FROM

THE CHIEF

HISTORIAN

The recent compilation of the 2006 National

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

History Division Year in Review (online at http://

history.nasa.gov/2006.pdf) has prompted me to

highlight some of the activities that will be of special

interest to readers of this newsletter. Throughout the

past year, we continued to focus on the Division’s

core goals of conducting a high-quality, academically sound program of research pertinent to NASA

leadership’s concerns; effectively acquiring, preserving, and making available documentary

information in the NASA Historical Reference

Collection; and disseminating historical information to the widest practicable audience.

In pursuit of these objectives, the History Division

continued to follow its detailed strategic plan. Among

the Division’s highlights were the conference on

“Societal Impact of Spaceflight,” held at the

Hirshhorn Museum in September 2006; a wide variety of publications in aerospace history, including the

landmark Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight

(NASA SP-2006-4702); the implementation of the

NASA Chief Historian’s Survey of NASA Culture;

and the continuing series of essays on “Why We

Explore” at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/

exploration/whyweexplore/index.html. 

During calendar year 2006, NASA History

Division personnel answered a total of 1,055

research requests from governmental, educational, and private organizations on a wide variety

of topics. History Division personnel also provided research services to approximately 324

on-site researchers who used the Historical

Reference Collection.

NASA History DIVISION

OFFICE OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS

Volume 24, Number 2 MAY 2007

continued on page 3

IN THIS ISSUE:

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

From Russia with History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

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

Profiles of NASA’s Historic Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Remembering the Space Age Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Other History News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

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

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

New Online Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Upcoming Meetings and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

FROM RUSSIA WITH HISTORY

by Asif Siddiqi

As NASA Chief Historian Steven J. Dick has noted, the year 2007 has a special

meaning for those involved in space history. Later this October marks 50 years

since the launch of Sputnik by the former Soviet Union, the event that set off the

Space Age. The Russians are fond of celebrating anniversaries, and this year is

particularly special, not only because of Sputnik, but also because of a host of

other major landmarks, including the 150th anniversary of the “patriarch” of

Russian cosmonautics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and the 100th birthday of the

founder of the Russian space program, Sergei Korolev. I was fortunate to be

invited to present a paper commemorating the latter in late January in Moscow.

It was a rare and valuable opportunity to see firsthand the nature and practice of

Russian space history.

The Russian space history community holds a number of major annual conferences on a variety of topics. One of the most prominent is the “Academic

Readings on Cosmonautics,” typically held in January of every year. Because 12

January was also Korolev’s 100th birthday, this year’s Academic Readings, the

31st in the series, was held with much fanfare and celebration. The actual conference was hosted by the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the alma

mater of many of Russia’s cosmonauts and space engineers. The opening day,

January 30, was dedicated to a plenary session in Bauman’s main conference

hall in its imposingly huge science laboratory building. The proceedings were

led by academician Boris Chertok, one of the last surviving senior designers

from Korolev’s generation, who at (almost) 95 years old seemed sprightly and

fully in control of the room. Chertok began the proceedings to a packed audicontinued on next page
NASA History DIVISION

2

ence of several hundred people with a short introduction in which he mentioned the

anniversaries this year (besides Korolev and Tsiolkovsky): the launch of Sputnik (50

years), the launch of the first R-7 missile (50 years), the birth of pioneer Fridrikh Tsander

(120 years), and the birth of Korolev’s successor, Vasily Mishin (90 years).

Chertok’s introduction was followed by a talk by Nataliya

Sergeyevna Koroleva, Korolev’s daughter, now 71 years old.

She gave a very compelling presentation using a superb

PowerPoint slide show of her father’s life. Koroleva has spent

the last 15 years of her life doing an enormous amount of

research on the late Soviet chief designer, poring over rare documents, traveling to Siberia where Korolev was interned in a

Gulag camp, and tracking down previously unknown photographs. The fruits of her labors are represented in a new,

three-volume set of books entitled Otets (Father). In her presentation, she included many interesting mementos of Korolev’s

life, and surprisingly did not minimize or avoid in-depth exploration of Korolev’s arrest in 1938 by the Soviet security services

and the subsequent six years he spent in various Gulag camps.

Koroleva’s presentation was less substantive on the later years of Korolev’s life, since by

that time he had divorced Koroleva’s mother and remarried. The relationship between

father and daughter was somewhat strained by the 1950s

and early 1960s.

After Koroleva’s speech, Chertok gave a lengthy formal

talk about Korolev, focusing particularly on an issue that

few space historians devote much attention to: the organizational evolution of the Soviet space program, beginning

with the foundation of the postwar missile effort in 1946.

Chertok was followed by Nikolai Sevastyanov, the head of

Rocket & Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia), who

gave a sharply focused talk summarizing Energia’s plans up

to the year 2050. As is well known to many in the Russian

space industry, the relationship between Sevastyanov and

Roskosmos, the Russian governmental space agency, has

become strained recently over precisely the kind of ambitious and somewhat unrealistic plans that he mapped out at this conference. With striking

illustrations, Sevastyanov laid out Energia’s goals for exploring the Moon in three stages,

beginning with a piloted Soyuz circumlunar flight by 2015 and a permanent base by 2030.

The eventual goal is to extract helium-3 from the lunar surface to fuel future fusion reactors. Given the financial priorities of the Russian space industry, it is questionable that any

of this will actually happen.

After the formal papers, several famous veterans of the space program who knew Korolev

talked informally from the podium. Among them were veteran cosmonauts Pavel

Popovich and Boris Volynov, now in their 70s, who spoke about their experiences as part

of the first group of cosmonauts selected in 1960. Audience members—who included former Russian Space Agency head Yuri Koptev and veteran cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev

and Aleksandr Aleksandrov—punctuated these reminiscences with much applause.

From Russia with History (continued)

The Bauman Moscow State Technical University’s Bauman

Center (note statue of Korolev).

Asif Siddiqi and Nataliya Koroleva standing around a statue

of Korolev.

continued on page 4
3

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

continued on next page

Overseeing the NASA Historical Reference Collection is a major activity and is performed

by Chief Archivist Jane Odom. The NASA History Division received over 42 cubic feet of

material from various offices at Headquarters in 2006 and staff members processed (i.e.,

appraised, arranged, described, and preserved) a total of 70 cubic feet. They also continued

their efforts to scan and electronically store historically significant documents from paper

collections maintained in the NASA Historical Reference Collection.

