National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

IN THIS ISSUE:

1 From the Chief Historian

1 Space Jam: Interning with the

NASA History Program Office

5 News from Headquarters and

the Centers

19 Other Aerospace History News

21 John W. Kluge Center

21 Call for Entries: SHFG Thomas

Jefferson Prize

22 Upcoming Meetings

22 Image in NASA History

FROM

THE CHIEF 

HISTORIAN

Sometimes I wonder if people who 

pick up this newsletter 

get an inflated impression of the NASA 

History Program. The newsletter has a very 

professional look and feel, but a considerable 

part of what you see from the History Program 

is a labor of love from dedicated volunteers. 

Typically, most of the articles in this newsletter 

are written by NASA employees or contractors 

as an additional duty, or by unpaid enthusiasts 

who offer us their work for publication. Our 

lead story this quarter is a double-dip case of 

volunteer writing. We like to think that the 

rewards of being a NASA History intern are 

rich, but I do have to admit that they don’t 

involve money. So the article by summer 2015 

interns Melissa Joskow and Warren Dennis 

is by a pair of volunteers, about volunteering. 

Their enthusiasm, both in print and in person, 

has been infectious. I think you will see why 

we enjoyed their all-too-short time with us.

If you have an interesting story about National 

Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) 

or NASA history, we’d love to hear from you 

continued on next page

SPACE JAM: 

INTERNING WITH THE NASA 

HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE

By Melissa Joskow, with Warren Dennis

My fellow intern, Warren, and I come from pretty different backgrounds. He is a rising senior at Colgate University, where he studies history and 

astrophysics. I am a rising sophomore at Wesleyan University, and though I am 

undeclared, I am considering a double major in visual art and astronomy. Our 

common passion for space exploration fueled our search for internships, and 

we were both incredibly excited for this opportunity with the NASA History 

Program Office. However, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. This was my first 

internship, and I assumed that I would 

be spending my days getting coffee and 

making copies. However, this was decidedly not the case. Every day, we were 

doing extremely substantive and rewarding work, and both of us have thoroughly 

enjoyed our summer working for NASA.

This internship has given me a new 

appreciation for research and the importance of outreach, particularly in the 

realm of social media. On the NASA 

History social media pages, every tweet, 

Facebook post, and Flickr caption had to 

be extensively researched. Dates, times, 

and facts had to be checked by multiple 

reliable sources to make sure everything 

we posted was historically accurate. And 

continued on page 3
2

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

From the Chief Historian (continued)

too. Typical articles run in the 2,000-word range 

(about five pages), but we also feature shorter pieces 

and have occasionally run much longer articles by 

dividing them into parts. Why not share your interest with the rest of us who 

share your taste for aerospace 

history in all of its variety? 

I’d particularly invite those 

of you with an interest in 

Project Gemini to write for 

our end-of-year issue this 

year. For the last several years, 

we’ve devoted the December 

newsletter to a theme. Last 

year was, of course, the 

NACA centennial. The years 

2015 and 2016 mark the 50th 

anniversary of one of the most 

amazing, and least known, of 

our human spaceflight programs. Gemini was the critical bridge from the early days 

of Mercury to the success of 

the Apollo program. Marked 

by both triumph and tragedy, Project Gemini was 

executed at a furious pace—10 flights in less than two 

years—yet it is overshadowed by the Apollo program. 

For our annual theme issue this year, we’ll be focusing 

the spotlight on Gemini. So, if you have something 

interesting to say about this important program, we 

invite you to put fingers to keyboard and send us your 

best. Inputs are due in early October, so don’t delay.

FOR OUR ANNUAL THEME 

ISSUE THIS YEAR, WE’LL 

BE FOCUSING THE 

SPOTLIGHT ON GEMINI. SO, 

IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING 

INTERESTING TO SAY 

ABOUT THIS IMPORTANT 

PROGRAM, WE INVITE 

YOU TO PUT FINGERS TO 

KEYBOARD AND SEND US 

YOUR BEST.

