of Sciences, and other 

renowned scientific organizations. Most 

recently, in 2016, he was elected an honorary fellow to the Royal Astronomical Society 

in London.

Apart from his contributions to Goddard, 

Gehrels often offered up his time and talents 

to improve the lives of others. Following in his 

parents’ legacy of service and advocacy, Gehrels 

was passionate about community outreach 

and volunteering. He and his family were 

active volunteers in underserved communities 

near Goddard. In 2005, he helped develop an 

internship program that allowed local disadvantaged high school students to work in his 

labs. You can read about his family tradition 

in this Goddard article: https://www.nasa.gov/

content/neil-gehrels-a-family-tradition.

Gehrels's passion for his work, both inside 

Goddard and outside in the community, has 

built a legacy of achievement that will long 

be remembered.

DR. GEHRELS’S PASSION 

FOR HIS WORK, BOTH INSIDE 

GODDARD AND OUTSIDE IN 

THE COMMUNITY, HAS BUILT 

A LEGACY OF ACHIEVEMENT 

THAT WILL LONG BE 

REMEMBERED.
30

NASA HISTORY DIVISION — News & Notes

ADELBERT O. TISCHLER: 

EARLY DEVELOPER OF LIQUID 

ROCKET ENGINES

By Andres Almeida

Adelbert O. “Del” Tischler, best known for initiating and directing the early development of liquid 

rocket engines for the nation’s space program, died on 

12 January 2017 in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 98.

Tischler, known to most as Del, held numerous posts 

at NASA during the course of his career. He worked 

as a chemical engineer for the National Advisory 

Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) at the Aircraft 

Engine Research Laboratory, later known as Lewis 

Research Center and now Glenn Research Center.

Tischler was born on 9 October 1918 in Cleveland, 

Ohio. In 1958, Tischler was recruited to work with a 

group of scientists and engineers led by Abe Silverstein, 

Associate Director of Lewis Research Center, to help 

lay out a plan for space exploration to be pursued by 

a new agency—NASA. The ad hoc working group 

was composed primarily of scientists and engineers 

from the NACA’s Langley and Lewis research laboratories, with representation from the Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory and participation by the Air Force, Navy, 

and Army. Almost everything that was done in the 

first decade of the space program flowed from their 

vision, including sending humans to the Moon. Upon 

NASA’s establishment in 1958, Tischler was named 

NASA’s Chief of Liquid Rocket Engines. Tischler later 

worked in the Office of Manned Space Flight, where 

he helped to develop the F-1, RL-10, and J-2—the 

engines used on the Saturn launch vehicles. He went 

on to serve as the Director of the Chemical Propulsion 

Division, within the Office of Advanced Research 

and Technology, from 1964 to 1969. Tischler then 

served as the Director of the Shuttle Technology 

Office (1970–72) and also worked on several task 

forces aimed at finding more cost-effective methods 

TISCHLER LATER WORKED IN for space operations prior to his retirement in 1973.

THE OFFICE OF MANNED SPACE 

FLIGHT, WHERE HE HELPED 

TO DEVELOP THE F-1, RL-10, 

AND J-2—THE ENGINES USED 

ON THE SATURN LAUNCH 

VEHICLES.

Pictured is Del Tischler. (Photo courtesy of Marc Tischler)

Del Tischler was a fellow of the American Institute of 

Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 1967, he received 

the James Wyld Propulsion Award for his outstanding contributions to the research and development 

of liquid rocket propulsion systems. He also received 

the NASA Exceptional Service Award for his contributions to the Shuttle Technologies program. He has 

published over 60 reports and journal publications.
31

Volume 34, Number 1 First Quarter 2017

IMAGE IN NASA HISTORY 

This official astronaut candidate portrait of Major General Charles F. Bolden was taken on 15 December 1980. A veteran of four spaceflights, he would 

remain a member of the NASA astronaut corps until 1998, when he returned for duty to the Marine Corps. Bolden would later be appointed by President 

Obama to serve as NASA Administrator from 2009 to 2017.
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EDITIONS OF NEWS & NOTES AT 

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

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Andres Almeida, Newsletter Editor

Lisa Jirousek, Editor

Michele Ostovar, Graphic Designer

Trenita Williams, Mail Coordinator

Carl Paul, Distribution

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