News

Notes &

National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

Office of Communications

Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

From

the Chief 

Historian

It has been a very 

busy spring for us 

here in the NASA 

History Program. 

We’ve managed to 

get a number of publications into print—or 

pixels, I suppose I should say, for those of

you who enjoy our works on a screen. While 

we remain committed to hardcopy publication, the ease of downloading our content 

has driven a huge growth in our readership. 

This allows us to do so much more with less. 

So while we continue to tighten our belt, the 

numbers of readers of our books, monographs, and this newsletter are all up.

Our publications may be the most visible 

part of our work, but we’ve also been busy 

preparing for a number of significant upcoming anniversaries. 2014 marks the 45th 

anniversary of a remarkable year in space 

history. Coming off the Christmas 1968 mission of Apollo 8, NASA flew four astounding Apollo missions in 1969: test-flying the 

Lunar Module for the first time in Earth orbit 

(Apollo 9), verifying the entire lunar landing 

mission (to within 50,000 feet of the surface) 

(Apollo 10), landing on the Moon (Apollo 11), 

and doing that again with pinpoint precision 

four months later (Apollo 12). We have been 

marking the Apollo 45th anniversary events 

mostly online with a variety of special features. There will be some physical events in 

July to mark the 45th anniversary of Apollo 

11, but in keeping with current policy, this 

year’s events will not be on the same scale 

as the 40th anniversary. In fact, here in 

the History Program, our attention is more 

continued on next page

Lankes: Little-Known Artist 

of the NACA, Part 2

By Mary Gainer, 

Historic Preservation Officer at NASA Langley Research Center

Article continued from the last issue of News and Notes, vol. 31, no. 1

Julius John Lankes made big news in the fall of 1945. A full article in 

Air Scoop detailed the conception and execution of four murals depicting the history of flight. The murals were to be hung in the rotunda of 

the Administration Building (587) at Langley. By 1949, Center Director 

Dr. H. J. E. Reid was using the rotunda as the location for special events. 

Photographs of two ceremonies given in the year show the murals as

the backdrop.

Harry Lyons receives the first Meritorious Service Emblem, and Beth Walker accepts Dr. Reid’s 

contribution to the Red Cross campaign. Both photos were taken in 1949.

continued on page 3

In This Issue:

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

Lankes: Little-Known Artist of the NACA, Part 2 ................. 1

News from Headquarters and the Centers ..................... 8

Other Aerospace History News ............................. 18

Recent Publications and Online Resources ................... 20

Upcoming Meetings ..................................... 25

Image in Aerospace History ............................... 26
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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From the Chief Historian (continued)

focused on long-range planning for the next decadal anniversary—the 50th anniversary celebration in 2019. 

More immediately, we are hard at work now preparing for the centennial of the 

creation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). While the 

anniversary of the creation of the NACA falls on 3 March 2015, you may already 

have detected an increased attention to the NACA in our work over recent months. 

We are, of course, planning a significant event to mark the centennial itself. But 

we are also working on other events for the coming year that will emphasize 

the importance of the NACA to the worldwide development of aeronautics, how 

the NACA’s post–World War II research laid the basis for the Space Age, and 

how the legacy of the NACA lives on at NASA. In support of these activities, we 

have several publications in the production pipeline, including a new centennial 

history of the NACA and NASA. One of our small but important projects is a 

campaign to help everyone pronounce NACA properly. Those who worked there 

named it by the letters, not as a word (like we do with NASA). So, remember, it is 

“en–ay–see–ay.” 

Finally, harking back to the print-versus-screen issue that I mentioned earlier, if 

you get a paper copy of this newsletter and prefer to read it electronically, you 

can find what you prefer at http://history.nasa.gov/nltrc.pdf. If you like, you can 

also turn off your paper subscription (and help us tighten our belt a bit more) 

simply by sending a note to Giny Cheong (giny.cheong@nasa.gov). She’ll be 

happy to update your address or remove your name from the hardcopy newsletter 

mailing list. 

Have a great summer, and Godspeed,

William P. Barry 

Chief Historian
3

Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

Lankes: Little-Known Artist of the NACA (continued)

Lankes created the original design and supervised Lee Wade’s execution of the 

four paintings. In an interview, Lankes indicated that the original idea of murals 

occurred during the heyday of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. Although a competition 

had been announced for mural designs, the work at the NACA was not deemed 

appropriate for WPA projects.1 Since the WPA and its successors ran from 1933 

to 19422, it is likely that the idea of the murals was based on the Federal Art 

Project murals but that the NACA project was never considered for the federal 

program. True to the spirit of the WPA projects in which workers received little 

money but great pride in pursuing their dreams, Lankes used downtime to work 

on the murals. 

The proposed panels would span the history of flight, from the early “whimsical 

flights of the imagination” to the then-contemporary with contributions made by 

the NACA. As the design for the third panel was nearing completion in 1945, Lee 

Wade joined that staff. As an experienced painter, he took the lead in transforming 

the watercolors Lankes had prepared into the final oil and canvas murals.

Detail of “whimsical flights of the imagination.”

The murals were large: roughly 7 feet wide by 5 feet tall. The fourth panel had been 

particularly trying as any aircraft they painted would have been “old” by the time 

the painting was completed. The final design includes an aircraft carrier deck just 

visible in the lower right corner. 

1 Air Scoop 4, no. 44 (16 November 1945): 1.

2 Don Adams and Arlene Goldbard, “New Deal Cultural Programs: Experiments in Cultural Democracy” 

(1995), available at http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/newdeal.html (accessed 14 May 2014).
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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The murals were removed from the rotunda in 1977 when the building was turned 

over to Langley Air Force Base. Kept in storage for a number of years, they are 

now on loan to the National Institute of Aeronautics in Hampton, Virginia.

Granddaughters Jeanie and Elizabeth Lankes pose with two of the panels. 

Two years after the murals were unveiled, a related article appeared in Air Scoop. 

A booklet, A Brief History of Aeronautics, was being distributed to all employees. This pamphlet was written by Lankes and printed in the NACA Mechanical 

Reproduction Section. The purpose was to provide a description of each image 

in the panels. The introduction attributes the design and supervision of the 

four murals to Lankes with the execution by Lee Wade, Francis McVay, and 

Harry DeVoto.3

The work of J. J. Lankes appeared one final time in the Air Scoop of late October 

1948. A competition was held to design meritorious service medals that would 

be presented to civil servants upon completion of 20 years or more of service. 