Recording, transcribing, and permanently accessioning in the NASA Historical Reference

Collection the recollections of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)/

NASA personnel have been among the most important activities undertaken by the NASA

History Division since its inception in 1959. Many NASA oral histories originated when

historians interviewed participants to obtain firsthand information for writing their volumes in the NASA History Series. Other oral histories can be more properly categorized as

exit interviews. The NASA Historical Reference Collection holds over 2,000 oral histories

on a widely divergent set of individuals. They include oral histories focusing on all the

major projects of the Agency, organizational culture, engineering practice, program management, aerospace medicine, and other specialized topics. Other NASA Centers also have

large collections of oral histories. The Johnson Space Center, for example, has a collection

of over 2,000 oral histories. While the majority of the oral histories available from NASA

have been conducted during the course of writing specific historical works, the Agency has

increasingly undertaken oral history for its own sake as a means of preserving knowledge.

This year, we have implemented a new inventory of NASA oral histories, and a new portal

for accessing them at http://history.nasa.gov/oralhistory/ohcatalog.htm. Some of the interviews are online in full.

For the last several years, the NASA History Division has been working to place as much

information as possible on the Internet. During 2006, the Division substantially increased

its electronic resources, especially on the World Wide Web. Our main page continues to be

http://history.nasa.gov. In addition to being one of the largest NASA Web sites, the NASA

History site continues to be one of the most popular Agency sites. Throughout the year,

there were 62,183,862 hits on the NASA History Web site. 

The NASA History Division continues to build its online resource for historical photos.

GReat Images in NASA (GRIN) is online at http://grin.hq.nasa.gov and features over 1,000

historically significant black-and-white and color images in four resolutions, ranging from

thumbnail to a high resolution, that are suitable for publishing. Public users may download

any of these images without charge. While other somewhat similar photo databases are

online, the specific format of this one is unique and attracts a steady flow of users. GRIN

received 9,189,913 hits in 2006. 

In parallel with the conference on the “Societal Impact of Spaceflight,” the NASA History

Division also sponsored a variety of studies on that theme. Among the studies are NASA’s

role in microelectronic mechanical systems (MEMS), integrated circuits (ICs), management techniques, medical applications, space law, applications satellites, and the

environmental movement. The approach is rigorous historical study, not public affairs.

These studies will be part of the new subseries of NASA History publications on the societal impact of spaceflight. 

This year, 2007, promises to be just as busy as 2006 was, as the 50th anniversary of the

Space Age inexorably approaches. The NASA/National Air and Space Museum

(NASA/NASM) program “Remembering the Space Age” is now set, and you will find it

From the Chief Historian (continued)
NASA History DIVISION

4

From the Chief Historian (continued)

elsewhere in this newsletter. The dates are 22–23 October at the American Association for

the Advancement of Science (AAAS) auditorium in Washington, DC, immediately following the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) meeting. We hope you will be able

to attend. Then it will be time to move on to 2008 and NASA’s 50th anniversary. Already,

we have initiated a “NASA at 50” program. The goal of this program is to document on

audiotape the state of NASA at 50 years old as perceived by its top managers, as well as

their hopes for NASA’s future. The project is being coordinated from Headquarters and

implemented by the oral history team at Johnson Space Center. 

The 50th anniversaries of the Space Age and of NASA provide a good opportunity to

reflect on how the myriad activities in space have affected science, society, and national and

global identities.

Steve Dick

The remainder of the conference was dedicated to about 300 separate formal papers

spread out over more than 20 different thematic sections. About 1,500 people attended

these sessions, most from the Russian space industry, including both retired veterans and

current employees. These sessions provided an interesting window into the practice of

space history in Russia. Following are some of my general impressions.

First, it is clear that there is a publishing boom on space topics in Russia. The tables set

out in the main hall were packed with new books on every possible aspect of Russian

space history. The space-history publishing field is dominated by two types of works: the

memoir genre—usually recollections by both former designers and cosmonauts—and the

official organizational history, issued to coincide with unending anniversaries. There is a

great deal of general popular interest in space, at least as compared to that in the United

States, and there appears to be a genuine market for these works, although some of my

Russian colleagues confided that the glut of history books also dilutes the quality. Few, if

any, of the works are written by professional historians, and many are basically recycling

older information, benefiting from the genuinely ground-breaking work from the 1990s of

talented historians such as Yaroslav Golovanov, Georgy Vetrov, Igor Afanasyev, Mikhail

Rebrov, and others. My impression was that these days, most of the truly innovative work

on Russian space history is left to journalists, particularly the influential monthly journal

Novosti Kosmonavtiki (News of Cosmonautics), which regularly publishes important

pieces on Russian space history.

Second, the Russian space history field has a very strong strand of hagiography. Hero worship is most evident in the cases of Korolev and Gagarin, but also is shown toward many

other personalities of the era. This is not to say that these individuals do not deserve

acclaim or genuine respect, but it appears to me that much of the recent Russian historical material has an uncritical stance. If there is criticism leveled at the pioneers of Russian

space exploration, it is usually propagated by veterans representing the legacies of competing designers. In fact, one of the most striking aspects of Russian space history is how

it still remains remarkably fractured along the same lines that the actual program was in

the 1960s. The acrimony among feuding designers such as Sergei Korolev, Valentin

Glushko, and Vladimir Chelomei is now continued by curators of their respective legacies.

From Russia with History (continued)
5

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

For example, at one session dedicated to Korolev, a veteran of the Chelomei organization

took great umbrage at some demeaning comments about Chelomei. Responding to

another paper on Chelomei, supporters of another designer, Viktor Bugaisky, were upset

about the way in which the latter was portrayed in the history. To a large degree, these

kinds of battles are still being fought because there is a strong curatorial dimension to

Russian space history; i.e., groups of historians have become custodians of specific

designers rather than any broad interpretive ideas.

Third, the perception of American space history is generally fairly sophisticated. Novosti

Kosmonavtiki for example frequently publishes excellent pieces on American space history that, although based on secondary sources, provide succinct and accurate views of

American space exploration. They are particularly strong in covering American military

and intelligence space efforts. There also are a few areas where Russian space historians

(and space veterans) fall back on clichés. Nowhere is this more apparent than the status of

Wernher von Braun. Most people I spoke to are of the opinion that von Braun was

Korolev’s equivalent in the United States. Most Russians had little interest or knowledge

of other American pioneers of rocketry and space exploration. Because of von Braun’s

critical role in the development of both the German V-2 and the American Saturn V, many

Russians believe him to have essentially created the American space program, much as

Korolev did. In Russia, the American space program has become synonymous with von

Braun when, in truth, von Braun had little to do with the development of any American

human or robotic spacecraft.

Finally, the Russians are hungry for materials on the American space program. My sense

is that there is a huge audience for Russian translations of major American works on space

history (books by Walter McDougall, Michael Neufeld, Charles Murray and Catherine

Cox, Howard McCurdy, and James Hansen come to mind). My own paper on Korolev’s

legacy in the United States was met with great interest, partly because few Russians have

any sense of how Americans perceive Russian space achievements such as Sputnik and

Gagarin’s historic first flight.

