FROM

THE CHIEF

HISTORIAN

The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is

an annual event where the entire gamut of space

exploration activities, from space science and

human spaceflight to the search for extraterrestrial

intelligence, is represented. Held this year in

Valencia, Spain, from 2–6 October, the meeting

provided numerous opportunities for the exchange

of ideas among the leaders of the world’s space

agencies, the global aerospace industry, and professionals involved in exploration. Under this year’s

theme, “bringing space closer to people,” the meeting included sessions on the societal impact of

spaceflight, which was the subject of a recent conference sponsored by the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) and the National Air

and Space Museum (NASM) history divisions

(http://history.nasa.gov/socimpactonf/index.html).

By reporting on our conference held in September

in Washington, DC, my colleagues and I provided

a foundation for a broader international discussion

on the societal impact of spaceflight.

The historical profession is represented at the IAC

every year, and this year was no exception. Some

35 history papers were presented, again with a very

broad range. Of particular interest to me were

papers by L. Parker Temple on Project EMILY, a

Thor IRBM deployment in the United Kingdom

from 1959 to 1963 with lessons learned applied to

other space projects; Hirotaka Watanabe on project

Apollo as a case study of international competition

and cooperation; John Mankins on the history of

NASA’s office of Advanced Research and

Technology; Anne Coleman and Charles

Lundquist on the oral history tradition at the

University of Alabama in Huntsville (complete

with videos of Willy Ley and Werhner von

NASA History DIVISION

OFFICE OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Volume 23, Number 4 November 2006

continued on page 4

IN THIS ISSUE:

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

Societal Impact of Spaceflight Conference: A View from the Audience . . .1

News from Headquarters and the Centers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Archival Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Other History News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Calls for Papers and Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Aerospace History in the News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Upcoming Meetings/Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Images in Space History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Societal Impact of Spaceflight

Conference:A View from the Audience

—by Matthew Shindell, University of California, San Diego

The recent conference on the “Societal Impact of Spaceflight,” cosponsored by

the NASA History Division and the National Air and Space Museum’s

Department of Space History in Washington, DC, 19–21 September 2006, provided a unique opportunity for those engaged in the history of spaceflight to

reflect on the impacts of spaceflight and space technology on all aspects of life

in the space age. As NASA Chief Historian Steve Dick pointed out in his opening address, NASA had not evaluated its societal impacts in any organized,

scholarly way since the early 1960s. 

In the 1960s, spaceflight was a relatively new endeavor. The resultant volume of

this early work, The Railroad and the Space Program: A Study in Historical

Analogy (Bruce Mazlish, ed., MIT Press, 1965), largely relied on the comparison of the promises of space technology with what was at the time perhaps the

best-examined historical case study. It was as much a treatise on the promising

methodology of historical analogy as it was a prediction of what impacts spaceflight might have. Read today, the volume is still an engaging collection of

essays by recognized pioneers in the study of technology in the 20th century,

including Leo Marx, Thomas Hughes, and Mazlish himself. These scholars

pointed the way for a generation of historians and sociologists of science and

continued on next page
NASA History DIVISION

2

technology. The book’s contents, however, are now dated. They have been eclipsed by the

actual (and ongoing) history of space technology.

The achievements of modern nations in space are legion, and the technology is pervasive.

As presenter David J. Whalen pointed out, there are today more than 250 communications

satellites (communications satellites being Kennedy’s less-remembered 1962 spacerelated promise to the American people) in orbit around Earth at any given time. Crowded

and stacked into 180 designated slots, many of these satellites provide civilian services

that range from television programming to various navigational uses of the Global

Positioning System (GPS) (even

though GPS remains central to

military operations, its effects on

the civilian population are so evident as to hardly need

mentioning). And as Jet

Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) historian Erik Conway noted,

Earth-observing satellites have

not only changed our understanding of our planet in fundamental

ways, they have altered our dayto-day relationship with the

environment, from short-term

weather prediction and storm

tracking to long-term studies of climate change. The session on the “Commercial and

Economic Impact” of spaceflight provided every reason to believe that spaceflight’s

impact on the private sector has been of an incredible scale. Space technology has become

an essential part of modern infrastructure—national and global, military and civilian. It is

only fitting at this point in time for NASA to engage in some evaluative work.

But the conference amounted to much more than a straightforward chronicling of space

achievements and their impacts on society. With new history comes new problems. One

thing that was evident in many presentations was the difficulty of actually tracing and

evaluating the impacts of space technology on society using the existing scholarship.

Taken as a whole, the presentations pointed out (sometimes tacitly and sometimes explicitly) that though spaceflight has undoubtedly impacted society and though NASA

historians have so far succeeded quite well in telling the stories of the scientific, technological, and administrative achievements that have led to these impacts, existing work is

inadequate for describing the place of NASA in culture or society at large. This work also

seems to have its limits when it comes to discussing the impacts of culture and society on

the very work of space exploration, even while it seems to indicate that impacts do flow

in more than one direction. This conference provided spaceflight scholars the opportunity

to engage in some evaluation of their own enterprise.

Roger Lanius, for example, in his introduction to the session on “Turning Points,” raised

questions about one of the mainstays of space history. The concept of a turning point has

shaped spaceflight historians’ discussions of events like the launch of Sputnik and the

American Moon landings. However, Lanius pointed out, a turning point is an artificial

construct created by the historian as a shorthand for discussing historical change. These

Societal Impact of Spaceflight Conference: A View from the Audience (continued)
3

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

constructs may obscure as much as they illuminate. Upon historical examination, turning

points are often found to be vague and imprecise. More significantly, they serve as

markers that influence the way historians frame the stories they tell, placing some events

in the foreground and often leading to a progressive story that makes the present seem

to be the natural conclusion of key events of the past. According to Lanius, this can

leave other important events unexamined; they are relegated to the background of history (or, worse still, ignored). As a corrective measure, Lanius suggested that historians

examine turning points as moments of continuity, not just change. He also suggested

that background events in spaceflight history, such as the assassination of John F.

Kennedy, should be examined as possible moments of discontinuity. In this way, historians can avoid the construction of a confining master narrative. Launius’s discussion

set the stage for some very interesting evaluations of turning points in the history of

U.S., Soviet, and Chinese spaceflight.

Erik Conway, in his introduction to the session “Application Satellites, the Environment,

and National Security,” also pointed to possible problems in the way NASA historians

have framed achievements in space. According to Conway, satellite exploration has been

unduly eclipsed by human achievements in space. Conceptions of exploration such as

Jackson Turner’s now discredited “frontier thesis,” which posited that the culture of the

American West was forged by human interaction with and movement into the unexplored

frontier, have led historians of spaceflight to place too much emphasis on manned missions. By Conway’s account, and those of the speakers in his session, satellites have had a

far greater effect on everyday life than have astronauts. But relative to numerous histories

of manned missions, the history of Earth-observing satellites remains untold. Conway

charged NASA historians with the task of bringing this realization to the light of policymakers and the public.

Conway is not the only historian critical of the place of the frontier in American narratives

about the past and future presence of humans in space. Although American proponents of

spaceflight have often drawn upon the idea of exploration as a defining American activity, historians of exploration have been moving away from such a conception since the

1960s. Following the cue of the historian of exploration William Goetzmann, other historians of exploration have come to see their subject as a process that extends existing

cultural concerns. In the session on “Cultural Impact,” Asif Siddiqi pointed out that space

narratives are constructed along cultural and national lines. Cultural assumptions embedded in institutions, values, artifacts, and norms frame the way in which space exploration

is undertaken and perceived. In the session on “Ideology and Space Advocacy,” Linda

Billings and Taylor Dark took a similar perspective, addressing the influence of the “frontier thesis” and ideas of American progress on the way in which Americans explain their

activities in space.

The most explicit call for new approaches in NASA history came in the session on “Social

Impact.” In his introduction to the section, Glen Asner voiced concern over the degree to

which the methods employed in studies of spaceflight could really answer the question of

societal impact. To date, these studies have focused primarily on policy, technology, programs, and missions. Asner and the other speakers in this session advocated the

introduction of the methods of the social historian. These methods would allow historians

to tell the stories not only of the politicians, intellectuals, scientists, and other social leaders,

continued on next page
NASA History DIVISION

4

Braun); and Michael Gruntman on the technical and cultural history of the word “cosmonautics” as compared to “astronautics.” These papers, among others, will be published in

the American Astronautical Society’s (AAS) history series, which has published the

International Astronautical Congress history papers since 1985. These volumes are available for purchase at http://www.univelt.com/home.mv.