Also often overlooked are the historians and archivists who work at the various NASA Centers. You 

get a glimpse of what they do in the “News from 

Headquarters and the Centers” section of this newsletter. I’m constantly inspired by their creativity, devotion, and hard work. Every year, the History Program 

Office (the handful of us here at Headquarters) presents the Annual NASA History Award to a civil servant or contractor who has excelled in the promotion 

of NASA history inside and outside the Agency. The 

winner gets a modest plaque and has his or her name 

inscribed on the master plaque that is hanging prominently in the Headquarters Reference Collection 

area for all of our visitors and 

guest researchers to see. We 

announced this year’s winner 

at our quarterly teleconference in July, and I have to 

say that making the choice 

among an impressive crop 

of nominees this year was 

not easy. In the end, we took 

the unusual step of naming 

cowinners. The awards this 

year went to Glenn Bugos of 

Ames Research Center and 

Mike Wright from Marshall 

Space Flight Center. Glenn’s 

productivity and energy are 

legendary, and, more amazingly, he does it all on a lessthan-full-time schedule. With 

all of the changes happening 

at Ames in recent years, the workload has been 

intense, but Glenn still manages to keep history alive 

at his Center. Mike has been the historian at Marshall 

since 1986. You wouldn’t know it from the strength 

of the history program there now, but the Marshall 

history effort was wiped out at the end of the Apollo 

program. Mike’s 30 years of rebuilding from scratch 

leave a tremendous legacy for all of us. Next time 

you have an opportunity to talk with Glenn or Mike, 

be sure to say congratulations—and thanks.

In the meantime, I wish you Godspeed,

William P. Barry

Chief Historian
3

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

Space Jam: Interning with the NASA History Program Office (continued)

even when everything was accurate, it could sometimes be difficult to convey complicated topics in 140 

characters or fewer. While that limit was sometimes 

frustrating, it forced us to be creative with our posts, 

and we discovered multiple tricks to keep things short 

while still intriguing our followers. Facebook posts 

and Flickr captions had a little more leeway, but even 

then, to keep our readers engaged and interested, we 

never wanted the caption to be too long. We quickly 

learned how to make our writing more concise and to 

the point, which not only helped us compose these 

social media posts, but also improved our writing 

skills in general.

Summer 2015 interns Melissa Joskow and Warren Dennis meet Apollo 11 

astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

The internship, however, was not only about tweets. 

We had a whole series of assignments for the summer, 

including managing updates on the Flickr page and 

adding to the “Defining Events” page on the NASA 

History Web site. Additionally, we wrote several articles for the NASA Web site about important anniversaries and figures in the history of space exploration, for 

example, John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, the National 

Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (NACA’s) first 

wind tunnel, and the 50 years that NASA has been 

exploring Mars. I had never published anything 

online before this internship, and while Warren had 

done some work with Web sites in the past, we were 

both ecstatic to have our work published on the NASA 

Web site. These features allowed for intensive research 

on particular events, and Warren in particular really 

loved enveloping himself in the material before he 

began to compose an article. The internship essentially 

became a crash course in the history of NASA and the 

NACA. Warren has been interested in the history of 

science for some time, and this internship reinforced 

his love of space and humanity’s exploration of it. As 

for me, I had a broad understanding of the history of 

the space program before I began this internship. Now, 

though I am still by no means an expert, I know much 

more about the Agency’s many accomplishments, and 

I intend to continue learning as much as possible 

about space history.

We were also fortunate enough to participate in several talks and events that furthered our knowledge 

of aeronautics and astronautics. One such event 

was the Innovations in Flight Day Social at the Air 

and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center, where we 

watched planes of all types fly into Dulles and taxi 

onto the Air and Space Museum’s runway. We learned 

an incredible amount about airplanes and aviation 

from the many experts who attended the social. Other 

events included attending presentations from NASA’s 

Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan and astronauts Reid 

Wiseman and Butch Wilmore. Warren even got to 

wear an extravehicular activity (EVA) suit to teach 

kids about space! But perhaps the most exciting event 

was working the New Horizons Pluto Flyby Event 

at Johns Hopkins’s Applied Physics Laboratory. We 

had spent a lot of time promoting the flyby on social 

media, and it was very exciting to actually play a small 

part in the mission’s success. Neither of us will ever 

forget the moment New Horizons confirmed that it 

had survived the flyby, and we look forward to seeing 

what future NASA History interns write about this 

historic achievement.

But maybe the best aspect of our internship was seeing the positive responses people had to our work on 

social media and at outreach events. We were always 
4

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

excited to see the public express their support for 

NASA and for its many historic accomplishments, 

and we were encouraged by the dialogues our work 

facilitated among the scientific and nonscientific communities, both in the comments on our posts and at 

the events that NASA hosted. NASA really is a ubiquitous agency that appeals to a wide range of people, and 

through tools like social media, we helped to foster a 

community that shared knowledge with one another 

and learned together as a result. Disseminating information about NASA’s history is essential to instilling 

a sense of purpose for the organization within the 

public; by informing people about the connection 

between our past accomplishments and our future 

goals, we give the current missions context and 

demonstrate the value of what NASA does.