Overall, the trip underscored one thing above all: Russians are extremely proud of their

space achievements. There is a strong undercurrent of nationalism in the creation and

maintenance of the memory of their space programs, but this is not so different from most

other countries that have space programs. But what gives Russian space historiography its

unique flavor is the active engagement of veterans in the history field. Once their careers

are over, they do not fade into obscurity but instead become proponents for the presentday space program. There are both advantages and disadvantages in having veterans

actively engaged in writing history, but the practice does underscore the degree to which

memorialization has become an essential function of the current Russian space program.

For them, truly, their future (e.g., bases on the Moon) exists in simultaneity with their past

(e.g., Sputnik, Gagarin). It has become almost impossible to separate them.
NASA History DIVISION

6

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND

THE CENTERS

Headquarters

Nadine Andreassen continued planning for the 2007 NASA History Program Review at

Dryden Flight Research Center. She also worked on logistics for the upcoming conference

on the 50th anniversary of the Space Age, to be held in Washington, DC, 22–23 October

2007, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary meeting of the Society for the History of

Technology (SHOT).

Glen Asner gave a presentation at the Hagley Museum and Library’s March 2007 conference on “Technological Innovation and the Cold War.” His talk, titled “Military

Breakthrough, Commercial Bust,” focused on the difficulties Government contractors

faced in their attempts to commercialize thermoelectric technologies in the late 1950s.

NASA Headquarters Office of External Relations senior management has eliminated

Glen’s position. Glen will continue to work at NASA in another capacity, but he will no

longer be able to discuss matters that relate to the functions or activities of the NASA

History Division. He bids a fond farewell to all NASA History points of contact at the

Field Centers and other friends who made his time in the NASA History Division a joy.

Colin Fries continued the ongoing task of scanning and adding our Current News collection to the database. Colin recently completed work on news articles from 1997 through

2000. Along with John Hargenrader, Colin continued to process a large, 40-cubic-foot collection of NACA material. Colin has been processing the subject files. John and Colin also

shared reference duties, such as answering inquiries sent to the public e-mail account on

the History Division Web site and assisting walk-in researchers. In March, they factchecked photo captions for a forthcoming NASA 50th anniversary publication. 

Steve Garber is looking forward to the upcoming publication of several books and monographs. He is continuing his work with Glen on the history of the Decadal Planning Team

and the development of the Vision for Space Exploration. He extends a special thanks to

Jennifer Ross-Nazzal in Houston for giving a talk on the NASA History Program at

Foundations of Aerospace classes run by NASA’s Academy for Program, Project, and

Engineering Leadership (APPEL). 

John Hargenrader continued the ongoing task of scanning and adding our Current News

collection to the database. John scanned NASA Current News for 1991 and completed digitizing news stories from 1996. Along with Colin Fries, John continued to process a large,

40-cubic-foot collection of NACA material. John has been integrating biographical files

from the NACA collection into the main biographical files to avoid redundancies and has

been updating database records accordingly. John and Colin also shared reference duties,

such as answering inquiries sent to the public e-mail account on the History Division Web

site and assisting walk-in researchers. In March, they fact-checked photo captions for a

forthcoming NASA 50th anniversary publication. John is nearing completion of the
7

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

continued on next page

preservation photocopying of all the old newspaper clippings in the Mercury, Gemini, and

Apollo files and is giving the human spaceflight files one final check to find items in need

of preservation. 

Jane Odom and Norm Weinberg reviewed for declassification over 150 cubic feet of

Office of External Relations materials in response to Presidential Executive Order 12958.

Their review concluded in December. Jane and Norm will continue to serve as declassification authorities (DCAs) for the Office of External Relations. Jane continues to review

new materials for acquisition and answer reference requests. She appraises collections for

historical value. Two collections she worked on recently include chronological correspondence files and reports from former Deputy Administrator Fred Gregory and the Shuttle

Mir files. Additionally, she approved the transfer, per the records schedules, of 122 cubic

feet of older, permanent records from the Family Records Centre (FRC) to the National

Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC)

Curtis Peebles completed work on his X-43 monograph, which includes a set of DVDs

with video footage of the three launches and control room activity, as well as a CD of documents associated with the program. The manuscript is currently under review for export

control requirements. He has finished editing the second edition of The Spoken Word,

which focuses on oral histories from Dryden (the Flight Research Center) in the 1960s.

Besides being the chief resource for information inquiries, Peter Merlin has been hard at

work on his SR-71 manuscript, a book that will include new material from the plane’s

manufacturer as well as more detailed accounts of its work under NASA’s umbrella. Both

his and Curtis’s books are intended as college-level aerospace engineering textbooks, and

we are hoping the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) serves as

the hosting publisher. Pete led off a new monthly series hosted by NASA’s Exploration

Gallery in Palmdale, California, where he spoke on the X-15. The event was well attended,

including representation by a television station news crew and one of the surviving pilots

of the experimental aircraft.

Christian Gelzer has found time for some work on the truck fairing monograph he has had

on the table for a while. He also wrote and submitted an article for publication in the

International Test Engineers Association journal on the truck fairing research done at

Dryden in the 1970s. He has been preparing for the upcoming NASA history conference,

as the Center is hosting the event this year. He also made a presentation at the Exploration

Gallery as part of the monthly series, in which he talked about the Lunar Landing Research

Vehicle (LLRV). He has also finished editing Bill Dana’s monograph on the X-38, a manuscript that will be published as the second in a series of Dryden Historical Studies.

The Center has released a second edition of Flights of Discovery: 60 Years of Flight

Research at the Dryden Flight Research Center, which various members of the history

office helped edit or expand.
NASA History DIVISION

8

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued)

Glenn Research Center (GRC)

The archive at Glenn Research Center has had a steady stream of interesting researchers

through its doors in recent months. We feel very fortunate to have been a part of their

research, as much of it will result in larger projects that will be beneficial to the Agency

as a whole and serve as a valuable resource to future researchers. 

Dr. Larry Lee of the National Park Service visited 26 February through 2 March to do

research for the new edition of The Wind Tunnels of NASA. Dr. Lee toured a number of

wind tunnels and historic research facilities, interviewed current and retired wind tunnel

employees, and viewed textual and photographic records from both our archival collection

and the holdings of our records management program.

Brett Anderson of the University of Toledo and GRC researcher Larry Viterna have been

doing extensive historical research on the wind turbine program of the 1970s. This

research is aiding current work on renewable energy research in northern Ohio.