A highlight of the history lectures was the plenary session by Roger Malina, the son of Jet

Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) founder Frank Malina. Roger has been very active in the

International Astronautical Foundation (IAF) over the years. From his father, Roger inherited not only his interest in space but also a deep interest in its social and cultural context.

He currently chairs the International Academy of Astronautics Commission on Space

Activities and Society and for two decades has worked to bring professionals from the arts

and culture into the activities of the astronautics community. He has held a series of workshops on Space Exploration and the Arts, including one during the Valencia meeting.

Roger’s lecture on his father, “Frank J. Malina: Astronautical Pioneer Dedicated to

International Cooperation and the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,” was a personal history

with many family anecdotes in addition to the technical history. Both father and son are

discussed in Astroturf: The Private Life of Rocket Science (Walker and Company: New

York, 2005). The author of that book, M. G. Lord, gave the closing lecture at the

NASA/NASM conference on the “Societal Impact of Spaceflight.”

From the Chief Historian (continued)

but of social groups that previously have had little voice in the history of spaceflight. It is

in the relationship between spaceflight and everyday life “on the ground,” they argued, that

societal impacts can be found. Focusing on NASA during and after the Civil Rights movement, issues of race, sex, the material culture of space memorabilia, and the relationship

between NASA Centers and their surrounding communities, these scholars showed that

there is a rich social text waiting to be read.

Over the past 50 years, NASA has produced wonderfully detailed studies that document

the history of spaceflight. Despite the richness of these studies, the history of spaceflight

has been primarily a history from within, focusing largely on the interests and concerns of

NASA and the spaceflight community. The proceedings of this conference (along with the

proceedings the NASA History Division’s “Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight”

workshop) do well to highlight both the strengths and the shortcomings of NASA history

to date. These recent attempts to push the boundaries of space history provide a catalogue

of both the capabilities and the limitations of NASA history when it comes to questions

of a social or cultural nature. They also highlight the many promising new directions for

research in NASA history, and even a few hints at what methods might be employed to fill

in the gaps of this history. If one day, like the 1965 volume, the publication that will

emerge from the “Societal Impact of Spaceflight Conference” is eclipsed by the work to

come, it will be because these scholars established a firm foundation from which to work

and provided a set of tools with which to move ahead.

Societal Impact of Spaceflight Conference: A View from the Audience (continued)
5

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

In another history-related event, Michael Gruntman, chair of astronautics at the University

of Southern California, was awarded the Academy’s 2006 Luigi Napolitano Prize for his

book Blazing the Trail: The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry (Reston, Virginia:

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004). The award was presented at a

dinner of the International Academy of Astronautics on 1 October, just before the opening

of the congress.

In addition to the historical papers, many of the scientific lectures at the congress were of

great interest to historians. To give only one example, Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist,

gave a rousing and emotionally powerful rendition of the journeys of Voyagers 1 and 2.

Complete with beautiful imagery and personal reminiscences, Stone recounted those epic

journeys to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Half of the lecture was devoted to what

the Voyagers are telling us even now, three decades later. Renamed the Voyager Interstellar

Mission in 1989, these spacecraft last took images in 1990. But as the humanmade objects

that have traveled the farthest distance from Earth, they continue to relay important data.

On 16 December 2004, Voyager 1 crossed what is known as the “termination shock,” at

94 astronomical units from Earth (94 times Earth’s distance from the Sun). The termination shock is where the speed of the solar wind drops abruptly as the interstellar wind

begins to dominate. Voyager 1 is now at 101 astronomical units, about 10 billion miles

from the Sun, while the more slowly traveling Voyager 2 is at 81 astronomical

units. The former planet Pluto, by contrast, is at about 50 astronomical units. (For my 

take on that demotion, see my essay at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/

whyweexplore/index.html.) The Voyagers may have enough electrical power to last through

the year 2020. Like the Mars Exploration Rovers, now exceeding their expected lifetimes

by a factor of 10, the Voyagers are gifts that keep on giving.

Finally, as many of you have heard, this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to and

shared by NASA scientists John Mather and George Smoot, currently at Lawrence

Berkeley Lab, for their results obtained with NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer

(COBE) satellite. In 1992, COBE detected the variations in the remnants of the Big Bang

to 1 part in 100,000, results that have since been refined by the Wilkinson Microwave

Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite. These variations basically provide the blueprint for

the universe we see today. Smoot told his story (with Keay Davidson) in his book Wrinkles

in Time (1993), and Mather has more recently told his story in his own book The Very First

Light (1996). The award of the Nobel Prize to these scientists serves to remind us that

NASA continues to make history in many ways.

Steve Dick
NASA History DIVISION

6

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND

THE CENTERS

Headquarters

Nadine Andreassen coordinated the “Societal Impact of Spaceflight” conference and dinner in September. She attended the Society for the History of Technology annual meeting

in October and managed the NASA History Division book display for the meeting. She

coordinated with others to ensure that NASA history publications were displayed at the

History of Science Society meeting in November. She also prepared for the History

Division move to the 7th floor of NASA Headquarters, sent out all recent History Division

publications for book review, and started planning for next year’s History Division Annual

Meeting and Training at Dryden Flight Research Center. 

Glen Asner delivered an overview presentation in September on the social impact of

spaceflight at the History Division’s “Societal Impact” conference. In October, Glen

attended the George Mason University Short Course on the U.S. Government Space

Sector in Arlington, Virginia, and chaired a session on “Technology and Play” at the

Society for the History of Technology annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Matt Barrow, our fall intern, worked on the biographical appendix for Exploring the

Unknown, Volume 7, reviewed copyedits for the new edition of Databooks, and submitted

and confirmed cataloging in publication data to the Library of Congress. 

Colin Fries continued the ongoing task of scanning and adding our Current News collection to the electronic database; he recently completed scanning articles from 1976. He

finished arranging testimony and articles on the Space Act received from the Office of the

General Counsel and appraised sources used for the upcoming hypersonics history written by Tom Heppenheimer. Colin also fact-checked a draft of two new International Space

Station (ISS) reference books for historical accuracy for the ISS technical liaison. He is

currently arranging, describing, and appraising for historical value a box of recently

declassified material on a variety of subjects.

Steve Garber took an excellent weeklong statistics class at the United States Department

of Agriculture graduate school in Washington, DC. He welcomes Matt Barrow, a senior at

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) who is double majoring in history and psychology, as our fall intern.

John Hargenradar continued to scan and add Current News articles to the database, and is

currently concentrating on news clips from 1988. He has completed the preservation photocopying of all the news clippings in the Skylab human spaceflight files and continues to

work on the Apollo and Apollo Soyuz Test Project material. He is working on digitizing a

small collection of NASA Headquarters Public Affairs Office Shuttle/Station files.

While Colin and John deal with the majority of researchers who phone, e-mail, or visit in

person, Jane Odom continues to acquire and appraise new material for the Historical

Reference Collection. Some recent additions include material on the Space Station, NASA

culture, and sources for several Exploring the Unknown volumes. Jane answers reference
7

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

continued on next page

requests, including Freedom of Information Act requests, and facilitates clearing international visitors who wish to come and conduct research. Additionally, she is supervising an

intern who assists her with a variety of arrangement and description tasks. Jane has been

working with the IT staff on a database service request and has recently joined the

Headquarters declassification team.

Ames Research Center (ARC)

Jack Boyd and Glenn Bugos presented a paper at the Space 2006 meeting of the American

Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) on 21 October. Titled “A Technology

Base Built for Space Exploration,” it explored how NASA Ames has crafted its palette of

technical capabilities over the past 65 years. NASA Ames test pilot G. Warren Hall completed a comment draft of his history of the Convair CV-990 and its role in the history of

airborne sciences at NASA Ames.