Lankes submitted a design, but it was not selected for the final emblem.4

Lankes was not entirely satisfied with his work at the NACA. Due to the times and 

the secretive nature of research at the NACA, much of the work done by the technical artists was either for illustrations or was designated confidential. In a letter to 

a Mr. Fraser, Lankes complained that “there is a magnificent lot of good material 

to be had here if only it weren’t forbidden, everything we do here is confidential or 

3 Air Scoop 6, no. 17 (2 May 1947): 1.

4 Air Scoop 7, no. 43 (28 October 1948): 4.
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

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Lankes’s design submittal for the 20-year Meritorious Service Emblem.

secret, consequently no sketching is permitted except as pertains to illustration 

for engineers’ reports.”5 Welford Taylor, in The Woodcut Art of J.J. Lankes, wrote, 

“pay was steady, but the work—much of it reminiscent of the technical drawing he 

had done as a young man—was far from creative.”6

After years of service, Lankes was fired in 1950 for what he believed were political 

reasons. He explained in a letter to Rockwell Kent that he had met with a lawyer 

to get his job back but was told that he had been fired “as a communist.”7 Welford 

Taylor wrote that Lankes’s “dismissal from NACA in 1950 is no better documented 

than his termination from Wells [college teaching position],” but Taylor suggested 

that bureaucratic politics were involved, with Lankes confessing to “some strong 

language with Civil Service sewer sleuths.”8

The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was established in 

1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities. It was chaired by 

Martin Dies, Jr., and hence known as the Dies Committee. In 1946, the committee 

focused its efforts on the possibility of the American Communist Party’s infiltration 

of the WPA. It was a time when headlines screamed about “red artists.”

5 E-mail from Elizabeth Lankes to Mary Gainer, 29 August 2012.

6 Welford Dunaway Taylor, The Woodcut Art of J.J. Lankes (New Hampshire: David R. Godine, Inc., 

1999), p. 34.

7 E-mail from Elizabeth Lankes to Mary Gainer, 29 August 2012.

8 Taylor, The Woodcut Art of J.J. Lankes, p. 34. 
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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The March 1920 cover of Liberator with Lankes’s woodcut.9

Lankes had a history of association with organizations that were under scrutiny. 

His first opportunity as an illustrator had been with Max Eastman and Liberator. 

An advertisement for the subscriptions and bound volumes stated, “Where else 

could one find in the same volume such an intriguing combination as Lankes’s 

woodcuts, Clive Weed’s portraits and Gropper’s funny humans!”10 The Marxists 

Internet Archive Riazanov Library Project has scanned the Liberator. An introduction to the digital collection describes Lankes as one of the finest artists of the day. 

That notoriety may have indeed followed him to Hampton, Virginia.

9 Scan of the March 1920 cover of Liberator, available at http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/

culture/pubs/liberator/#1920 (accessed 14 May 2014).

10 Liberator (22 January 1920): 44, available at http://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/

liberator/ (accessed 14 May 2014).
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

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In 1951, Lankes moved to Durham, North Carolina. After suffering a stroke in 

1959, he died in April 1960. 

NACA Portrait, 1946
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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News from Headquarters 

and the Centers

NASA Headquarters 

History Program Office 

By Bill Barry

The big news at the History Program Office is that our archival team is moving 

back into our beautifully renovated space on the concourse (basement) level of 

NASA Headquarters. We got a sneak peek at the nearly completed renovation in 

March and posted a few pictures on our 

Facebook page (https://www.facebook.

com/NASAHistoryOffice) on 12 March. 

We’ve included one of those pictures here. 

It shows the new compact shelving that 

replaces the balky old Lektrievers and 

much of the shelving we used to have. 

Unfortunately, we had to wait while the 

renovation of the hallways and spaces 

around ours were completed over the last 

couple of months before they would let 

us move in. It took us over 3 months to pack up the paper files and ship them off 

to storage last year. Since Chief Archivist Jane Odom put so much careful thought 

into the pack-out, we expect that the unpacking will take substantially less time. 

So, leaving some slack for the inevitable teething pains, we are planning to reopen 

the Reference Collection for researchers and visitors by the end of the summer. 

Keep an eye on our Web site and social media this summer for an announcement 

of our official reopening. 

Speaking of Jane, she has had a most productive detail with the NASA 

Headquarters Office of Human Capital Management (OHCM) for the last six 

months. Her research skills and eye for detail have been so welcome at OHCM 

that I’ve been a bit worried that they wouldn’t let go of her. But, she comes back 

to her chief archivist duties in mid-June to lead the reconstitution of the Reference 

Collection. We’re delighted to have her back and happy to see that her talents 

were put to such good use during the detail. 

This spring was a particularly busy time for history publications. Our latest book, 

Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication, should be in distribution by the time you read this. Edited by Doug Vakoch of the SETI Institute, this is 

a fascinating collection of essays about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence 

from the perspective of the disciplines of archaeology and anthropology, rather 

than astronomy and physics. Instead of looking at the likelihood of the emergence 

of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, this book looks at how our efforts to 
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

9

understand different human cultures (both past and present) can inform our ability 

to detect other intelligences and (perhaps) communicate with them. We were also 

happy this spring to see the publication of Monographs in Aerospace History, No. 

52: Christian Gelzer’s The Spoken Word III: Recollections of Dryden History; The 

Shuttle Years. This is another excellent addition to the collections of oral histories 

from Dryden (now Armstrong) Flight Research Center. Our next monograph, 

Historical Analogs for the Stimulation of Space Commerce, by our friend Roger 

Launius, will be out this summer. We also have posted the latest in our chronology reference series as a PDF on our Web site. Aeronautics and Astronautics: 

A Chronology: 2010 is the most recent of the annual summaries of significant 

events created by the NASA History Program. The series dates all the way back 

to the creation of the NACA in 1915 and is an invaluable source of reliable data 

on events in aerospace history. You can find copies on all of these chronologies 

at our publications Web site (http://history.nasa.gov/series95.html). In the 1960s, 

the History Program created these chronologies with a fairly substantial in-house 

staff, but in recent years we have relied on the Federal Research Division (FRD) 

of the Library of Congress to compile these volumes for us under contract. They 

are working on the 2011 and 2012 chronologies now, and we hope to have these 

available on our Web site by the end of the year. 