Also making extensive use of our archival and records management holding are retirees

Joe Nieberding and Larry Ross. Nieberding and Ross worked in the Launch Vehicles

Division on the Centaur Program and are currently giving classes on lessons learned from

successful and failed Centaur launches managed by GRC from the early 1960s through the

mid-1990s to current Glenn Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and Crew Launch Vehicle

(CLV) program managers. As a result of this project, several films of failed Centaur

launches have been digitized.

Archivist Bob Arrighi is working on the final Historic American Buildings Survey and the

Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) document for the historic Altitude

Wind Tunnel (AWT) and Space Power Chamber (SPC). This has involved a good deal of

time working with the original facility blueprints in Building 28 and old photographs. The

report consists of several sections, including historical information on the AWT, architectural information on the AWT, historical information on the SPC, architectural

information on the SPC, and a description of the support buildings. Each includes an

accompanying image section with recent and historical photographs. Approximately 200

photographs have been gathered, formatted, and captioned for the report. The final report

will also include detailed drawings of the facilities.

Archivist Nora Blackman will be working with the Glenn Education Office to develop

another in our series of portable exhibits. This exhibit will highlight Glenn’s involvement

in early aviation history in Cleveland, Ohio, especially the National Air Races.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) 

This September marks the 30th anniversary of the launch of the still-operating Voyager

missions to Jupiter and Saturn (and, as it turned out, Uranus, Neptune, and points further

out as well). JPL will be celebrating with a public lecture and media events.

Last October was JPL’s 70th anniversary. We held a week-long series of lunchtime events

at the Lab, including historical lectures by Blaine Baggett and Erik Conway, the premiere

of a documentary on George Ellery Hale, and showings of some historic film footage. We
9

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

continued on next page

filled the Von Karman auditorium for each event, and they seemed to have been well

received. We currently have planned a similar set of events for the 50th anniversary of the

Explorer 1 launch in January 2008.

Also in October, JPL rolled out a new history Web site. It traces the Lab’s evolution and

its missions from its Army days to the 1990s. It is located at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

jplhistory/.

In late February, Peter Westwick gave a lunchtime lecture here, based on his new history of JPL, Into the Black. His book is the result of a Caltech-funded contract begun

several years before Erik Conway’s arrival. It is an excellent survey of the last 40

years here at JPL. He has graciously donated all of his oral histories to us, and the JPL

Archives has begun the process of audit checking and obtaining releases from the

individual interviewees.

On the Mars robotics history front, Erik Conway’s major effort now is on the Mars

Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, both lost in 1999. Unlike Mars Pathfinder,

which was built “in house” at JPL, the Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander were built

under systems contracts for us. The documentary record for these missions is relatively

poor and significant portions of it are proprietary, and the JPL project team was tiny,

consisting of only about six individuals. These two projects will be a bit more challenging to research, as they were the epitome of a “faster, better, cheaper” mentality in terms

of reduced documentation. 

Erik Conway’s article “Drowning in Data: Satellite Oceanography and Information

Overload in the Earth Sciences” was published in Historical Studies in the Physical and

Biological Sciences, vol. 37, no. 1, 2006. Erik Conway’s co-written article (with Mirella

Flores), “Deep Space 1: A Revolution in Space Exploration,” has been accepted by Quest. 

The JPL Archives has begun an effort to clarify the status of its oral history collection.

Many of the oral histories were done before the advent of a legal requirement for signed

releases, and we are attempting to contact families and survivors to gain release authority. 

A new part-time library science student, Charlene Gould, has joined the staff to assist in

processing. Processing is almost completed on the Mars Pathfinder collection. Work continues on some recently rediscovered Mars Observer materials. 

There is some concern at the senior management level that project records are not being

maintained and stored in ways that provide acceptable postproject access to the engineering organizations at the Lab. JPL has formed a new Lab-wide group to develop and

implement policies to improve project records management, and this effort provides an

opportunity to improve historical access as well.

Finally, Johns Hopkins University Press has accepted Erik Conway’s History of

Atmospheric Science at NASA for publication. The final manuscript should go back to the

press in April.
NASA HISTORY DIVISION

10

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued)

Johnson Space Center (JSC)

The Johnson Space Center History Office presented a panel discussion at the 2007 annual

meeting of the National Council on Public History held 12–15 April 2007, in Santa Fe,

New Mexico. The session titled “The Challenges Facing a Twenty-First Century Oral

History Project” was presented in three segments. Rebecca Wright shared information on

“Using Oral History as a Knowledge Management Tool”; Sandra Johnson talked about

“Media and Digital Challenges: 2,200 Recordings and Counting”; and Dr. Jennifer RossNazzal, who chaired the panel, spoke on “Visions Explored: Sustainability and Increased

Interest in NASA History.” This outreach effort allowed the team from JSC to provide

additional information about the Center and the Agency to the more than 400 public historians who attended the conference.

The history team is currently conducting interviews for the “NASA at 50” oral history project, sponsored by the NASA Headquarters History Division. This project involves the

Agency’s top managers and captures (on audiotape) their reflections on the state of NASA as

it approaches its 50th anniversary. The team has gathered information from more than half of

the identified participants and will continue the project for the remainder of this fiscal year. 

Langley Research Center (LaRC)

Langley Research Center is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Traditionally, the

date is marked as 28 June 1917, when Langley Field, Virginia, was authorized as a NACA

experimental station and J. G. White Engineering Corporation of New York was contracted

to build the first NACA laboratory. A fictionalized account of the first stages of construction of Langley Field appears in Look Homeward Angel, by Thomas Wolfe. The airfield,

then shared with the Army Air Corp, has been recognized as the oldest continuously used

airport in Virginia. Two Virginia Historical Roadside Markers at the Virginia Air and

Space Center commemorate the airfield. One marker notes the Army Air Corp and Air

Force history highlights at Langley Field and the other notes NACA and NASA highlights.

Plans are under way for a public celebration of the Center’s anniversary later this year.

Freelance author Mark Chambers’s book Flight Research at NASA Langley Research

Center is going to press in April. Published by Arcadia Press, the book of over 200 historic images of Langley flight research is part of the press’s Images of Aviation series.

A virtual tour of the Langley 7-by-10-Foot High Speed Tunnel is being constructed and

will be posted to the Langley Web site. Oral histories of researchers who worked in the

tunnel have been recorded, and clips from these histories will appear on the Web site. The

hour-long version of each oral history will be stored in the Langley archives. Used for

early transonic speed research, the 7-by-10-Foot Tunnel was closed in 1994. The virtual

tour will offer the public an opportunity to learn about wind tunnel research, the history

of the 7-by-10, and interior and exterior photographs of the tunnel.