Leilani Marshall recently mentored three interns who explored the wide range of archival

activities in the NASA Ames History Office. Kevin Fleming from the School of Library

and Information Science at San Jose State University (SJSU) has focused on surveying the

papers of Elliott Levinthal pertaining to his work with the Viking Lander Imaging Team.

Thomas Follett from the history department at SJSU and Danielle Lopez, a high school

student with the California Academic Partnership Program, focused on cataloguing the

History Office artifact collections.

April Gage has completed a redesign of the NASA Ames Historic Preservation Web site

(http://historicproperties.arc.nasa.gov). Using materials compiled by Keith Venter and

Mike Makinnen, the NASA Ames historic preservation officers, this site presents a history of Moffett Field and documents on the NASA Ames historic preservation plan,

building reuse guidelines, the 523 forms on each facility at NASA Ames, and a wealth of

other materials on the physical development of NASA Ames and Moffett Field.

Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC)

Christian Gelzer wrote a paper for the AIAA Space 2006 conference, in San Jose,

California, titled “Before We Landed There We Tested Here: The Lunar Landing Research

Vehicle.” On the same general topic, he also assembled and chaired a symposium on the

Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) that took place at Dryden on 5 October. The

speakers included the three authors of the recently released NASA monograph

Unconventional, Contrary, and Ugly: the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, Cal Jarvis,

Gene Matranga, and Wayne Ottinger. Joining the authors with comments on their own

experiences were the two surviving LLRV pilots, Don Mallick and Jack Kluever. To

receive a copy of the monograph, please send a self-addressed, priority mail, stamped

envelope to: 

History Office, NASA DFRC

Building 4839

4800 Lilly Drive

Edwards, CA 93523
NASA History DIVISION

8

Curtis Peebles continues work on the X-43 lessons-learned text book. The second half of

a two-part article on the X-43 system, “The Road to Mach 10: A History of the X-43A

Hypersonic Flight Test Program at NASA Dryden: Toward the Future,” will appear in the

February edition of the spaceflight journal Quest. Curtis also delivered a paper at the

AIAA Space 2006 conference in San Jose, titled “The X-43A Fin Actuation System

Problem: Reliability in Shades of Gray.”

Peter Merlin delivered a paper titled “Free Enterprise: Contributions of the Approach and

Landing Test (ALT) Program to the Development of the Space Shuttle Orbiter” at the

AIAA Space 2006 conference in San Jose this past September. He continues to work on a

lessons-learned monograph on the SR-71 and Dryden’s role in improving such things as

its engine controls. Peter, Curtis, and Christian contributed information for storyboards in

the Visitor’s Center for new displays. The three also played various roles in the preparation of the static display of the Center’s last SR-71, a display that now includes an engine

and two start carts.

Glenn Research Center (GRC)

On 23 September 2006, over 100 retirees of Glenn’s Plum Brook Station gathered for

their 4th reunion. The history program directly contributed to the event. Around 200 historic images were gathered and used to create two PowerPoint slideshows—one on the

history of NASA’s work at Plum Brook and one on the ordnance works at Plum Brook

during World War II. A 16-millimeter film from the mid-1960s, The Plum Brook Story,

was digitized and packaged on a DVD with the two PowerPoint displays for the event. In

addition, author Mark Bowles signed copies of his recent NASA history series publication, Science in Flux: NASA’s Nuclear Program at Plum Brook Station, 1955–2005

(NASA SP-2006-4317).

Mario Busacca and Barb Naylor from the Kennedy Space Center, with consultants Joan

Deming and Trish Slovinac, visited Glenn as part of their effort to identify facilities that

contributed to the development of the Space Shuttle. Archivists Bob Arrighi (RSIS) and

Nora Blackman (RSIS) completed background research on NASA Lewis’ Shuttle contributions; assembled documents and photos for the team to study; created CD-ROMs with

images, articles, and other information; and took the group on tours of the 10 by 10 and 8

by 6 supersonic wind tunnels, the ballistics lab, the former rocket engine test facility site,

the engine research building, and the space power facility. 

Nora Blackman (RSIS) conducted research into several areas of Glenn Research Center

history, including Center contributions to the Space Shuttle program, the NASA Wind

Energy Program Office, the B-2 test facility at Plum Brook Station, and the iconic Guerin

House. In addition to this work for NASA patrons, she has provided responses to inquiries

made by writers from InFlight Magazine, Quest, and production companies serving the

National Geographic Channel. 

Interesting accessions from the past quarter include a gift of autographed first-day covers

and other Center-related ephemera from philatelist Elwood Witt. According to Witt, his

purchase of the Ed Huston collection turned up several items that are, in his opinion,

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued)
9

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

continued on next page

worth more in the context of Center history than on the auction block. Huston was a longtime GRC employee and a prolific autograph collector. He used his proximity to

high-profile projects and everyday NASA events to gather autographs and memorabilia

documenting his career. Two such items donated by Witt are a first-day cover inscribed

and signed: “To Ed-/John Glenn,” with a 4-cent Project Mercury stamp affixed and postmarked Cape Canaveral, Florida, 20 February 1962, and an admission ticket to a

presentation given to Lewis employees on Wednesday, 18 July 1979, which featured Dr.

Judith Resnik speaking on the roll of the mission specialist on the Space Shuttle. Dr.

Resnik autographed the ticket. 

Processing continues apace on the Center director’s office files, with the focus now on the

records from the 1970s-era directors Bruce Lundin (1969–1977), Bernard Lubarsky

(1977–1978, acting), and John F. McCarthy (1978–1982). Most of the post-Apollo years

at the Center have yet to be critically examined by historians, making the task of appraising, arranging, and describing these materials and identifying additional record sources

outside the archives of paramount importance. One welcome by-product of this processing project has been the identification of a significant range of material that may be

eligible for high-speed scanning, thereby increasing access to and use of this information. 

The Glenn History Program is proud to announce the release of a new publication in the

NASA History series, Science in Flux: NASA’s Nuclear Program at Plum Brook Station,

1955–2005, by Dr. Mark Bowles. The book was awarded the 2005 American Institute of

Aeronautics and Astronautics History Manuscript Award. The book has been well received

by Glenn employees. A lunch-and-learn lecture in the Glenn Technical Library, followed

by a book signing, was held on 18 October.

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

The Goddard Library’s abstract to the Library and Information Technology Association

(LITA) has been accepted for publication in the LITA guide called Making Library

Websites Usable. The Goddard Library will also present a poster session to the Gray

Literature Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, this December. The library staff has

attended pause-and-learn workshops and has been holding similar lessons-learned sessions in the library lounge each Wednesday. 

The digital preservation team continued to add new Goddard project images with enhanced

metadata to the Image and Movie Archive of Goddard’s Earth and Space Sciences

(IMAGES) database and new terms to the Swift records in the digital asset system.

To support Goddard’s knowledge-management efforts, a team is compiling a metadata

registry at the library. Goddard librarians also are collaborating with engineers and scientists to update and integrate taxonomies for the various semantic Web projects on

ontologies as everyday knowledge bases. 

Goddard librarians continue to develop a pilot of the Landsat Legacy public Web site, as

well as a Landsat history video. Wallops librarians continue to scan balloon documents to

add to this valuable historical collection.
NASA HISTORY DIVISION

10

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued)

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

On 20 July, JPL held a celebration in its Von Karman auditorium for the 30th anniversary

of the first Viking landing on Mars. The celebration was accompanied by the unveiling of

a new Web site hosting video interviews with Viking personnel completed earlier this year.

This Web site and the videos are the work of the Mars public engagement organization

with a great deal of assistance from the Viking veterans. The resulting site represents an

innovative use of Web media for both public outreach and public history. The Mars program deserves our thanks for supporting activities like this.

Over the summer, Eric Conway continued to work on his Mars robotics history. He is currently working on Mars Pathfinder, doing extensive interviewing with participants, and

integrating the project’s activities with related goings-on in the Mars science community

and the political environment of the Space Exploration Initiative. During the next quarter,

he will be completing interviews for Mars Observer and will begin to examine the reconstruction of NASA’s Mars program after the Mars Observer loss.