The quarterly lunchtime history speaker for the second quarter this year was Andy 

Jenks of the University of California, Long Beach. Andy was the NASA American 

Historical Association Fellow in Aerospace History for 2013–14 and is the author 

of The Cosmonaut Who Couldn’t Stop Smiling: The Life and Legend of Yuri 

Gagarin. On 13 May 2013, he gave us a great talk about his fellowship research 

on transnational encounters in space—the Apollo-Soyuz mission, the Soviet 

Interkosmos missions, and the formation of the Association of Space Explorers in 

1985. The title of his talk was “Hot Tubs, Hippies, and Space Cadets.” As always, 

Andy brought a lot of energy and some interesting perspective to the topic. For 

the third quarter this year, we are planning to have a program on our newest book, 

Archaeology, Anthropology and Interstellar Communication. In our continual 

efforts to make these events more accessible to those of you outside of the DC 

area, we are looking at a new approach for this one. Stand by for details on that 

“brownbag speaker” event later this summer. 

We said goodbye to our spring interns Andres 

Almeida and Erin Ammon in early May. They 

did a spectacular job for us, particularly in 

the social media realm. Thanks to some great 

writing skill (and a bit of fortuitous tweaking 

of the Facebook algorithms), we added about 

50,000 Twitter followers (50 percent growth) 

and about 325,000 Facebook “likes” (190 

percent growth). Fortunately for us, we only 

had about a week’s gap before our summer interns began to arrive. They are Will Andres Almeida and William Barry.
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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Thompson and Mary Catherine Bitter. Will is 

a junior at Virginia Commonwealth University 

double majoring in anthropology and finance, 

and Mary Catherine is a junior at George 

Washington University majoring in business 

administration. They are both working with us 

until early August. 

One of the things that our spring interns 

(Andres in particular) pushed to completion 

for us was to shift the Great Images in NASA 

(GRIN) Web site content to a new platform 

on Flickr. If you go to “NASA on the Commons” on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/

photos/nasacommons/sets/), you will find all of the original content and functionality from GRIN, plus some enhancements that we hope you will enjoy. This move 

was prompted by the fact that the underlying software for the GRIN Web site was 

outdated and no longer supported. Although it was a time-consuming process, 

we think that the conversion was worth the effort. 

Less visibly, we’ve also been doing some other important software restructuring. 

We are working with a contractor to overhaul the http://history.nasa.gov Web site. 

This effort will probably take a while. One of the major frustrations we face with the 

Web site is that it is chock-full of great material but our visitors have a hard time 

finding what they are looking for. The statistics tell us that about 50 percent of the 

visitors to our home page leave without following any of the links after looking at 

the page for just over a minute. We now have a plan for improved site navigation, 

but the hard work of figuring out how to pour all of the old content into the new 

bottle has just begun. In addition to overhauling our Web site, the database software that we use to manage the Headquarter Reference Collection also needed 

to be replaced. Like GRIN, the underlying software engine was obsolete. The 

database has served both as a storage tool and a finding aid for the Reference 

Collection. Any of you who have done research here in person, or have used 

the Mira site (https://mira.hq.nasa.gov/history/) via our Web page, have seen the 

old software in action. We’ve been getting great support from the Headquarters 

software development team, and I’m very optimistic that the new “database” 

interface will be a significant step ahead in speed and functionality. 

One other thing that isn’t visible now, but will be later this year, is our work on the 

NACA centennial. We have been working closely with the Aeronautics Research 

Mission Directorate here at Headquarters to coordinate outreach efforts relating 

to the 100th anniversary of the creation of the NACA on 3 March 2015. Later this 

year, you will start to see a concerted effort to highlight the NACA legacy as a 

part of NASA’s communications about aeronautics research. Within the History 

Program, we are working on several publications for the centennial year. This 

includes a new popular history of the NACA/NASA on the model of Orders of 

Magnitude (NASA SP-4403 and subsequent versions). Former Chief Historian 

Erin Ammon and William Barry.
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

11

Roger Launius is writing this new work for us. We also have Joe Chambers (a 

Langley retiree who has written a number of histories) writing a monograph for us 

on the NACA and NASA insignias. For those of you who remember Joe’s two-part 

article on the NASA “Meatball” in News and Notes last year, this monograph will 

build on that effort. In addition, we have a centennial reference work under way 

as well. We’ve asked the Federal Research Division at the Library of Congress to 

create an annotated bibliography on the NACA for us. We anticipate that this will 

also be published in monograph form early next year. Finally, we have prevailed 

upon our oral history experts at Johnson Space Center (Rebecca Wright, Jennifer 

Ross-Nazzal, and Sandra Johnson) to beef up our collection of NACA oral histories. They have already tracked down a number of NACA employees that have not 

had an oral history interview and will continue that effort throughout the year. Our 

oral history collection is a fascinating resource. If you haven’t ever taken a look at 

it, you should start here: http://history.nasa.gov/oralhistory/ohcatalog.htm. But, I 

warn you, make sure you have some free time before you start reading, because 

if you are like me you’ll be hooked once you start reading. 

Ames Research Center (ARC) 

By Glenn Bugos

NASA Ames moved forward with plans to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Kay 

Twitchell is organizing an open house for July 26, allowing our neighbors in Silicon 

Valley to tour some of the facilities at which Ames people did their best work. 

Steve Jobs saw his first computer as a 10-year-old on a visit to NASA Ames in 

the mid-1960s. He said often that that encounter was when he “fell in love with” 

computers. For a documentary biography on Jobs, we have recently been working to identify exactly which computer he might have seen (uncharacteristically, 

Jobs did not recall the precise name). It is inspiring for us to know, in advance of 

all the work we are doing to prepare the Center for its open house spotlight, that 

this personal contact may be inspiring the next Steve Jobs. 

Former Ames archival intern Susan Edwards won 

the Jean Wichers Award for Professional Practice 

from the San Jose State University School of Library 

and Information Science. The award recognizes 

a student for outstanding ability in professional 

practice. Susan did her internship with April Gage, 

processing the papers of her late father, aeroelastician John W. Edwards, which included both analog 

(27 cubic feet) and digital records (more than 6,000 

files). Susan did the work from the Armstrong Flight 

Research Center, and her finding aid is available on the Ames History Office 

Web site. Most recently, Ratana Ngaotheppitak also won the award in 2011 for 

her internship with April at NASA Ames. 
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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NASA announced in February that it intends to negotiate a lease for Moffett 

Federal Airfield with Planetary Ventures, LLC (a unit of Google), under appropriate historic preservation laws. General Services Administrator Dan Tangherlini 

stated that “Hangar One was the landmark of Silicon Valley well before the rise 

of today’s high-tech titans.... NASA’s partnership with the private sector will allow 

the [A]gency to restore this treasure for more efficient use.” Anticipating this work, 

Historic Preservation Officer Keith Venter managed the review of a new Integrated 

Cultural Resources Management Plan. Glenn Bugos continues his search through 

the federal record system for the official Navy documents on Moffett Field. Tim 

Naumowicz of the Ames aeronautics directorate undertook the task of cleaning 

out Hangar 2 and finding homes for old items stored there, including some interesting smaller models that were accessioned by the Ames History Office. 