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)

New sources and new opportunities to learn about the history of the Marshall Space Flight

Center continue to expand in 2007.
11

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

continued on next page

One recent project that the history office at Marshall helped complete was a brief history

of NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Marshall history

office has also recently posted a copy of the now famous 1961 letter Wernher von Braun

sent in response to a request from Vice President Lyndon Johnson. The letter is on the

Marshall history Web site. In addition, author and aerospace historian Anthony Young has

recently published a new history of the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

The history and other information about Michoud is located at http://www.nasa.gov/

centers/marshall/michoud/index.html. NASA’s prime contractor for the External Tank,

Lockheed Martin Corp., has manufactured and assembled the Shuttle tank at Michoud for

nearly three decades. The capability that enables it to host the tank work also positions

Michoud to provide other vital support to the Vision for Space Exploration to extend a human

presence throughout the solar system. Michoud’s space heritage dates back to the Apollo program when it was used to build the first stages of the Saturn I and V launch vehicles. The

facility, on 832 acres of land, includes a port with deep-water access—a capability providing

for transportation of large space systems and hardware. The original tract of land was part of

a 34,500-acre French royal land grant to local merchant Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent in

1763. Later, the land was acquired by French transplant Antoine Michoud, who operated a

sugar cane plantation and refinery on the site until his death in 1863. In 1940, the U.S.

Government purchased the land as a site for war-related construction. Three years later, the

world’s largest production building at the time, covering 43 acres under one roof, was completed. The plant was used during World War II to build cargo planes and other aircraft, and

again during the Korean War to produce tank engines. The Michoud facility was acquired by

NASA in 1961, after its availability was brought to the Agency’s attention by Wernher von

Braun, the Marshall Center’s first director in 1960. Currently, Michoud is in a period of transition from producing Space Shuttle External Tanks to supporting Constellation program

work such as the Crew Exploration Vehicle and the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles.

The 29 April 1961 letter from von Braun to Johnson is often cited by Apollo-era historians.

Von Braun calls the letter an attempt to answer some of the questions about our national

space program raised by the President “in his memorandum to you dated April 20, 1961.”

Von Braun responds by telling the Vice President that the United States does not have a

good chance of beating the Soviets to a manned laboratory in space. However, he says the

United States has “a sporting chance” of beating the Soviets to a soft-landing of a

radio transmitter station on the moon” and “a sporting chance” of sending a 

three-man crew around the Moon ahead of the Soviets. Finally, he tells Johnson the United

States has an “excellent chance” of beating the Soviets to the first landing of a crew on the

Moon. The letter and memos associated with it are located at http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/

vonbraun/vp_ljohnson.pdf online.

Finally, Anthony Young’s new book is entitled Lunar and Planetary Rovers, the Wheels of

Apollo and the Quest for Mars. Young began the book with the goal of writing about the

design, development, testing, and building of the Lunar Roving Vehicle and the astronauts’

experience with the vehicle on the Moon. “During peer reviews of the book proposal, it was

suggested that I tie in the tremendous successes of the Martian rovers Sojourner, Spirit and

Opportunity,” Young says in his preface. A large portion of the manuscript related to the

Lunar Roving Vehicle is based on interviews, photographs, and other documentation that

Young collected while doing research at Marshall and in Huntsville, Alabama. 
NASA History DIVISION

12

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued)

Stennis Space Center (SSC)

NASA Stennis Space Center has been selected as a 2007 Historic Aerospace Site by the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Historic Sites Committee. A

dedication ceremony is planned for later this year.

The Center was initially established in the 1960s as a national testing center to flightcertify all first and second stages of the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo manned lunar

landing program. 

Construction of the test site in Mississippi began in 1963. The land was chosen because

of its water access, which was essential for transporting large rocket stages between the

manufacturing plant at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space

Center, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Kennedy Space Center. It also provided the

13,500-acre test facility with a sound buffer of close to 125,000 acres, which remains a

national asset.

Three test stands, A-1, A-2, and the dual B-1/B-2, were built in the early 1960s to test the

first and second stages of the Apollo Saturn V rocket that successfully transported

Americans to the Moon.

The Center conducted its first static test-firing 23 April 1966 on the A-2 Test Stand.

The S-II-T tested was a cluster of five J-2 engines, the second stage of the Saturn V

Moon rocket.

A total of 45 Saturn V stage tests were conducted at Stennis Space Center. Ten Apollo

missions were successfully launched by the engines tested at Stennis Space Center.

Stennis Space Center’s primary mission of testing the first and second stages of the Saturn

V Moon rocket for the Apollo program continued until the last Saturn V test at Stennis

Space Center on 30 October 1970. Following the Apollo program, the Center’s test stands

were converted from the Apollo/Saturn V configuration to accommodate the testing of the

Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs). On 19 May 1975, the first test firing of an SSME

took place. Since then, all of the Space Shuttle’s Main Engines have been tested and

proven flight-worthy at Stennis Space Center. On 21 January 2004, a milestone in human

spaceflight was achieved when the one-millionth second of successful test and flight operations of an SSME took place on the A-2 Test Stand at SSC.

In April 2006, NASA celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first rocket engine test at

Stennis Space Center and the 25th anniversary of STS-1, the first Shuttle flight.

On 9 November 2006, Stennis Space Center held a ceremony marking the turnover of the

A-1 Test Stand from the Space Shuttle program to the Constellation program, which is

developing the next generation of spacecraft. Under the direction of NASA’s Constellation

program, the A-1 test stand begins a new chapter in its operational history. It is being temporarily decommissioned for conversion to test the J-2X engine. That engine will power

the upper stage of NASA’s new crew launch vehicle, Ares I, and the Earth departure stage

of the new cargo launch vehicle, Ares V. 
13

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

continued on next page

The site is also listed on the National Register of Historic Landmarks, so designated on 3

October 1985. In the National Register, the site is referred to as the “Rocket Propulsion

Test Complex,” Bay St. Louis, Mississippi; National Register Number 85002805.

PROFILES OF NASA’S HISTORIC RESOURCES

While NASA’s historic accomplishments in aeronautical research, science, and space

exploration are well documented, less is known about the buildings and structures that

house and enable these accomplishments. This series will provide a brief review of the real

property assets that NASA owns and operates across the country, beginning with the

resources considered historically significant. Of the many assets that are listed or eligible

for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, 20 are National Historic

Landmarks (NHLs). 

Test Complex A and B, Stennis Space Center, Mississippi:

An Evolution of Space Exploration Support

The Rocket Propulsion Test Complex consists of three static test stands operated at

NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC), in the southwest corner of Mississippi, approximately 50 miles northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana. The stands

were built in 1965 by Sverdrup & Parcel & Associates, Inc., to

test and human-rate all Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo program. Originally part of the National Space Technology

Laboratories, in 1988, the facility was renamed Stennis Space

Center in honor of the late Mississippi Senator John C. Stennis.