Eric has also been working on a new history Web site for JPL. The first segment of it, covering the lab’s founding and early years, went online at the end of October. The Halloween

season is traditionally when JPL celebrates its foundation, stemming from when Frank

Malina and his “suicide squad” carried out their first rocket motor tests on 31 October

1936. The Web site will be comprehensive, covering both flight projects and institutional

changes over the period from 1936 to about 2000. The site’s debut coincided with our 70th

anniversary, which was celebrated with a weeklong series of events the third week of the

month.

Eric has finalized an article on the Deep Space 1 mission and submitted it to Quest for

consideration. His article on space oceanography, “Drowning in Data,” is under consideration at Historical Studies of the Physical and Biological Sciences. He also has been

conducting an oral history series with Charles Kohlhase, a retired JPL navigator and mission operations specialist whose last task was mission design for the Cassini/Huygens

mission to Saturn. Finally, he wrote and presented a paper on robotic space exploration at

the “Societal Impact of Spaceflight” conference in September 2006.

Johnson Space Center (JSC)

In mid-September, Jennifer Ross-Nazzal and Rebecca Wright from the NASA Johnson

Space Center History Office took the opportunity to participate in a conference sponsored

by the East Texas Historical Association. Dr. Ross-Nazzal chaired the panel discussion

“Two Texas Communities Forever Changed by NASA.” Rebecca, who facilitated the 2003

oral history project on the Columbia recovery effort, presented findings from this effort in

a paper titled “Disaster to Recovery: How East Texas Assisted NASA’s Return to Flight.”

Sandra Johnson, the production coordinator for the JSC History Office, returned from a

national workshop sponsored by the Kentucky History Center with vital information about

changing methodologies involving digital recording and preservation. After lengthy discussions with experts in this field, Sandra is now developing techniques to meet the new
11

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

continued on next page

recommended digital archiving standards. Her effort will include transferring more than

500 audio recordings housed in the JSC History Collection to ensure their integrity for the

next decades and to prepare the historic recordings for future format changes.

With a colleague from Baylor University’s Institute of Oral History, Sandra and Rebecca

facilitated a workshop on how to conduct oral history in October. They shared their experiences and methods during a full-day session at the annual meeting of the Oral History

Association in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Diane McWhorter is conducting research in the Marshall

Center archives for a new book she is writing about Huntsville, Alabama.

McWhorter won a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for general nonfiction for her book Carry Me

Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution.

Originally from Birmingham, she now lives in New York City.

Carry Me Home has been called a major work of history and investigative journalism. It

is also a personal memoir and a dramatic account of the Civil Rights era’s climactic battle in Birmingham, as the movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others brought

down the institutions of segregation.

McWhorter says her new book will cover the Cold War arms and space race. She calls the

development of the Saturn V rocket under Wernher von Braun “the spine” of the book.

“Diane has used the Marshall archive to find numerous reports and articles about the

Saturn V. She has also used it to locate articles about life in Huntsville during the Wernher

Von Braun era,” said Marshall Center Historian Mike Wright. 

Intrigued by Alabama as a focal point for civil rights and the space race, she sees

Huntsville as “an international story.” Though she has found that many people outside the

state have heard of von Braun, they are typically amazed to learn that he and his German

“rocket team” were based in Huntsville. “There is something of a disconnect between von

Braun and Alabama,” she said. McWhorter says the new book will deal with social as well

as technical history. It will deal with all of Huntsville, including NASA, the Army, Senator

John Sparkman, old Huntsville, as well as civil rights.

“I have always had this project in the back of my mind,” says McWhorter, who has made

two trips and is planning a third to the archives at the Marshall Center.

McWhorter was educated at Wellesley College and is a long-time contributor to the New

York Times and writes for the Op-Ed page of USA Today. Her articles about race, politics,

and culture have also appeared in Slate, The Nation, People, Talk, American Scholar, and

other publications. 
NASA History DIVISION

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News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued)

Stennis Space Center (SSC)

NASA Stennis Space Center marked an historic moment in the life of the Nation’s largest

rocket engine test complex Friday, 29 September: The final Space Shuttle main engine

(SSME) test was conducted on its A-1 Test Stand. The A-1 Test Stand was also the site of

SSC’s first test on an SSME, conducted in 1975. While SSC will continue testing SSMEs

on its A-2 Test Stand through the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2010, A-1 began a

new chapter in October. It will be temporarily decommissioned to convert it for testing the

J-2X engine, which will power the second stage of NASA’s new crew launch vehicle, the

Ares I. The J-2X will also power the Earth-departure stage of the new cargo launch vehicle, Ares V. In an effort to record this historic event, the History Office is planning an oral

history project to interview employees involved with the final test and those who will be

involved in the upcoming testing. The staff is also documenting this event by collecting all

video footage, photos, and news coverage of the final test.

ARCHIVAL UPDATE

Highlights from the Society of American Archivists’

Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, August 2006

—by Jane H. Odom, Leilani Marshall, April Gage, Barbara Amago, and Shelly H. Kelly

The Society of American Archivists’ (SAA) annual meeting, held in Washington, DC, in

early August, drew more than 2,100 archivists, making it the largest-ever meeting of

archivists in the United States. The conference was jointly sponsored by the SAA, the

National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA),

and the Council on State Archives (CoSA). The six-day event included a number of interesting sessions as well as preconference workshops. Each day of sessions started with a

plenary speaker invited by the sponsoring organizations. Guest speakers included Cokie

Roberts from National Public Radio and Brian Lamb from C-SPAN, both of whom

described their interest, use, and advocacy of archives. The Archivist of the United States,

SAA and CoSA presidents, and the state archivist of Mississippi, representing

NAGARA, also addressed the meeting. Among the numerous opportunities for networking were receptions held on two different nights at the National Archives and the National

Museum of American History. The conference attendees included five individuals from

NASA: Jane Odom from Headquarters, Leilani Marshall and April Gage from Ames

Research Center, Barbara Amago from Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Shelly Kelly from

the University of Houston–Clear Lake, where the Johnson Space Center history collection is maintained. Below, each describes his or her experiences.

Jane Odom attended a session on “The Role of National Archives of the United States in

Nominations to the Supreme Court: The John Roberts and Samuel Alito Experience.” A

panel of archives administrators discussed the extraordinary measures that the National

Archives took in 2005 to make Federal records in Washington and presidential records in

California available before the hearings on the nominations of Judges Roberts and Alito

to the Supreme Court. They offered a compelling account of what it was like for a team
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of archivists to be at the center of the storm for access to records. They described the

voluminous number of boxes pertinent to the request as well as the review process the

materials went through. The panel detailed the intense interest by the White House,

Congress, media, and the general public in this matter and the National Archives’

response. A similar talk was given on 11 October 2006 at the annual Archives Fair, held

at the National Archives in Washington, DC. 

Leilani Marshall attended a session titled “Developing an Open-Source and StandardsCompliant Descriptive Tool for Lone Arrangers.” The name “lone arrangers” was coined

many years ago in the archival profession to describe those archivists who typically work

in one-person repositories. The new online descriptive tool for archives, introduced in

this session, offers help to small repositories in publishing finding aids and digital

images collections online. It is especially attractive to archivists with limited knowledge

of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) or other electronic description systems. Called

“Archon,” this free, open-source software developed by the University of Illinois-Urbana

Champaign is a tool for managing descriptive information about archival materials and

publishing it on the Web. Easy-to-use, Web-based forms allow archivists to create and

publish finding aids for their collections. The software also includes a digital library

component that is quite usable, although it is still under development. The idea behind

Archon is to input the data once and then to output it numerous times in many forms. At

this point, data about collections is input in simple forms and output in HTML, EAD, and

Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC), allowing for ease of data transfer between institutions. The digital library component provides a form for data entry such as title, date

of creation, and creator. Once the metadata is entered, an image file can be attached to

the record allowing the metadata and the image to be viewed together. The Archon system is still being developed and is currently in version 1.0. The system requires a blank

Microsoft SQL Server database and a Web server (of any type) running Hypertext

Preprocessor (PHP) 5.0 or higher. For more information, see the Archon Web site at

http://www.archon.org/index.php.