Intern Warren Dennis wears a replica spacesuit as astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore describes its functions to students attending the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling Summer Camp on 24 June 

2015. (Photo credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

It was incredibly fulfilling to play a small role in promoting NASA’s history and facilitating discussions 

about the organization’s past and future. Interning for 

the NASA History Program Office was an amazing 

experience, and if you’re thinking about applying for 

this internship, we highly recommend it. Not only 

do you get to go to incredible events and meet fascinating people (we met eight astronauts, including 

Buzz Aldrin), but you also get the opportunity to 

completely immerse yourself in the history of NASA. 

It was an incredibly fun and rewarding internship, and 

both Warren and I cherished our time here. We could 

not have found a better way to spend our summer.
5

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

NEWS FROM HEADQUARTERS AND THE CENTERS

NASA HEADQUARTERS

Washington, DC

History Program Office

By Bill Barry

At the end of May (as the previous newsletter was going to print), the History Program held a program review at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi. It 

was wonderful to see most of the historians, archivists, 

and others who support the History Program all in one 

place for the first time since late 2011. A useful twoday meeting was made all the better by the wonderful 

southern hospitality of our hosts. While many people 

contributed to the success of the event, I want to give 

special thanks to Tessa Keating and Daphne Alford at 

Stennis, as well as our own Nadine Andreassen. They 

managed to make the smooth running of the event 

look easy and seamless, but our enjoyable meeting 

was actually the result of a lot of hard work. In addition to catching up with each other, the Agency-wide 

group made tremendous progress in working over a 

draft NASA Policy Directive (NPD) for the History 

Program. There is still much to be done to finalize the 

draft and push it through the concurrence process, but 

I was particularly pleased with the thoughtfulness with 

which we collectively tackled this job. I think that the 

seriousness of the effort will be rewarded by an NPD 

that will serve us well for many years to come.

NASA History staff from Centers across the country are shown meeting at 

Stennis to draft a new NPD for the History Program in May.

After wrapping up their work on the NPD, attendees tour the historic B-1/B-2 

test stand at Stennis.

Another initiative, this one from outside the History 

Program, is also likely to have a significant and 

positive effect on how we do our work. The NASA 

Communications Coordinating Council—the 

Agency’s senior decision-making body for strategic 

direction, planning, and implementation of Agency 

communications programs, events, and activities—

has been increasingly focused on improved planning. 

This has included working on strategic plans for significant communication and outreach activities a year 

or more in advance (rather than our seemingly typical 

bad habit of responding to events at the last minute). 

From a History perspective, the great news about this 

effort is that we have been part of the consultation 

process. The History Program Office was asked for a 

forecast of significant anniversaries from the second 

half of 2015 through 2016—and we were also asked 

for our input on what made these events important. 

Fortunately for us, many years of continuing hard 

work in producing lists of this sort made this a relatively easy assignment. To me, the big breakthrough 

in this new process is that there is now a systematic 

mechanism to raise the issue of important historic 

anniversaries to the attention of our senior leadership 

and, in the process, provide some thoughtful historical 

analysis. While this may not rival the invention of the 

wheel, it is an important bureaucratic step in making 

sure that those of us doing the historical work of the 

Agency have a voice in the discussion about what, why, 

and how we mark historic events.
6

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

As always, we have been incredibly lucky in our selection of interns. This past summer, Warren Dennis (a 

senior at Colgate University) and Melissa Joskow (a 

sophomore at Wesleyan University) have done a fantastic job of not only expanding our social media footprint, but also cranking out a phenomenal number of 

Web stories on various historical topics. Their pieces 

on the 50th anniversary of Mariner 4, the 40th anniversary of Apollo-Soyuz, the 15th anniversary of the 

launch of the International Space Station (ISS) Service 

Module, and several others were featured on www.

nasa.gov and helped to throw more historical light on 

the usual news stories on significant anniversaries this 

summer. As usual, we were very sorry to see our interns 

go at the end of the first week of August. By the time 

this reaches you, we will have our fall intern, Betsy 

Reimer, at work. Betsy is a business major (minoring 

in communications and history) at Nebraska Wesleyan, 

and she will be on a semester-in-Washington program 

this fall. She started just after Labor Day and will be 

with us into December.