The complex contains two single-position test stands designated

as Test Stand A-1 (Building Number 4120) and Test Stand A-2

(Building Number 4122), as well as B-1/B-2 Test Complex. 
NASA HISTORY DIVISION

14

Profiles of NASA’s Historic Resources (continued)

The A-1 and A-2 stands are single-position, vertical firing stands capable of static firing a

test article up to 33 feet in diameter with a maximum dynamic load of 1.1 million pounds

vertical (up), 1.7 million pounds vertical (rebound), and 0.7 million pounds horizontal. The

A-2 Test Stand is equipped with an altitude diffuser, which

is utilized to simulate altitude conditions during engine testing. Though the B-1/B-2 Test Complex is a single structure,

it consists of two test stands with separate building numbers

(4210 and 4220). Standing at over 400 feet tall, this enormous structure rests on 1,600 steel pilings, each 98 feet

long. During test firings, the S-IC stage of the Saturn V was

secured by four hold-down arms anchored to a slab of concrete 39 feet thick. 

In 1984, the Rocket Propulsion

Test Complex, consisting of the

three structures (and four test

stands), was designated as a

National Historic Landmark. The complex was determined to be

a resource that was “essential to accomplish the goal of landing

a man on the moon” under the Man-In-Space Theme Study conducted by the National Park Service (NPS). The complex

consists of over 40 additional supporting assets, including test

control centers, observation bunkers, pump houses, storage

tanks for liquid fuels, as well as associated ground service

equipment necessary to control and fire the engines or rocket

stages being tested. Though critical to the operation of the

stands, only the physical boundaries of the three test structures

constitute the actual NHL. The

NHL resides in a location that has over 118,000 acres of

restrictive easement to provide an acoustic buffer zone

during testing. Construction is prohibited within this

easement, which is subject to intense sound pressure levels and noise created by engine firings. Though public

access to this NHL is restricted due to

safety and security, the buffer zone

helps to preserve SSC as an irreplaceable national rocket test facility. 

The stands were modified to support

the development testing and flight

certification of rocket propulsion systems for the Space Shuttle. SSC

tested all Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) that were required to

pass a series of tests before they were shipped to Kennedy Space

Center, Florida, for installation onto an orbiter. The A-1 Test Stand at

NASA’s Stennis Space Center marked an historic moment on 17

August 2006, as the 1,000th test of an SSME was conducted. These

high-performance engines provide most of the total impulse needed
during the Shuttle’s 8.5-minute-flight into orbit. Though SSME’s

will continue to serve Space Shuttle missions until 2010, this

NHL was used to conduct the final SSME test firing on 29

September 2006.

On 9 November 2006, a new chapter opened in the propulsion testing program of the SSC when the A-1 Test Stand was officially

handed over to NASA’s new Constellation program. NASA is planning to refurbish the test stand to test the J-2X engine that will power

the upper-stage of the proposed new crew launch vehicle, Ares I, and

the Earth departure stage of the new cargo launch vehicle, Ares V.

The B-1/B-2 complex may also support the Constellation program. 

According to Marco Giardino, Ph.D., SSC Historic Preservation

Officer, “The A1 propulsion test stand is a prime example of how

NASA manages its historic facilities without impeding the progress of new operational

activities.” Before the transfer to the facility to the new program, Dr. Giardino consulted

with the Mississippi State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) about modifications that

would be needed in order for the stand to meet the requirements of the Constellation program without sacrificing the A-1’s unique attributes that

resulted in its original designation as a National Historic

Landmark. Reuse of historic resources is a tenant of the

2005 Executive Order, Preserve America.

Harry Butowsky, Ph.D., is the NPS historian who conducted the Man-in-Space thematic study that led to the

NHL designation of the SSC test complex. According to

Dr. Butowsky, “. . . preservation of any NHL is the priority

and reusing an NHL helps to preserve an NHL. In the case

of the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis, I understand modifications

were made to the test stand to enable it to support the Space

Shuttle Program. I understand that NASA plans to use the

test stand to support the replacement space program,

Constellation. Although it will have to be modified again, I am pleased to see this landmark continue to play a key role in the development and implementation of future space

exploration programs.”

The Rocket Propulsion Test Complex was selected as one of the 2007 Historic Aerospace

Sites by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Historic

Sites Committee. 

By Tina Borghild Norwood, NASA Federal Preservation Officer (tnorwood@hq.nasa.gov)

and Dr. Marco Giardino, SSC Historic Preservation Officer (marco.j.giardino@nasa.gov) 

15

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007
NASA HISTORY DIVISION

16

REMEMBERING THE SPACE AGE

Conference on the 50th Anniversary of the Space Age

Sponsored by the NASA and NASM Divisions of

Space History

22–23 October 2007

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Auditorium

Washington, DC

Program

DAY 1 NATIONAL AND GLOBAL DIMENSIONS OF THE SPACE AGE

Has the Space Age fostered a new global identity, or has it reinforced distinct national

identities? How does space history connect with national histories and with the histories

of transnational or global phenomena such as the Cold War or the rise of global markets

or global satellite communications? 

8:30 a.m. Opening Remarks: Steven J. Dick (NASA) and Roger D. Launius

(NASM)

9:00 a.m. Keynote: John Robert McNeill (Georgetown University)

9:30–11:30 a.m. Session 1: Invited Papers and Commentary

Steven J. Dick, Chair

30 min. Asif Siddiqi (Fordham University)—Globalization and Nationalism

30 min. John Krige (Georgia Institute of Technology)—Building National

Capability Through Regional and International Collaboration: The 

European Experience

30 min. Commentator: John Logsdon (George Washington University)

30 min. Panel/Q&A: Steven J. Dick, Moderator

1:00–3:00 p.m. Session 2: Contributed Papers

Michael Neufeld (NASM)—Creating a Memory of the German

Rocket Program for the Cold War

Monique Laney (University of Kansas)—Operation Paperclip in

Huntsville, Alabama

Dwayne Day (Space Studies Board/National Research Council)—

The Central Intelligence Agency and Freedom of Space

Andrew Butrica—The “Right” Stuff: The Impact of the Reagan 

Revolution and the Conservative Space Agenda on the U.S.

Space Program

James Hansen (Auburn University)—China’s Human Spaceflight 

Program and Chinese National Identity

Jonathan Coopersmith (Texas A&M University)—The Railroad

and the Space Program: A View from the 21st Century

3:30–5:00 p.m. Roundtable 
17

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

continued on next page

DAY 2 REMEMBRANCE AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SPACE AGE

How is the historical record of the Space Age collected, preserved, displayed, and interpreted around the world, especially in the United States, Russia, the European Union,

Canada, and China? What purpose do space museums serve and what message do they

convey? How accessible are space archives? How do the “official” versions of events

square with the document trail and with eyewitness accounts? How is the Space Age

represented in the arts, in the media, in the movies, in propaganda discourse, etc.?