April Gage attended a session titled “More Product in the Image Archives: Applying

Minimal Processing Guidelines to Visual Materials Collections.” Given the abundance of

NASA-generated photographic material that ultimately requires the attention of NASA

archivists, this session held great importance for the NASA archival program. The speakers analyzed whether archivists Mark Greene and Dennis Meissner’s minimal processing

guidelines could apply to visual materials collections. (Greene and Meissner’s article,

“More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing,” can be found

in American Archivist, Fall/Winter 2005.) The panel concluded that it is both feasible and

desirable to process photographic collections at various levels of intensity and followed

with a discussion of viable practices of minimal processing. Helena Zinkham presented

a set of metrics she developed for the Library of Congress to guide decisions about the

amount of processing to undertake for each collection. Using Zinkham’s system, collections are examined in terms of use, value, and viability. The use criterion addresses the

number and type of user groups who might benefit from a given collection, how much of

it will be used, and how often. The value criterion determines the importance of the material in a collection (e.g., informational or evidential value). The viability criterion assesses

a collection’s fitness for purpose, based on a cost/benefit analysis (e.g., preservation
needs, such as extensive reformatting). Zinkham explained that simple ratings of low,

medium, and high can be assigned to each of the three criteria. She then walked the group

through sample scenarios to demonstrate how the library applies these metrics to actual

collections. After establishing how to assess a collection’s processing needs, Zinkham

explained how to prioritize projects. If anyone would like a copy of Zinkham’s

session handout, titled “Use, Value, Viability: Criteria for Choosing Effective Processing

Levels for Visual Materials,” contact the NASA Ames History Office at 650-604-6430 or

lmarshall@mail.arc.nasa.gov.

A first-time attendee at the SAA meeting, Barbara Amago was very impressed with the

quality of the sessions, despite the oppressive Washington heat. The highlights of the meeting for Barbara included visiting the National Archives and having the historical

importance of records preservation brought home so dramatically, meeting her counterparts

at NASA and some of the other Federally Funded Research and Development Centers

(FFRDCs), hearing first-hand accounts of how archivists were able to help small Gulf

Coast communities rescue their vital records in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, discussing the impact of limited access to government records, and hearing about the role

records managers and archivists have played in bringing down crooked politicians (yes,

there was even a session devoted to that topic). Barbara found the main issues that permeated the conference this year—emergency preparedness, access, and advocacy—to be

timely and helpful. The “gold” mined at the conference included many practical ideas that

can be applied in the real world of limited resources and unlimited unprocessed collections.

Shelly Kelly attended two sessions, one on utilizing volunteers and the other on intern

programs. Many people volunteer to make a difference doing something in which they

believe. Graduate students and alumni make excellent volunteers and bring new viewpoints and energy into archives. In order to develop effective volunteers, staff must assign

them specific project work plans with appropriate levels of responsibility, training, and

recognition. Archivists who are considering setting up a volunteer program might wish

to study the formal organization and structure of the National Archives and Records

Administration (NARA) Volunteer Program, which has 156 volunteers and requires a

minimum commitment of 100 hours per year for two years. Some people consider volunteering as a means to enhance their own jobs to learn a new skill set, and/or try out a

new profession and determine their levels of interest. Volunteering helps people to

acquire references, build networks, and become team players. Another opportunity to

recruit staff for an archive is through internships. An internship is a temporary, practical

learning experience in a professional setting, often connected to an educational program.

A well-rounded program prepares students for the profession, allows supervisors to mentor young professionals while getting the necessary work completed, and provides the

student with the opportunity to see an archive in action. The key to a successful internship is having a specific, interesting project and having direct communication among the

faculty advisor, the archives supervisor, and the student. When the faculty member and

supervisor work together, they can create a positive learning experience for the student.

Overall, it was a successful annual meeting, despite the searing heat. Mark your calendar

now: Next year’s Society of American Archivist conference is scheduled for Chicago in

late August. We hope even more of our NASA colleagues will attend in 2007.

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

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Archival Update (continued)
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OTHER HISTORY NEWS

National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Division of

Space History (DSH)

NASM’s Division of Space History curators and fellows continue to receive awards and

publish and present papers at a rapid pace. Recent publications, papers, awards, and other

activities of DSH staff include the following:

The Society for the History of Technology has awarded Martin Collins its 2006 IEEE Life

Members’ Prize in Electrical History for his article “One World...One Telephone: Iridium,

One Look at the Making of a Global Age,” published in September 2005. The annual prize

recognizes the best paper in electrical history published during the previous year and

comes with a cash prize and certificate presented at the annual meeting of the Society for

the History of Technology.

Department of Space History Chairman Roger Launius has just published with Richard H.

Buenneke, Richard DalBello, and R. Cargill Hall a monograph entitled National Space

Policy: Does it Matter? (Washington, DC: The George Marshall Institute, 2006). The publication is the result of a roundtable discussion that took place at the National Press Club

in Washington, DC, on 12 May 2006. Launius has also published “Interpreting the Moon

Landings: Project Apollo and the Historians,” Technology in Society 22 (September 2006:

225–55.) By focusing on the key book-length studies of the Apollo program that landed

American astronauts on the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s, this essay evaluates the historiography about Apollo. 

Jim David has just published “Astronaut Photography and the Intelligence Community:

Who Saw What?” Space Policy 22 (August 2006: 185–93.) It argues that while NASA’s

astronaut photography benefited a wide range of civilian interests, it also conflicted

directly with the critical national security requirement to protect the National

Reconnaissance Program from public disclosure or compromise.

Valerie Neal worked with a team from NASA and United Space Alliance from 11 to 22

September 2006 to reinstall wing leading edge panels and main landing gear doors on the

Space Shuttle Enterprise, which is on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center, Dulles

International Airport, Virginia. The wing leading edge was removed from Enterprise following the Columbia accident in 2003 and was used to help determine the causes of the

mission loss.

American Astronautical Society (AAS) Explorer

The American Astronautical Society’s History Committee recently published its inaugural

newsletter. Named Explorer, the newsletter provides History Committee members with an

opportunity to report on their recent and current activities and near-term plans, including

publications and conference activities. The newsletter focuses on issues of specific interest to the History Committee, such as the group’s editorial support for an ABC-CLIO

encyclopedia of spaceflight history and the annual Emme award of the AAS. Michael L.

Ciancone, the chair of the AAS History Committee, is responsible for bringing the

newsletter into existence. To receive Explorer via e-mail, send a message to:
Other History News (continued)

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

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michael.l.ciancone@nasa.gov. You will receive confirmation that your e-mail address

has been added to the AAS History Committee’s electronic e-mail list for the newsletter. The September 2006, Volume 1, Number 1 edition of Explorer is available at

http://www.astronautical.org/AASexplorer.pdf.

CALLS FOR PAPERS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Smithsonian Institution History Conference

The program committee of “Making Science Global: Reconsidering the Social and

Intellectual Implications of the International Polar and Geophysical Years” invites papers

for a possible two-day conference at the Smithsonian Institution, 31 October–1

November 2007, examining the impetus for (and the impact upon) science, society, and

culture of the International Polar Years (IPY) of 1882–1883 and 1932–1933 and the

International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–1958, as well as how this perspective might

be useful for planners of the current IPY in 2007–2008. We intend to explore the origins

of these efforts, their political dimensions, and their consequences. Themes might include

the place of the poles in human imagination, discipline formation, cultural nationalism,

politics, and transnationality prior to and after 1882; the emergence of the modern geosciences in the first half of the 20th century; the uses of new technologies to explore the

poles; and changing assessments of the nature of human cultures in high latitudes. Papers

addressing the International Geophysical Year might examine its role in the Cold War and

the extent to which multidisciplinarity and multinational cooperation and competition

shaped the geosciences and contributed to environmental awareness. Pending funding, the

conference will be held in Washington, DC, immediately prior to the History of Science

Society meeting in 2007. International scholars and graduate students seeking exposure to

the history of the geosciences are particularly welcome. We hope that the papers will merit

publication. Proposals for papers should include a title and abstract, as well as a curriculum vita (CV). DEADLINE: 31 December 2007. Please send these electronically to David

DeVorkin at devorkind@si.edu, Roger Launius at launiusR@si.edu, and James Fleming

at jfleming@colby.edu.