Other accessions of note in the Ames archives include artwork and cartoons by 

former Ames engineer Roger Arno, as well as Flexkites and other items from the 

family of Vernon Rogallo. Space artist Carter Emmart of the American Museum of 

Natural History visited Ames to lecture on his new planetarium film, Dark Matter, 

and specifically to thank all the people at Ames who helped with the historically 

realistic depiction of the Galileo Probe entering the atmosphere of Jupiter. 

The number of reference requests we are fielding, from within NASA and from the 

public, has grown dramatically. Still, we’ve updated the lists of winners of the various Ames and NASA-wide honor awards on our Web site, April continues to work 

through a big collection of digitized visual media, Glenn continues his research 

on relations between Ames and the state of California, and Jack Boyd keeps the 

Center leadership out of trouble. 

California Assemblyman Richard S. Gordon (L) presented 

a proclamation, also signed by Senator Jerry Hill and 

Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, to NASA Ames Deputy Director 

Lewis Braxton III congratulating the Center on its 75th 

anniversary as part of the third annual California Aerospace 

Week in March 2014.

Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) 

By Christian Gelzer

Christian has split his time between two tasks: cleaning out his office for a move 

and conducting research for a small monograph about Armstrong’s Flight Loads 

Laboratory. Code T is relocating from its beautiful agglomeration of landmark, 

historic preservation trailers (every time a plane went supersonic, the place acted 

like a bass drum) to the ground floor of historic building 4800, a structure into 
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

13

which the NACA moved in 1954 from its sandy, drafty quarters at South Base. Our 

current location turns to be the most energy inefficient building at the Center, and 

bulldozers are waiting for us to vacate the premises.

The Center’s Flight Loads Laboratory opened its doors in 1964, initially to conduct 

loads and thermal tests on the X-15, the first piloted aircraft to fly in the hypersonic realm. Doing this in a laboratory setting was not only challenging, it had 

never been done before, but that did not deter the engineers. By the early ’70s the 

laboratory was enveloping an entire YF-12A (5,000 square feet) in quartz lamps to 

bake the airplane at temperatures it would endure at Mach 2.9 for hours on end. It 

was this sort of testing with which the laboratory established a reputation that set 

it apart from other such facilities around the nation, capable of conducting loads 

and thermal testing at subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic speeds. This made 

it the logical choice for testing elements of the Space Shuttle when that vehicle 

came along, as well as other, proposed vehicles. The laboratory remains in the 

vanguard of such research and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this fall.

Glenn Research Center (GRC) 

By Anne Mills

Glenn Research Center is gearing up for next year’s 100th anniversary of the 

NACA. Glenn was the third of the original NACA Centers, established in 1942 as 

the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory, later renamed the Lewis Flight Propulsion 

Laboratory before being absorbed into NASA as the Lewis Research Center. Lewis 

Research Center was renamed Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in 1999 in 

honor of Ohio astronaut John Glenn. This June, historian Rebecca Wright will visit 

from Johnson Space Center to conduct oral history interviews with local NACA 

retirees. Also in June, History Officer Anne Mills will present on the cultural impact 

that the NACA has on our Center today at GRC’s monthly “Connections” forum. 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) 

By Erik Conway and Courtney O’Connor

The Caltech general counsel’s office has finally signed a contract with Johns 

Hopkins University Press to publish Erik Conway’s tentatively titled JPL and the 

Exploration of Mars.

The office has also worked to publish Craig Waff’s history of the Deep Space 

Network (DSN), which he completed in the early 1990s but never published. 

Trudy Bell recently supplied a set of electronic files of the manuscript chapters; 

the chapters were edited for grammar, spelling, and the occasional missing 

date. Waff’s history is a diplomatic and political history of the DSN through the 

mid-1970s and is complementary to Doug Mudgway’s more technical history, 

Uplink-Downlink. 
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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On February 19, we premiered the fifth installment of our ongoing documentary 

series on JPL history, The Stuff of Dreams, at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium. 

The film explores JPL in the late 1970s, a period of declining NASA funding for 

planetary exploration. It played to a full house in Beckman, nearly 1,300 people 

from the Los Angeles area, and was well received. 

As part of the yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Deep Space 

Network, JPL hosted a two-day NASA Social for 50 of its social media followers 

on 1–2 April, at the Laboratory campus in Pasadena and the Deep Space Network 

complex in Goldstone, California. 

The attendees, who follow NASA and JPL on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, 

and other social networks, were provided a unique experience that they were 

encouraged to share online. On 1 April at JPL, attendees were based inside the 

Mission Control Center of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Tour stops included the 

Spacecraft Assembly Facility, where hardware for upcoming missions is under 

construction, and the Mars Yard. On 2 April, participants attended the Deep 

Space Network’s 50th anniversary celebration at the Goldstone Deep Space 

Network Communications Complex. The tour also included Apollo Valley, site of 

the historic Apollo antenna; Mars Valley, home of the 70-meter Mars antenna; and 

the Spacecraft Operations Control Center.

NASA TV broadcast a portion of the NASA Social event on 1 April. To watch a 

recording, go to http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/45638999.

Johnson Space Center (JSC) 

By Rebecca Wright

For the second time in two years, the Society for History in the Federal Government 

awarded the JSC Historian with the Charles Thomson Prize. Jennifer Ross-Nazzal 

was honored for her essay “You’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe: The First Six 

Women Astronauts and the Media,” a look into the challenges faced by the first 

women of American space. The article was included in the book Spacefarers: 

Images of Astronauts and Cosmonauts in the Heroic Era of Spaceflight, published 

by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. The Thomson Prize is awarded 

annually by the Society for History in the Federal Government for excellence in 

an article or essay that deals with any aspect of the federal government’s history 

written in or for a federal history program. Entries are judged for value in furthering 

the understanding and history of the federal government, the quality and thoroughness of the research, the style and appropriateness of the presentation, the 

suitability and rigor of methodology, and the use of original and primary materials.