9:00 a.m. Keynote: Emily S. Rosenberg—Far Out: The Space Age in 

American Culture 

9:30–11:30 a.m. Session 1: Invited Papers and Commentary

Roger D. Launius, Chair

30 min. Constance Penley (University of California at Santa Barbara)— 

Film, Arts, and the Media

30 min. Martin Collins (NASM)—A Second Nature Rising: Spaceflight

in a Time of Representation

30 min. Commentator: Slava Gerovitch (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

30 min. Panel/Q&A: Roger D. Launius, Moderator

1:00–3:00 p.m. Session 2: Contributed Papers

Amy Nelson (Virginia Tech)—Lost in Space: Global Echoes of 

Sputnik 2

Cathy Lewis (NASM)—Cosmonaut Nostalgia in Film

James Oberg—Cosmonauts and Cosmo-NOTS: Image Falsification in

the Soviet Manned Space Program

Michael Soluri—Discovering the Iconic in Space Exploration

Photography

Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles (Yale University)—Space Art and

Art in Space

Robert Kennedy—Robert Heinlein’s Influence on Spaceflight

3:30–4:30 p.m. Roundtable: Linda Billings, Moderator

4:30–5:00 p.m. Closing Keynote: Roger D. Launius 

For more information, see http://history.nasa.gov.

OTHER HISTORY NEWS

National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Division of

Space History (DSH)

In mid-January 2007, Roger Launius rotated out of the Chair of DSH after four years of

energetic service and Michael Neufeld took over. Neufeld’s book, Von Braun: Dreamer of

Space, Engineer of War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf), will be published in September, just

in time for the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. It will be about 640 pages long and represents

the culmination of 20 years of research.
Robert Smith, University of Alberta, has arrived as the new Charles A. Lindbergh Chair.

He is exploring the history of the Hubble Space Telescope since its launch in 1990, as well

as the development of its planned successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. He will

remain in Washington, DC, until August.

Frank Winter has published “The Birth and Early Rise of ‘Astronautics’: The REP-Hirsch

Astronautical Prize, 1928–1940” in Quest 14, no. 1 (January 2007): 35–43. This is the

first comprehensive and scholarly article on the REP-Hirsch Prize of 1928–1940, the

world’s first award in astronautics that also gave birth to the term “astronautics.”

Roger Launius was the banquet speaker for the Science and Technology Applications

International Forum (STAIF) 2007 on 13 February 2007, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His

topic was “Exploration through the Centuries.” Additionally, he presented a paper entitled

“Robots and Humans in Spaceflight: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel,”

based on his forthcoming book coauthored with Howard McCurdy. Roger also presented in

a session at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual

meeting in San Francisco, California, on 15 February 2007. His paper was entitled “Key

Turning Points in the History of the Space Age.” Valerie Neal, also of DSH, was the commentator for the session. In addition, Roger has published “Indispensable Books on the

History of the Space Shuttle,” Aerospace America (February 2007): B11. Roger also gave a

special lecture for educators on Saturday, 3 March 2007, concerning the history of spaceflight at the Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana, at the launch of a traveling exhibit,

“Space: A Journey to Our Future.” He is the author of the companion book to the exhibit.

Finally, Roger Launius and Dennis R. Jenkins, NASM Verville Fellow in 2005–2006, have

published an article, “Is It Finally Time for Space Tourism?” in Astropolitics: The

International Journal of Space Politics and Policy 4 (winter 2006): 253–280. 

Both Roger Launius and Margaret Weitekamp participated in a session at the American

Historical Association (AHA) in Atlanta, Georgia, on 4–7 January 2007. The session,

“From Alien Nations to Global Community: Political, Cultural, and Environmental

Approaches to Nationalism in Space History,” explored the transition from nationalism to

internationalism during the Apollo era from three different subdisciplines: political history, cultural history, and environmental history. Roger gave the paper, “‘You Really Want

To Impress Us! Bring Back Our Flag!’ Nationalism, Jingoism, and Project Apollo as a

Surrogate for War,” and Margaret presented “The American Space Craze: Looking at

Nationalism through Space Memorabilia.” In addition, Neil M. Maher, Rutgers University

and former NASM Verville Fellow, offered “‘Think Globally, Act Locally’: How NASA

Technology Internationalized the Space Race and the Environmental Movement.” Roger

also organized and chaired a session at the annual meeting of the Society for History in

the Federal Government (SHFG) on 8 March at Archives II, College Park, Maryland. The

session was entitled “Presenting Federal History to a Broad Public” and included participants from the Smithsonian: Dik Daso (NASM Aeronautics), Jennifer Levasseur (DSH),

and Harry Rubenstein (National Museum of American History), as well as Ann Hitchcock

from the National Park Service.

Martin Collins provided an invited comment on a session of papers at “Technological

Innovation and the Cold War,” a conference at the Hagley Museum and Library on 9

March. The conference was organized by Phil Scranton and John Krige, two former holdNASA HISTORY DIVISION

18

Other History News (continued)
19

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

continued on next page

ers of NASM’s Lindbergh Chair, and aimed to provide an assessment of past and current

research on this crucial topic in U.S. and international history.

Every year, DSH selects a portion of the objects in the NASM collections database to

update for public access. The 2006 project included the 1,174 artifacts on public display

already marked “curator approved” by January 2006. Of this allotment, 1,018 of them

were fully updated and approved for inclusion in e-Museum with the “public access”

check. They are now available for viewing by the public through the NASM Web site

http://www.nasm.si.edu/. By completing 87 percent of these (the goal for 2006 was 75 percent), DSH now has nearly 1,900 artifacts available for public viewing through the NASM

Web site, and that number represents almost 15 percent of the entire space history collection. The department will continue this project in 2007 by updating all other DSH objects

on display both at NASM and Udvar-Hazy Center (UHC), which consists of another

approximately 1,200 artifacts.

A new video display at NASM shows image data from the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites. The Landsat satellites collect images of Earth’s land surface. Data from these

satellites are received at a ground station in South Dakota and then transferred over the

Internet to the museum display. Images are displayed in real time during satellite passes

over North America. Recently recorded data are displayed between passes. This project

grew out of collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey.

CONTRACTS

Contract Awarded

Congratulations to the Georgia Institute of Technology, which was recently awarded a contract to research and write a book-length manuscript on the history of NASA’s

international relations efforts. Dr. John Krige will lead a small team that will conduct this

research and writing. The book manuscript will focus on the time period since NASA’s

inception in 1958, but will also provide background to place NASA’s work in the international arena in the context of previous scientific endeavors such as the International

Geophysical Year (IGY). 