The Society for History in the Federal Government

(SHFG) Annual Conference

SHFG invites the submission of proposals for papers and other types of presentations at

its annual conference, “Current Challenges and New Directions in Federal History.” The

conference will be held in March 2007 (exact date and location to be announced).

Proposals for complete sessions and individual papers are welcome from historians,

archivists, curators, librarians, and others engaged in the study of Federal history in its

broadest context. The conference theme includes an examination of the research and activities currently underway in Federal government history programs. It will also showcase

innovative ideas for making Federal history meaningful to the general public as well as to

government agencies. Proposals connecting Federal history to current historiographical

debates are also welcome. Topics for proposed sessions include the role of the Federal

government in medical history; museum activities and displays; the African-American
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experience, the Native American experience, national security, the current crisis in Iraq;

the Washington, DC, flood of 2006; declassification and “reclassification” of Federal

records; history “outreach” programs; and history on the World Wide Web. Submissions

on other topics will also be considered. Graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals for presentations. Additionally, a roundtable discussion on how to get a job as a

Federal historian is planned. The conference will conclude with the annual meeting of the

society, which all members are welcome to attend. Session or individual paper proposals

should be sent to shfgannualconference@yahoo.com. The deadline for submissions is 15

December 2006. Any specific questions can be directed to the conference’s executive

director Bill Williams at billwms50@gmail.com or by telephone at 301-688-2336.

International Committee for the History of Technology

(ICOHTEC) Symposium 

ICOHTEC invites paper proposals for its 34th symposium, which will be held in

Copenhagen, Denmark, 14–19 August 2007. “Fashioning Technology: Design from

Imagination to Practice” is the symposium’s general theme. The deadline for proposals is

15 January 2007. For more information on symposium subthemes and proposal requirements, please visit the ICOHTEC Web site at http://www.icohtec2007.dk.

National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Fellowship

Opportunities 

The National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, provides

four residential fellowships to support research in aerospace history: the Daniel and

Florence Guggenheim Fellowship for predoctoral and recent postdoctoral scholars; the A.

Verville Fellowship, open to academic and nonacademic historians; the Ramsey

Fellowship in Naval Aviation History, which is similarly open; and the Charles A.

Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History, an appointment (up to one year) to a senior scholar

who is researching and writing on a topic in aerospace history. The application deadline

for all fellowships is 15 January 2007, and successful applicants will be notified in midApril. The Guggenheims, Verville, and Ramsey are open for the 2007–2008 academic

year. The Lindbergh appointments are presently filled through the 2007–2008 academic

year. Applications submitted for the next Lindbergh, still due on 15 January 2007, are for

the 2008–2009 academic year. The Guggenheims are for appointments from three months

to one year. The Verville, Ramsey, and Lindbergh appointments typically vary from nine

months to one year. Further information can be found on the museum Web site:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/getinvolved/fellow/index.cfm.

Lemelson Center Fellowships

The Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the

Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History offers fellowships to scholars and professionals who are pre- or postdoctoral candidates or who have completed

advanced professional training. The Lemelson Center Fellows Program supports projects that

present creative approaches to the study of invention and innovation in American society.
NASA HISTORY DIVISION

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These include, but are not limited to, historical research and documentation projects

resulting in publications, exhibitions, educational initiatives, and multimedia products.

The fellowship program provides access to the Smithsonian Institution’s vast artifact and

archival collections, as well as the expertise of the institution’s research staff. Fellowships

are awarded for a maximum of 10 weeks and carry a prorated stipend. The deadline for

applications for 2007 is 15 January 2007. For details, see http://invention.smithsonian.

org/fellowships or e-mail Maggie Dennis, National Museum of American History, at 

dennism@si.edu.

Space Studies Board (SSB) Research Associate Position

The Space Studies Board of the National Academies has an open position for a Research

Associate. The SSB provides an independent, authoritative forum for information and

advice on all aspects of space science and applications. The board conducts advisory

studies and program assessments; facilitates international research coordination; and

promotes communications on space science and science policy among the research community, the Federal government, and the interested public. The Research Associate

develops pertinent background research that contributes to a greater understanding of

conditions, issues, and trends impacting on a wide range of space-related programs and

projects, subjects, and topics; drafts background papers; creates and maintains online

resources for committees and boards; attends outside meetings and congressional hearings, as needed, and writes summaries of what transpired; prepares data for use in

summaries and fact sheets; locates citations and graphics for committee reports; edits

report material developed by committee members and senior staff; and responds to

inquiries about study activities and increases public awareness of studies. The Research

Associate may assist with administrative duties related to programs and projects. Basic

requirements include a bachelor’s degree in space-related science, policy, aerospace engineering, or a related field or equivalent knowledge with three years of related

professional experience. Other desirable qualities include: ability to solve intellectual

problems of appreciable variety and complexity using originality and ingenuity; ability

to exercise appreciable latitude for independent judgment and action; experience working in complex environments with a high degree of organizational effectiveness; ability

to work successfully in a team environment; ability to develop relationships with board

and committee members, coworkers, and employees in other National Academies’

departments; and excellent written and oral skills. A master’s degree in space-related science, policy, aerospace engineering, or a related field is desired. For additional

information on the position, see http://nationalacademies.wfrecruiter.com/jobs_

details1.asp?Job_id=77725&Page_Id=5911&Published=1.

Virginia Tech STS Faculty Position 

The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University seeks an Assistant Professor in the

Department of Science and Technology in Society (STS). The successful candidate must

have a demonstrable interdisciplinary background as well as familiarity with historical

methods. S/he must be able to teach the STS graduate program’s core courses in the history of science and/or technology. We especially encourage applications from candidates

who will help us build upon existing connections with other units in the university. We

have special interests in 20th-century science and technology, globalization, politics of

Calls for Papers and Announcements (continued)
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Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

continued on next page

science and technology, minorities and underrepresented groups in science and technology, engineering studies, energy, and the environment. The candidate will be expected to

teach three semester courses per year, undergraduate and graduate, with usual advising,

service, and research responsibilities. Evidence of a strong research program and teaching

experience required. Salary is commensurate with experience. Ph.D. in STS or related

field must be completed by August 2007. Candidates can find information about our programs, faculty, and course descriptions at http://www.sts.vt.edu. Interested candidates

should apply online at http://www.jobs.vt.edu and refer to posting 061086. As part of

your online application, please attach a CV, evidence of teaching ability (use other doc

field), and a writing sample (use other doc 2 field). In addition, please send three letters

of reference to:

Ellsworth Fuhrman, Chair

Department of Science and Technology in Society

133 Lane Hall

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA 24061-0247

540-231-8966

CONTRACTS

History of the Scientific Exploration of Earth and Space

(HSEES)

In celebration of NASA’s upcoming 50th anniversary, scholarly histories of NASA’s activities in the scientific exploration of Earth and space are solicited by this History of the

Scientific Exploration of Earth and Space program element. The International

Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957–1958 marked the beginning of the space age and the

birth of NASA; it ushered in a half-century of unprecedented achievement in our scientific exploration of Earth and space. The concurrence of the International Polar Year (IPY)

in 2007–2009 and the International Heliophysical Year (IHY) in 2007–2008 also provides

a unique opportunity to examine the scientific advances that have occurred in the nearly

50 years since the establishment of NASA on 1 October 1958. 

The primary objectives of the HSEES program element are to engage, inform, and inspire

diverse public audiences by sharing historical knowledge about NASA’s scientific exploration of Earth and space and by communicating NASA’s unique contributions to the

advancement of Earth and space science during the past 50 years. An essential component

of communicating to the public is accurate, complete, well-written histories about the scientific exploration of space. Credible histories require work over a period of years and

sustained support to be successful. In addition, an accurate history requires access to individuals and documents, which may be difficult for independent authors not coordinated

with NASA to obtain. 

A secondary objective is to extend the spirit of exploration and discovery embodied in past

NASA science missions and to help attract and educate the next generation of scientists
NASA HISTORY DIVISION

20

and engineers. This opportunity is a coordinated program with the NASA History Division

and funded by the Science Mission Directorate. It is part of a coordinated set of education, public outreach, and historical research activities in relation to IPY, IHY, and NASA’s

50th anniversary.