The JSC History team began a summer-long project to capture oral histories from 

surviving NACA retirees. The effort is a part of the NASA Headquarters History 

Program Office’s preparation for the NACA centennial next year. The JSC team 
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

15

will be recording previously overlooked stories of NACA employees from a wide 

variety of backgrounds that will be a significant contribution to the historical 

record for generations to come. Earlier this year, they visited the Langley Research 

Center to talk with NACA veterans and they will be in Ohio and California in the 

coming months to talk with former NACA members who worked at the research 

centers there.

From 2006 to 2013, the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, 

administered by the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO) at 

the Johnson Space Center endeavored to stimulate U.S. commercial space 

transportation capabilities by pursuing a new way of doing business with industry. 

C3PO collaborated with a team of attorneys, procurement specialists, and even 

a venture capitalist to formulate and implement a new form of funded Space Act 

Agreements (SAA) based on the Agency’s “Other Transaction” Authority. NASA 

then worked with companies to meet financial, programmatic, and technical 

milestones that would culminate in the development of viable, commercially 

owned transportation cargo services to the International Space Station. The JSC 

History team produced the program report and conducted a number of oral history interviews with many of the individuals who contributed to the success of the 

COTS program. These transcripts are available on the JSC History Portal at http://

www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/oral_histories/c3po.htm. The program report (NASA/

SP-2014-617) that includes excerpts from the transcripts was released in May. 

In addition to these projects, over the past months the JSC Historian has worked 

with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to gather documents and establish 

provenance of several objects for sale, including a Rotation Hand Controller on 

Apollo 11. In the spring of 2013, NASA learned that the controller was identified to 

be sold at auction. NASA requested that the artifact be pulled to ensure that the 

controller was no longer federal property. The OIG asked Jennifer Ross-Nazzal to 

locate the controller’s records, including its part and serial number, the 50-state 

tour of Command Module (CM)-107 (now on display at the Smithsonian), the procedures taken to clean and save the spacecraft after splashdown, and the CM’s 

location following its cleaning until its donation to the National Air and Space 

Museum. This request required research within the JSC History Collection, as well 

as assistance from the National Archives and former North American employees. 

All requested materials were found and shared with the OIG.

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) 

By Brian Odom

July marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, 

which together with the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, 

and the now deorbited Compton Gamma Ray Observatory make up NASA’s 

Great Observatories. In preparation for the anniversary, the Marshall History 

Office is conducting a series of oral history interviews with program participants 
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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from Marshall Space Flight Center, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Pennsylvania State University, and 

the National Space Science and Technology Center. The more than 30 hours of 

interviews conducted to date have revealed great insight in the areas of program 

management, the science behind the observatory, lessons learned, and the 

relationships forged over the program’s 38-year lifetime. The goal of the project 

is to have these interviews transcribed, preserved in the History Office Archive, 

and made available for research. Participants in this project so far have included 

Project Scientist Dr. Martin Weisskopf, Deputy Program Manager Jean Olivier, and 

co-author of the original 1976 Chandra proposal Dr. Harvey Tananbaum. Planning 

is also under way for a panel discussion to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the 

launch of Chandra. 

The Marshall History Office is also in the process of collecting oral histories 

from scientists at Marshall with experience working in the Center’s Science 

Space Laboratory from the Apollo era forward. Related interviews have been 

conducted with Dr. Jerry Fishman and Dr. Charles Meegan of the Burst and 

Transient Source Experiment (BATSE), the Gamma Ray burst monitor for the 

Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. 

Stennis Space Center (SSC) 

By Daphne Alford

The John C. Stennis Space Center History Office is making strides in expanding 

its multimedia collection. Raw video footage of three decades of research at 

Stennis has been added to the history Web site. 

The collection includes videos of both the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs with 

footage from the Center’s earliest days, when the site operated under the names 

Mississippi Test Facility (MTF) and National Space Technology Laboratories. 

Video footage ranges from the 1967 arrival of an S-IC (the first stage of a Saturn V 

rocket) aboard a barge powered by an Apollo tugboat on the Pearl River, to aerial 

views of the site, to employees working in a test control center. 

The shortest video in the collection is less than four minutes, with the longest 

more than 25 minutes in duration. All videos were reviewed and approved by 

team members of the scientific and technical information process community 

at Stennis. 

Stennis Space Center is America’s largest rocket engine test complex and is 

home to NASA’s Rocket Propulsion Test Program Office, the principal implementing authority for the Agency’s rocket propulsion testing.
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

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Forty-two tests were conducted at Stennis for the Apollo Program, including tests 

performed on engines used on the program’s uncrewed mission. 

Before the Apollo Program ended in 1972, NASA announced on 1 March 1971 that 

the then-MTF would test main engines for the Agency’s new reusable spacecraft, 

the Space Shuttle. For 34 years, Stennis and major contractor Pratt & Whitney 

Rocketdyne (now Aerojet Rocketdyne) would test every main engine used to 

power the Shuttle into orbit on 135 missions. The last Space Shuttle Main Engine 

was tested at Stennis on the A-2 Test Stand on 29 July 2009.

The 48 years of rocket engine testing in the history of NASA’s Apollo and Space 

Shuttle programs and now the Space Launch System Program at Stennis feature 

many history-making events.

An Apollo tugboat with a S-IC on the Pearl River

in 1967.

The first stage of a Saturn V rocket undergoes a 

hot-firing on the B-2 stand in 1967 at the then-MTF.

During the 1960s, employees in the Test Control 

Center monitor a testing at Stennis.
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Other Aerospace History News

National Air and Space Museum (NASM) 

By Mike Neufeld

In April 2014, the NASM announced a $30-million donation by Boeing, the largest 

corporate contribution the museum has ever received, to fund an overhaul of 

the Milestones of Flight hall, the central entrance space of the museum (http://

airandspace.si.edu/about/newsroom/release/?id=341). This transformation is 

slated for completion by 2016, the 40th anniversary of the Mall museum building 

and the 100th anniversary of the Boeing Company. The money will also support 

other exhibition upgrades, education programs, and lecture programs.

Several space history curators participated in the annual meeting of the 

American Historical Association in Washington, DC, in January 2014. Margaret 

Weitekamp participated in the roundtable session “Aerospace History: Changes 

in the Field through the Eyes of AHA Aerospace History Fellows,” Martin Collins 

presented a paper on the history of the Iridium satellite system, and Roger 

Launius participated in a roundtable discussion of “Curating the Anthropocene: 

Debate and Discussion.”

On 29 January, space history curator David DeVorkin gave the annual Ilan Ramon 

Lecture at the International Ilan Ramon Space Conference held in Tel Aviv, Israel. 