Upcoming Contracts

The NASA History Division is pleased to announce the release of a solicitation for a

book-length historical manuscript about NASA’s international Cassini-Huygens mission.

The solicitation is online at http://procurement.nasa.gov/cgi-in/eps/synopsis.cgi?acqid

=123752. The deadline for submissions is 22 May 2007. 

The goal of this research project is to produce a roughly 400-page manuscript history

on the origins, development, and operations of the Cassini-Huygens mission. The book

shall focus on the time period from mission advanced studies (c. 1986) to the present

day and shall consider the mission in the context of space science and in relation to past

missions to the outer planets. The author shall document the views of scientists, engineers, policy-makers, enthusiasts, and the general public regarding the mission and
NASA HISTORY DIVISION

20

Contracts (continued)

various ancillary issues, including the use of plutonium in the spacecraft’s radioisotope

thermoelectric generators and relations with international partners. 

Interested parties should note that the procedures for submitting proposals have

changed slightly from previous NASA History solicitations so proposers should be

sure to read the instructions carefully. Any questions about this solicitation should be

addressed to Alpana Jenne, as specified in the online announcement. 

PUBLICATIONS

New NASA History Publication

Mission to Jupiter: A History of the Galileo Project (NASA SP-2007-4231), by Michael

Meltzer. This informative manuscript discusses the Galileo spacecraft project from its inception

to its conclusion. Hard copies are available for purchase from NASA’s Center for Aerospace

Information ($25 domestically and $50 internationally) from http://www.sti.nasa.gov. It is also

available electronically at http://history.nasa.gov/sp4231.pdf. 

Forthcoming Publications

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. 

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. 

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. 

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 usage approximately 30 years ago, as well as extensive etymological information. 

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. 

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: the F-18 High Alpha

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

Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE). This monograph is scheduled for publication in 2007.
21

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

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NEW ONLINE RESOURCES

NASA History Web Sites

We Freeze to Please: A History of NASA’s Icing Research Tunnel and the Quest for Safety

(NASA SP-2002-4226), by William M. Leary, is now available online at http://history.

nasa.gov/sp4226.pdf. 

The lengthy appendices to the Apollo 204 Review Board Report are now available online at

http://history.nasa.gov/Apollo204/content.html.

Information regarding the 45th anniversary of the Mercury Friendship 7 mission (in

which John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth) is available online at

http://history.nasa.gov/friendship7/. 

Other New Electronic Resources

The Aviation Safety and Security Archives (ASASA) of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical

University (ERAU) has launched its new “digital library” of both born-digital and

scanned reports, photographs, correspondence, investigative files, and other materials

in its physical facility on the Prescott, Arizona, campus. The “library” of digital materials may be reached by accessing the library link at ERAU, http://library.pr.erau.edu/,

scrolling over the “Archives” link under the eagle, and choosing the “Archives Home.”

This leads to a brand-new set of pages for ASASA just created by the ERAU Prescott

Library’s electronic services librarian, Joanne Evanoff, and the “digital library” link in

the frame on the left. The database for the digital library is ArchivalWare, a PTFS product (http://www.ptfs.com) populated by ASASA staff, including student employees, and

with quality checks and uploading done by full-time staff members Denise Vickers

(research specialist) and Arel Lucas (archivist). Full text of most documents is available, but descriptions of documents not scanned are also being provided. It is hoped

that a scan-on-demand service being given a trial will help guide the staff’s selection

of documents to be digitized. For further information, contact Denise Vickers at

prasasa@erau.edu or call 928-777-3949.

UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS

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/.

27–31 May 2007, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) will be holding its

210th meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. See the AAS Web site, http://www.aas.org, for

meeting updates. 

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.thebhc.org/

annmeet/general07.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/.

21–27 June 2007, the American Library Association annual conference will be held in

Washington, DC, at the Washington Convention Center and at several hotels within the

city. See http://www.ala.org/ala/eventsandconferencesb/annual/2007a/geninfo.htm for

details on the conference and related activities.

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.

29 August–2 September 2007, the Society of American Archivists will be holding its

71st annual meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. For additional conference information, visit http://www.archivists.org/conference/index.asp.

16–17 October 2007, the Air Force Historical Foundation will host a symposium entitled

“The Evolution of Air and Space Power: Know the Past, Shape the Future,” in

Arlington, Virginia. See http://www.afhistoricalfoundation.org for more information

on the symposium.

17–21 October 2007, the Society for the History of Technology will hold its annual

meeting at the Capital Hilton in Washington, DC. The theme of the conference will be

“SHOT@50: Looking Back, Looking Beyond.” For additional information on the

meeting, see http://www.historyoftechnology.org/annualmtg.html.

1–3 November 2007, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference will hold its fall

meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia, at the Williamsburg Marriott. For more information, see http://www.lib.umd.edu/MARAC/conferences/conferences.html.

3–6 January 2008, the American Historical Association will host its annual meeting at

the Marriott Wardman Park and Omni Shoreham hotels in Washington, DC. For more

information on the conference, see http://www.historians.org/.

NASA History Office

22

Upcoming Meetings and Events (continued)
23

Volume 24, NUMBER 2 May 2007

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

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

To receive News and Notes via e-mail, send a message to domo@hq.nasa.gov. Leave the

subject line blank. In the text portion, simply type “subscribe history” without the quotation marks. You will receive confirmation that your account has been added to the list for

the newsletter and for receiving other announcements. We also post the latest issue of this

newsletter at http://history.nasa.gov/nltrc.html on the Web.

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

History Division Home Page at http://history.nasa.gov on the Web. For information 

about doing research in the NASA History Division, 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

comments to Steve Garber, newsletter editor, at stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov.

NASA Headquarters History Division Staff Contact Information:

Steven J. Dick, Chief Historian steven.j.dick@nasa.gov

202-358-0383

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

202-358-0087

Colin Fries, Archivist cfries@mail.hq.nasa.gov

202-358-0388

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

202-358-0385

John Hargenrader, Archivist jhargenr@mail.hq.nasa.gov

202-358-0387

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

202-358-0386

Created and produced by the following:

Steve Garber, NASA Headquarters History Division

Dyana Weis and Lisa Jirousek, Editors, NASA Headquarters Printing and Design Office

Steve Bradley, Designer, NASA Headquarters Printing and Design Office

Jeffrey McLean, Printing Specialist, NASA Headquarters Printing and Design Office

Trenita Williams, Mail Coordinator, NASA Headquarters Mail Room

Carl Paul, Distribution, NASA Headquarters Printing and Design Office
National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

Office of External Relations

Washington, DC 20546

http://www.nasa.gov

http://history.nasa.gov