Historical investigations will be selected for a period of no more than three years, beginning in fiscal year 2007 (1 October 2006–30 September 2007). The anticipated total

amount of funds available for this amendment is approximately $1.5 million for the threeyear period (at approximately $500 thousand per year). This program element is open to a

wide range of proposed costs, from zero to tens of thousands of dollars for monographs

and approximately $50–$100 thousand per year for book-length works. 

The specifics of the HSEES solicitation are available at

http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/70450/E.5%20HSEES.pdf.

The short announcement of HSEES is at

http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/70449/Amendment%2019.pdf.

Detailed information about the normal procedures for Notices of Intent (NOIs) and the submission of proposals are included in the Summary of Solicitation at http://nspires.nas

aprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/32140/Summary_of_Solicitation_Amend19.pdf.

NOIs are optional, but if submitted, are due 15 December. The NOI cover page will be

available on or before 15 November. A link to the future NOI cover page form is located at

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/member/proposals/selectSolicitation.do?method=in

it&orderBy=title&sortOrder=ASC.

PUBLICATIONS

Forthcoming NASA Publications

Flights of Discovery: The History of the Dryden Flight Research Center, by Lane E.

Wallace. This history of the first 50 years at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center

captures the spirit of the role flight research has played in aeronautical research and development and provides insightful accounts of most of the major flight research projects from

1946 to 1996. The second edition is on schedule for publication in late 2006, in time for

the Center’s 60th anniversary.

The Wind and Beyond: A Documentary Journey into the History of Aerodynamics in

America, Volume II: Reinventing the Airplane, edited by James R. Hansen, with Jeremy

Kinney, D. Bryan Taylor, and J. Lawrence Lee. The second volume in The Wind and

Beyond series discusses the airplane design revolution of the 1920s and 1930s and the

quest for improved airfoils. The volume is slated for publication in early 2007. 

Mission to Jupiter: A History of the Galileo Project, by Michael Meltzer. This informative

manuscript discusses the Galileo spacecraft project from its inception to its conclusion. It

should be published in 2007.

Contracts (continued)
21

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

Dictionary of the Space Age, by Paul Dickson. This new book will augment and update

The Origins of NASA Names (NASA SP-4402, 1975) by including terms not in common

use approximately 30 years ago, as well as etymological information. This book should be

published in early 2007.

Facing the Heat Barrier: A History of Hypersonics, by T. A. Heppenheimer. This book

documents the history of hypersonics research in great detail. It should be published in

early 2007. 

Mars Wars: A Policy History of the Space Exploration Initiative, by Thor N. Hogan. This

provocative book argues that the failure of President George H. W. Bush’s Space

Exploration Initiative (SEI) was the result of a flawed policy process. The book should be

published in 2007.

Nose Up: High-Angle-of-Attack and Thrust Vectoring Research at NASA Dryden,

1979–2001 (NASA SP-2006-4534), by Lane Wallace. This monograph examines three

different programs that explored high-angle-of-attack flight with the F-18 High Alpha

Research Vehicle (HARV), the X-31, and the F-15 Advanced Controls Technology for

Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE). This should be published in 2006.

Non-NASA Books

Blind Landings: Low Visibility Operations in American Aviation, 1918–1958 (Baltimore:

Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), by Erik M. Conway. When darkness falls, storms

rage, fog settles, or lights fail, pilots are forced to make “instrument landings,” relying on

technology and training to guide them through what is typically the most dangerous part

of any flight. In this original study, Erik M. Conway recounts one of the most important

stories in aviation history: the evolution of aircraft landing aids that make landing safe and

routine in almost all weather conditions.

Black Cat Press and Apogee Books have begun a collaborative venture that will bring back

into print the classic fiction that helped launch the space age. Some titles will be published

independently while others will be available from both Black Cat and Apogee. Among the

many titles already available are The Mars Project, a previously unpublished science fiction novel written by Wernher von Braun in the early 1950s; Edison’s Conquest of Mars,

by Garrett P. Serviss; a new, unabridged translation of Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the

Moon (including the sequel, Around the Moon); Voyage to the Moon, by George Tucker;

The Moon-Maker, by Arthur Train and Robert Wood; and By Rocket to the Moon, by Otto

Willi Gail. So far, the earliest title is A Voyage to Cacklogallinia, which had been originally published in 1727. Most of the Black Cat/Apogee books contain the original,

contemporary illustrations as well as special appendices by the editors. To purchase these

books, see http://www.black-cat-press.com and http://www.cgpublishing.com/Books/

ScienceFiction.html.
AEROSPACE HISTORY IN THE NEWS

NASA Goddard Scientist wins Nobel Prize in Physics

—by Matthew Barrow

On 3 October 2006, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded NASA’s John C.

Mather of Goddard Space Flight Center the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the

origins of the universe. Dr. Mather will split the $1.37 million prize with corecipient

Dr. George F. Smoot of the University of California, Berkeley. 

The astrophysics community recognized the importance of Dr. Mather’s work from the

moment he presented his results at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in

1990. Presenting his analysis of 9 minutes of data returned from the Cosmic Background

Explorer (COBE) satellite, Dr. Mather received a rare standing ovation from the roomful

of usually dispassionate astronomers. In what some have called “the most important discovery of the century, if not of all time,” COBE returned data from the

far reaches of the universe that showed a spectrum of

radiation, called blackbody radiation, that is consistent within parts per million of the

predictions of the Big Bang theory. The data from COBE is the most decisive evidence

to date for the Big Bang theory. Dr. Mather played a key role in the direction and design

of COBE, which was built at Goddard and launched by NASA in 1989. 

The three instruments that the satellite carried searched

for the cosmic infrared background radiation, mapped

the cosmic radiation sensitively, and compared the

spectrum of the cosmic microwave background radiation with a precise blackbody, respectively, with each

instrument returning a major cosmological discovery.

COBE observed that the cosmic microwave background, the afterglow of the Big Bang, has a

temperature of approximately -455°F. This measurement matched the predictions of the Big Bang theory

and at the same time indicated that almost all of the

radiant energy of the universe was released within the

first year following the Big Bang. COBE also observed

slight temperature variations, which point to density

differences that gave rise to the stars and galaxies we

see today.

The COBE project is representative of the world-class scientific research that NASA

has supported for several decades. Mather is the first NASA civil servant to win the

Nobel Prize. For more information about Mather, COBE, and the Nobel Prize, see

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2006/press.html;

http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/cobe/; The Very First Light: The True Inside Story of

the Journey Back to the Dawn of the Universe, by John C. Mather and John Boslough

(BasicBooks, 1996); and The First Three Minutes, 2nd edition, by S. Weinberg

(BasicBooks, 1993).

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

22

(Left to right) Dr. Edward Weiler, Director of the NASA Goddard

Space Flight Center, and Ms. Shana Dale, NASA Deputy

Administrator, congratulate Dr. John C. Mather on 3 October 2006

for his 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/mather_nobel_photos.html
23

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

Passing of James A. Van Allen

Pioneering astrophysicist James A. Van Allen passed

away on 9 August 2006 at the age of 91. A leader in

space physics throughout his long career, he is best

know for his discovery in 1958 of the radiation belts,

now known as Van Allen belts, that circle Earth. 

Born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, in 1914, Van Allen graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1935 and

received an M.S. in 1936 and Ph.D. in 1939 from the

University of Iowa. Following school, Van Allen

accepted employment with the Department of

Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of

Washington, where he studied photodisintegration. 

In April 1942, Van Allen moved to the Applied Physics

Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, where he

worked to develop a rugged vacuum tube. He also helped

to develop proximity fuzes for weapons used in the war,

especially for antiaircraft projectiles used by the U.S.

Navy. By the fall of 1942, he had been commissioned as

an officer in the Navy and was sent to the Pacific

Theater of Operations to field test and complete operational requirements for the proximity fuzes. Upon

completing his assignments in World War II, Van Allen

returned to civilian life and began working in high- altitude research, first for the Applied

Physics Laboratory and, after 1950, at the University of Iowa. 