The lecture and space conference honor the Israeli astronaut who perished on the 

Space Shuttle Columbia in January 2003. Space history curator Valerie Neal spoke 

about “Living and Working on the International Space Station” at the Southern 

Cross Astronomical Society’s 30th annual Winter Star Party near Key West, 

Florida, on 26 February. On 20 February, space history curator Michael Neufeld 

lectured to a graduate space science class at the University of Central Florida via 

videoconference. His subject was “First Mission to Pluto: Policy, Politics, Science, 

and Technology in the Origins of New Horizons, 1989–2003.” One of the class 

instructors is Alan Stern, the principal investigator of New Horizons. On 13 March, 

Michael Neufeld gave a Smithsonian Affiliates lecture to over 200 people at the 

Durham Museum in Omaha, Nebraska, “The Apollo 8 Mission: First Voyage to the 

Moon.” The lecture was in conjunction with the “1968” touring exhibit, now at the 

Durham Museum, in which NASM has contributed three Apollo 8 artifacts.

On 14 March, the National Air and Space Society held an evening program at the 

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Neal moderated a program on “Shuttle Missions and 

Memories” with former astronauts Robert L. Crippen and Sandra H. Magnus and 

former flight director and Space Shuttle program manager N. Wayne Hale, Jr. On 

15 March, NASM held a Women in Aviation Heritage Family Day at the Udvar-Hazy 

Center. Neal introduced Space Shuttle astronaut Pamela A. Melroy, who talked 

about her experiences as a pilot and the commander of Space Shuttle Discovery. 
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

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Three space history curators (Paul Ceruzzi, Cathy Lewis, and Mike Neufeld) 

spoke at the Embattled Heavens: The Militarization of Space in Science, Fiction, 

and Politics conference in April 2014 at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. 

Paul Ceruzzi’s book, A History of Modern Computing (MIT Press), has just been 

released in a Japanese edition.

The recently published X-15 (Zenith Press, 2014), by aeronautics curator John 

Anderson and volunteer Richard Passman, has received positive notice from the 

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “The book is a joy to read and to learn of the nine years 

the X-15 flew, usually for about 10 minutes and covering no more than 300 miles 

during each flight. 

“Smaller than a coffee table book yet too large for an airline seat table/tray this 

book is well written by authors who know the material but, more importantly, 

know the esteemed place in history occupied by the North American X-15. 

Anderson and Passman recall the starts, the activities and the accomplishments 

of the X-15 program which generated a unique data set still in use five decades 

after the 199th and final X-15 flight.”1

Zenith Press has also recently published Milestones of Space: Eleven Iconic 

Objects from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, edited by Michael 

Neufeld, with contributions from most of the staff of space history, plus Bill Leslie 

and Layne Karafantis of Johns Hopkins University.

1 Joseph May, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “X-15: the World’s fastest rocket plane and the pilots 

who ushered in the Space Age,” 13 February 2014, available at http://blog.seattlepi.com/

travelforaircraft/2014/02/13/x-15-the-worlds-fastest-rocket-plane-and-the-pilots-who-usheredin-the-space-age/ (accessed 15 May 2014).
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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Recent Publications and 

Online Resources

Commercially Published Works 

Compiled by Chris Gamble

Aerothermodynamic Data of Space Vehicles, by Claus Weiland (Springer, March 

2014). The capacity and quality of the atmospheric flight performance of spaceflight vehicles is characterized by their aerodynamic databases. A complete aerodynamic database would encompass the coefficients of the static longitudinal 

and lateral motions and the related dynamic coefficients. This book considers 

the aerodynamics of 27 vehicles, of which only a few actually flew. Therefore, the 

aerodynamic databases are often not complete, in particular when the projects 

or programs were more or less abruptly stopped, often due to political decisions. 

Configurational design studies or the development of demonstrators usually 

happened with reduced or incomplete aerodynamic datasets. Therefore, some 

datasets are based on the application of one of the following tools: semi-empirical design methods, wind tunnel tests, or numerical simulations, making a high 

percentage of the data incomplete and in need of verification.

America’s Great Endeavour, by Robert A. Adamcik (Apogee Prime, March 2014). 

This book is the sequel to the author’s Voyages of Discovery. In this volume, 

Adamcik takes readers to the flight deck of NASA’s youngest orbiter, Space 

Shuttle Endeavour. Constructed to replace Challenger, Endeavour and its 25 

crews conducted some of the most important missions of the Space Shuttle era, 

from the rescue of the Intelsat VI satellite, to the repair of the crippled Hubble 

Space Telescope, to the construction of the International Space Station. Written 

with a minimal amount of technical jargon, America’s Great Endeavour chronicles 

the 19-year career of this amazing spacecraft.

Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space, by James Clay Moltz 

(Columbia University Press, April 2014). This book offers readers a valuable primer 

on space policy from an international perspective. It examines the competing 

themes of space competition and cooperation while providing readers with an 

understanding of the basics of space technology, diplomacy, commerce, science, 

and military applications. 

Earthrise: My Adventures as an Apollo 14 Astronaut, by Edgar Mitchell and Ellen 

Mahoney (Chicago Review Press, April 2014). This is the inspiring and fascinating 

biography of the sixth man to walk on the Moon. Of the nearly seven billion 

people who live on Earth, only 12 have walked on the Moon, and Edgar Mitchell 

was one of them. Earthrise is a vibrant memoir for young adults featuring the 

life story of this internationally known Apollo 14 astronaut. The book focuses on 

Edgar’s amazing journey to the Moon in 1971 and highlights the many steps he 
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

21

took to get there. In engaging and suspenseful prose, he details his historic flight 

to the Moon, describing everything from the very practical (eating, sleeping, and 

going to the bathroom in space) to the metaphysical (experiencing a life-changing 

connectedness to the universe).

Camp Cooke and Vandenberg Air Force Base, 1941–1966: From Armor and 

Infantry Training to Space and Missile Launches, by Jeffrey E. Geiger (McFarland, 

February 2014). During World War II, hundreds of military training installations 

were built throughout the United States to prepare servicemen for the rigors of 

overseas combat. One such installation was Camp Cooke in California, which 

since 1957 has become an internationally recognized missile and rocket base 

renamed Vandenberg Air Force Base. This book examines the location’s history, 

beginning with its construction. Established some 150 miles north of Los Angeles, 

Cooke was designed for armored divisions, but by the end of the war hundreds of 

other specialized organizations trained there. With the outbreak of the Korean War, 

Cooke supported Army National Guard and reserve units. Its large hospital cared 

for war evacuees and Army medical cases from other parts of the globe. When it 

became an Air Force base, America’s first spy satellite program was conducted 

from there. The intelligence data collected from these missions exploded the myth 

of a “missile gap” with the Soviet Union. At the height of the Cold War, America’s 

first ICBM equipped with a nuclear warhead was based at Vandenberg.

Liberty Bell 7: The Suborbital Mercury Flight of Virgil “Gus” Grissom, by 

Colin Burgess (Springer-Praxis, April 2014). The second in the Pioneers in 

Early Spaceflight series following Freedom 7—The Historic Flight of Alan B. 

Shepard, Jr., the book is devoted to the second crewed U.S. spaceflight, MR-4 

Liberty Bell 7, which was flown by NASA’s Project Mercury astronaut Virgil “Gus” 

Grissom on 21 July 1961. After piloting the spacecraft to a successful splashdown, Grissom performed a hurried exit while struggling to stay afloat because 

the craft’s hatch blew prematurely. Grissom watched helplessly as the recovery 

helicopter pilot valiantly fought a losing battle to save the sinking capsule. That 

day, NASA not only lost a spacecraft, but came perilously close to losing one of 

its Mercury astronauts, a decorated Korean War fighter pilot from Indiana who 

might one day have soared to the highest goal of them all as the first person to 

set foot on the Moon.

The Little Book of Space Law, by Matthew J. Kleiman (American Bar Association, 

February 2014). The term “space law” refers to the international and national laws 

that govern human activities in outer space. Space law was born simultaneously 

with the Space Age on 4 October 1957, when Earth’s first artificial satellite, 

Sputnik, was launched into orbit. Following Sputnik, the international community 

quickly recognized that outer space was a legal vacuum. Spacecraft have since 

become essential to life on Earth. They perform a wide variety of useful functions, 

including telecommunications, navigation, exploration, mapping, environmental 

monitoring, scientific research, and, more recently, space tourism. The prominence of space law has grown in recent years as private companies rapidly 
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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expand their spaceflight capabilities and open new markets in outer space. With 

this transition, the space industry has many new opportunities and must also 

confront increased risks. Well-conceived laws that govern spaceflight activities 

minimize the risk to people and property in outer space and on the ground while 

not prematurely stifling innovation. This book examines some of these laws and 

subsequent court cases.

Live TV From Orbit, by Dwight Steven-Boniecki (Apogee Prime, March 2014). The 

book describes the planning and development of the TV systems used to broadcast Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and Space Shuttle flights. Engineers and 

planners involved with NASA, Westinghouse, and RCA provide detailed analysis 

of the efforts that went into beaming historic video from Earth’s orbit to people’s 

living rooms. Using internal memos and status reports as its foundation, this book 

digs deep to uncover the story behind the cameras. Unlike the days of Apollo, 

NASA had to fight against the growing apathy of the general public; yet despite 

this hurdle, NASA managed to document many iconic moments from outer space, 

all with a glorious clarity that had never been seen before. 

Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program, by David Meerman 

Scott and Richard Jurek (MIT Press, February 2014). In July 1969, 94 percent of 

American televisions were tuned to coverage of Apollo 11’s mission to the Moon. 

How did space exploration, once the purview of rocket scientists, reach a larger 

audience than the hit sitcom “My Three Sons”? Why did a government program 

whose standard operating procedure had been secrecy turn its greatest achievement into a communal experience? In Marketing the Moon, David Meerman 

Scott and Richard Jurek tell the story of one of the most successful marketing 

and public relations campaigns in history: the selling of the Apollo program. The 

authors describe sophisticated efforts by NASA and its many contractors to 

market the facts about space travel—through press releases, bylined articles, 

lavishly detailed background materials, and fully produced radio and television 

features—rather than push an agenda. Generously illustrated with vintage photographs, artwork, and advertisements, Marketing the Moon shows that when Neil 

Armstrong took that giant leap, it was a triumph not just for American engineering 

and rocketry but for American marketing and public relations.

The Men Who Gave Us Wings: Britain and the Aeroplane 1796–1914, by Peter 

Reese (Pen & Sword Aviation, April 2014). Why did the British, then the leading 

nation in science and technology, fall far behind in the race to develop the airplane 

before the First World War? Despite Britain’s initial advantage it was surpassed by 

the Wright brothers in the United States and by France and Germany. Peter Reese, 

in this highly readable and thoroughly illustrated account, delves into aviation’s 

fascinating early history. His narrative is illustrated with a wonderful selection of 

over 120 archival drawings and photographs.
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

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N-1: For the Moon and Mars—A Reference Guide to the Soviet Superbooster, by 

Matt Johnson, Nick Stevens, Alexander Shliadinsky, Igor Bezyaev, and Vladimir 

Antipov (ARA Press, January 2014). Written by a team of international experts 

in Russia, England, and the United States, this book covers the history of the 

N-1 from its origins as a booster for missions to Mars and Venus to the abrupt 

change with a directive from the highest levels of Soviet government to “beat the 

Americans to the Moon!”

The Smithsonian Book of Air & Space Trivia, edited by Amy Pastan (Smithsonian 

Books, March 2014). Who was the first person to dine in space? How long was 

the Wright brothers’ first successful flight? What famous aircraft was named after 

a grape-flavored soft drink? What toy based on an animated film accompanied 

astronauts on a Shuttle mission in 2000? These questions and many more are 

answered in this book. In addition to the breadth of space and aviation information, the pages are illustrated with more than 125 images of objects from the 

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s collections.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour, by Stephen Hayward Silberkraus (Arcadia 

Publishing, April 2014). Endeavour performed 25 vital and historic missions for 

humanity in its 19-year career. Endeavour’s story ended with one final mission: 

its move from Florida to its new home in California. Atop the Shuttle Carrier 

Aircraft, Endeavour was flown piggyback across the United States for a final victory lap. Welcomed by millions of admirers, the Shuttle was transported through 

the streets of Los Angeles to its final destination, the California Science Center.

Suborbital: Industry at the Edge of Space, by Erik Seedhouse (Springer-Praxis, 

February 2014). Until recently, spaceflight has been the providence of a select 

corps of astronauts whose missions were experienced vicariously by the rest 

of the world via television reports and Internet feeds. These spacefarers risked 

their lives in the name of science, exploration, and adventure, thanks to government-funded human spaceflight programs. The nascent commercial suborbital 

spaceflight industry will soon open the space frontier to commercial astronauts, 

payload specialists, and, of course, spaceflight participants. This book examines 

the tantalizing science opportunities offered when suborbital trips become routine 

and describes the difference in training and qualification necessary to become 

either a spaceflight participant or a fully fledged commercial suborbital astronaut. 