Van Allen’s career took an important turn in 1955 when he and several other American

scientists developed proposals for the launch of a scientific satellite as part of the

research program conducted during the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of

1957–1958. After the success of the Soviet Union with Sputnik 1, Van Allen’s Explorer

spacecraft was approved for launch on a Redstone rocket. It flew on 31 January 1958,

and returned enormously important scientific data about the radiation belts circling

Earth. Van Allen became a celebrity because of the success of that mission, and he went

on to other important scientific projects in space. In one way or another, Van Allen was

involved in the first four Explorer probes, the first Pioneers, several Mariner efforts, and

the orbiting geophysical observatory. 

Having served as the head of the University of Iowa Department of Physics and

Astronomy since 1951, Van Allen retired in 1985 and was named Carver Professor of

Physics, Emeritus, See James A. Van Allen, Origins of Magnetospheric Physics

(Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1983); David E. Newton, “James A.

Van Allen,” in Emily J. McMurray, ed., Notable Twentieth-Century Scientists (New York:

Gale Research Inc., 1995, 2070–72); “James A. Van Allen,” biographical file, NASA

Historical Reference Collection, NASA History Division, NASA Headquarters,

Washington, DC. For a NASA tribute to Van Allen, see http://www.nasa.gov/vision/

universe/features/james_van_allen.html.

Dr. James A. Van Allen, center, designed and built

the instrument on Explorer that discovered the radiation belts that circle Earth. At left is Dr. William H.

Pickering, former director of JPL, which built and

operated the satellite. At right is Dr. Wernher von

Braun, leader of the Army’s Redstone Arsenal team,

which built the first stage Redstone rocket that

launched Explorer 1.

Center: JPL • Center Number: P8485

GRIN DataBase Number: GPN-2000-000478
NASA History Division

24

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

4–6 December 2006, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) will

be hosting the 2nd Space Exploration Conference called “Implementing the Vision” at the

George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. For registration information, see

http://www.aiaa.org/content. cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=1487.

4–7 January 2007, the American Historical Association will hold its 121st Annual

Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information about the meeting, see

http://www.historians.org/annual/2007/index.cfm.

5–10 January 2007, the 209th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society will be held

jointly with the Historical Astronomy Division, the High Energy Astrophysics Division,

and the American Association of Physics Teachers at Washington State Convention and

Trade Center in Seattle, Washington. For more information, see http://www.aas.org/.

8–11 January 2007, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics will hold

its 45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit in Reno, Nevada, at the

Grand Sierra Resort Hotel. For additional meeting and registration information, see

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=1064.

14–17 February 2007, the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture/American Culture

Association annual meeting will be held at the Hyatt Regency Albuquerque, New Mexico.

For further details regarding the conference, see http://www.h-net. org/~swpca/.

9–10 March 2007, the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the

Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, will host a symposium on technological innovation and the Cold War. For more information, e-mail Carol Lockman,

Hagley Museum and Library, at clockman@Hagley.org.

20–21 March 2007, the American Astronautical Society will hold its 45th Robert H.

Goddard Memorial Symposium at the University of Maryland University College Inn and

Conference Center in Adelphi, Maryland. For information, call 703-866-0020. 

29 March–April 2007, the Organization of American Historians will hold its 100th annual

meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The title of the centennial conference is “American

Values, American Practices.” For more information on the meeting, see

http://www.oah.org/meetings/2007/index.html.

1–4 April 2007, the 2007 Mutual Concerns of Air and Space Museums Seminar will be

held in at the San Diego Air and Space Museum in San Diego, California. For detailed

information on the seminar, see http://www.nasm.si.edu/getinvolved/mutualconcerns/.

4–7 April 2007, the National Popular Culture/American Culture Association annual conference will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, at the Boston Marriott, Copley Place. For

registration and conference information, see http://www.popularculture.org.
12–17 April 2007, the National Council on Public History will hold its annual meeting,

this year titled “Many Histories, Many Places—Common Ground?” in Santa Fe, New

Mexico. For registration information, see http://www.ncph.org/2007annualmtg.html.

19–21 April 2007, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference will hold its spring

meeting in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the Radisson Hotel, Lackawanna Station. For more

information, see http://www.lib.umd.edu/MARAC/conferences/conferences.html.

19–22 April 2007, the Catoctin Center for Regional Studies, located at Frederick

Community College, will host the 74th meeting of the Society for Military History. The

theme for the conference will be “Crossroads of War.” For more information about the

conference, see http://catoctincenter.frederick.edu/conferences.html.

19–22 April 2007, the 4th annual Cultural Studies Association Conference will be

held at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. The conference this year

will feature plenaries on the culture of science and technology, cultural studies

and the social sciences, and global cities and citizenship. For more information, see

http://www.csaus.pitt.edu/frame_home.htm.

3–6 May 2007, the American Association for the History of Medicine will hold its 80th

annual meeting in Montreal, Canada. For more information, see http://histmed.org.

15–16 May 2007, the Chemical Heritage Foundation will host the E. N. Brandt Oral

History Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, see

http://www.chemheritage.org/events/event-nav3.html.

1–2 June 2007, the Business History Conference will hold its annual conference at

Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The theme of the conference

is “Entrepreneurial Communities.” For more information, see http://www.h-net.org/

~business/bhcweb/annmeet/call07.html.

20–24 June 2007, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations

(SHAFR) will hold its annual meeting at the Marriott Westfields Conference

Center in Reston, Virginia. For additional information, see http://www.shafr.org/.

14–19 August 2007, the International Committee for the History of Technology’s

(ICOHTEC) 34th Symposium will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark. “Fashioning

Technology: Design from Imagination to Practice” is the symposium’s general

theme. For details, see http://www.icohtec2007.dk.

25

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006
NASA History DIVISION

26

IMAGES IN SPACE HISTORY

Center: GSFC • Center Number: 001 • GRIN DataBase Number: GPN-2002-000111

COBE’s View of the Milky Way 

From its orbit around Earth, the Goddard Space Flight Center’s (GSFC) Cosmic

Background Explorer (COBE) captured this edge-on view of our Milky Way galaxy in

infrared light, a form of radiation that humans cannot see but can feel in the form of heat,

as part of its mission to test the “Big Bang” theory of the creation of the universe. The theory, first proposed in 1927 by Belgian cosmologist Georges Lematre, holds that the

universe began as an incredibly dense “primeval atom” that exploded with tremendous

force, unleashing matter and space at the speeds of light. In addition to providing support

for the Big Bang theory, the satellite discovered that the cosmic background radiation had

been produced in the Big Bang just as scientists originally speculated. The satellite’s data

even discovered the primordial temperature and density fluctuations that eventually gave

rise to the Milky Way and other large-scale objects found in space today. 

Dr. John C. Mather, Senior Astrophysicist in the Observational Cosmology Laboratory at

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, led the effort to develop the proposal for COBE in

the mid-1970s, served as the study scientist for COBE at GSFC between 1976 and 1988,

and then served as project scientist for COBE from 1988 to 1998. The Royal Swedish

Academy of Sciences acknowledged the significance of the scientific discoveries obtained

with COBE when it announced the award of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics to Dr. Mather

and his collaborator, Dr. George F. Smoot, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
27

Volume 23, NUMBER 4 NOVEMBER 2006

The NASA History Division, under the Office of External Relations, NASA

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We also welcome comments about the content and format of this newsletter. Please send

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NASA Headquarters History Division Staff Contact Information:

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202-358-0383

Nadine Andreassen, Program Support Specialist nadine.j.andreassen@nasa.gov

202-358-0087

Glen Asner, Historian glen.asner@nasa.gov

202-358-0903

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202-358-0388

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202-358-0375

Stephen Garber, Historian stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov

202-358-0385

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202-358-0387

Jane Odom, Chief Archivist jane.h.odom@nasa.gov

202-358-0386

Created and produced by the following:

Glen Asner, NASA Headquarters History Division

Dyana Weis, Editor, NASA Headquarters Printing and Design Office

Steve Bradley, Designer, NASA Headquarters Printing and Design Office

CONTACT INFORMATION AND CREDITS
NASA History Division

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

Office of External Relations

Washington, DC 20546

http://www.nasa.gov

http://history.nasa.gov