It also explains how the commercial suborbital spaceflight industry plans for the 

challenges of hiring astronauts. It examines how a partnership with governments 

and the private sector may permanently integrate the free market’s innovation of 

commercial suborbital space activities.
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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The Universe Through the Eyes of Hubble, by Oli Usher and Lars Lindberg 

Christensen (Springer, December 2013). Using entrancing images and an attractive layout, this book gives the reader a guided tour of the cosmos through the 

eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope. The selected photographs explore key 

themes in recent astronomy, including planetary science, cosmology, and stellar 

evolution, explaining Hubble’s contributions to our understanding of the universe. 

Hubble’s unique images are presented with a mix of cutting-edge science that 

highlights the key discoveries of the past few years and how they fit into Hubble’s 

growing list of scientific achievements. 

X-15: The World’s Fastest Rocket Plane and the Pilots Who Ushered in the Space 

Age, by John Anderson and Richard Passman (Zenith Press, February 2014). The 

exciting story of the X-15—the iconic rocket plane of the Cold War space race—

is recounted by John Anderson, curator of aerodynamics at the Smithsonian 

National Air and Space Museum. This experimental space plane was on the 

cutting edge of hypersonic aerodynamics, and its winged reentry from space 

foreshadowed the development of the Space Shuttle decades later. Launched 

from the wing of a modified B-52 bomber—again foretelling a concept that would 

be used decades later, in this case by SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo—the 

ship rocketed higher and faster than any crewed aircraft of the time. Designed 

to approach seven times the speed of sound, it was the first hypersonic aircraft 

ever created and was engineered to function both in Earth’s atmosphere and at 

the edge of space. Illustrated with period NASA and U.S. Air Force photographs, 

as well as exclusive Smithsonian photography of the first X-15 built, the book 

captures the risks and dangers of the X-15 program as Anderson follows the test 

pilots (including Neil Armstrong) who pushed the very limits of their piloting skills 

to master groundbreaking experimental technology. 

Yearbook on Space Policy 2011/2012: Space in Times of Financial Crisis, edited 

by L. M. Cenan, Blandina Baranes, Peter Hulsroj, and Arne Lahcen (Springer, 

February 2014). The Yearbook on Space Policy is a reference publication that 

analyzes space policy developments. Each year it presents issues and trends 

in space policy and the space sector as a whole. Its scope is global and its 

perspective is European. The yearbook also links space policy with other policy 

areas; highlights specific events and issues; and provides useful insights, data, 

and information on space activities.

The History Program Office gives sincere thanks to 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.
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

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Upcoming Meetings

The annual conference for the American Library Association will be held 

26 June–1 July 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Visit http://ala14.ala.org/registernow/ for more details.

The joint meeting for the Council of State Archivists, the National Association of 

Government Archives and Records, and the Society of American Archivists will 

be held 10–16 August 2014 in Washington, DC. Visit http://www2.archivists.org/

conference/ for more details.

The joint meeting for the Sociedad Latinoamericana de Estudios Sociales de la 

Ciencia y la Tecnología and Society for Social Studies of Science will be held 

20–23 August 2014 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Visit http://www.4sonline.org/

meeting for details.

The 65th International Astronautical Congress will be held 29 September–3 

October 2014 in Toronto, Canada. Visit http://www.iac2014.org for details.

The annual meeting of the Oral History Association will be held 9–13 October 2013 

in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Visit http://www.oralhistory.org/annual-meeting/

for details. 

The annual meeting for the Society for the History of Technology will be held 6–9 

November 2014 in Dearborn, Michigan. Visit http://www.historyoftechnology.org/

annual_meeting.html for more details.

The annual meeting for the History of Science Society will be held 6–9 November 

2014 in Chicago, Illinois. Visit http://www.hssonline.org/Meeting/ for more details.

The 46th fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union will be held 15–19 

December 2014 in San Francisco, California. Visit http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2014/

for details. 

The annual meeting of the American Historical Association will be held 2–5 

January 2015 in New York City. Visit http://www.historians.org/annual/next.htm

for more details.

The 225th meeting of the American Astronomical Society will be held 4–8 January 

2015 in Seattle, Washington. Visit http://aas.org/meetings/ for details.
NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

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Image in Aerospace History

The Chandra X-ray Observatory launched aboard Space Shuttle 

Columbia as the primary payload on STS-93 on 23 July 1999. The combined Chandra and Inertial Upper Stage (seen here) measured 57 feet 

long and weighed 50,162 pounds. From its unusual high-Earth orbit, the 

observatory allowed scientists to study black holes, supernovas, and 

dark matter in higher resolution than any previous x-ray images. 
Volume 31, Number 2 Second Quarter 2014

27

The NASA History Program Office, under the Office of Communications, NASA 

Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546, publishes News and Notes quarterly.

To receive News and Notes via e-mail, send a message to history-request@hq.nasa.

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Do you have more questions about NASA history in general? Please check out 

our NASA History Program Office Home Page at http://history.nasa.gov on the 

Web. For information about doing research in the NASA History Program Office, 

please e-mail us at histinfo@hq.nasa.gov or call 202-358-0384.

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

Please send your comments, as well as any changes to your mailing address or 

requests to stop receiving News and Notes in the mail, to Giny Cheong, newsletter editor, at giny.cheong@nasa.gov. 

NASA Headquarters History Program Office 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 cfries@mail.hq.nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0388

Stephen Garber stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov 

Historian 202-358-0385

John Hargenrader jhargenr@mail.hq.nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0387

Jane Odom jane.h.odom@nasa.gov

Chief Archivist 202-358-0386

Yvette Smith yvette.smith-1@nasa.gov

Editor 202-358-5196

Elizabeth Suckow elizabeth.suckow-1@nasa.gov

Archivist 202-358-0375

Mary Catherine Bitter marycatherine.bitter@nasa.gov

Intern 202-358-4495

William Thompson william.f.thompson@nasa.gov

Intern 202-358-0893
Created and produced by the following:

Giny Cheong, Newsletter Editor

George Gonzalez, Editor, NASA Headquarters Communications Support Services Center (CSSC)

Steve Bradley, Publication Specialist/Graphic Designer, NASA Headquarters CSSC 

Tun Hla, Printing Specialist, NASA Headquarters CSSC

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Carl Paul, Distribution, NASA Headquarters CSSC

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