THIS PAST SUMMER, WARREN DENNIS 

AND MELISSA JOSKOW HAVE DONE A 

FANTASTIC JOB OF NOT ONLY EXPANDING 

OUR SOCIAL MEDIA FOOTPRINT, BUT 

ALSO IN CRANKING OUT A PHENOMENAL 

NUMBER OF WEB STORIES ON VARIOUS 

HISTORICAL TOPICS. 

Another new member of our team since the middle 

of the year is Victoria Johnson. Vicki has picked up 

the reins from Giny Cheong as the support contractor 

for the annual President’s Report and this newsletter. 

Those of you who contribute to the newsletter or contact us about it will probably wind up communicating 

with the ever-friendly and efficient Vicki. If you are 

writing something for the newsletter, she’ll be you 

main point of contact—so feel free to reach out to her 

at victoria.johnson-1@nasa.gov.

Historical Reference Collection (HRC)

By Jane H. Odom

In the Headquarters Archives, the staff continues to stay 

busy with reference requests and with the processing 

(arrangement and description) of collections. During 

the last quarter, we hosted visitors from Headquarters 

and Goddard as well as the National Air and Space 

Museum, George Washington University, Johns 

Hopkins University, Georgetown University, Virginia 

Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia 

Tech), Auburn University, the University of Idaho, 

Texas A&M, Syracuse, the University of California, 

Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara), Princeton, the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), History 

Associates, and Foresight Science and Technology.

Recently, several digital archive projects have been 

completed that researchers will find of interest. Nearly 

50 Lori Garver speeches, dated ca. 2009–14, and 35 

John Naugle speeches, from ca. 1961–85, have been 

published to our external site at https://historydms.

hq.nasa.gov/. Garver was Deputy Administrator from 

2009 to 2014; Naugle was the Associate Administrator 

for the Office of Space Science and the Agency’s chief 

scientist before his retirement in 1981.

A review of 14 boxes on loan to us from the Federal 

Records Center (FRC), which contain materials on 

the International Space Year (ISY), is complete. The 

FRC boxes, with contents dating from 1987 to 1994, 

held congressional, White House, and NASA material 

on the founding of the ISY, as well as NASA and U.S. 

ISY committee material on the establishment and 

completion of various ISY projects. After an appraisal, 

dozens of documents were copied and added to existing subject files in the HRC, making our collection 

that much richer for researchers.

Jane is continuing to work closely with Goddard 

Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Langley Research 
7

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

Center (LaRC) officials, with the former to establish a 

brand-new archival program at their Center and with 

the latter in preparation for their upcoming building 

(and archive) renovation.

If you are interested in visiting the HRC to conduct research, please contact us at 202-358-0384 or 

at http://history.nasa.gov/contact.html to schedule an 

appointment. To search our electronic documents 

collection, see https://historydms.hq.nasa.gov/.

AMES RESEARCH CENTER (ARC)

Moffett Field, California

By Glenn Bugos

Jack Boyd convened a panel discussion on the NACA 

legacy and how it remains strong throughout NASA 

today. The panel was part of the Director’s Colloquium 

Summer Series, organized by the Ames Office of the 

Chief Scientist. For an audience of about 175 people, many of them interns at Ames for the summer, 

Jack presented an overview on the accomplishments 

and culture of the NACA. He was joined by Walter 

Vincenti and Victor Peterson. Vincenti joined Ames in 

June 1940. Peterson started at Ames in 1956, working 

in supersonic aerodynamics; he was an advocate for 

supercomputing and computational fluid dynamics, 

and he retired in 1994 as Deputy Center Director. Vic 

was also a leader in the NACA reunions. Glenn Bugos 

moderated. The discussion will be available on the 

NASA YouTube channel.

Jack Boyd has been busy giving presentations on the 

history and culture of NASA Ames, often as many as 

five a week, to international visitors and to the groups 

of interns who flock to Ames each summer. For the 

New Space conference in Silicon Valley in July 2015, 

Glenn Bugos gave a talk on the work of the NACA 

in commercial aviation as an analogy for commercial 

space exploration. The History Office was recognized 

with the NASA Honor Award for Group Achievement 

for the Ames 75th Anniversary Open House Event 

Champions Team.

Because of changes at Moffett Airfield, NASA Ames is actively looking for a 

qualified museum interested in accessioning two large and well-preserved

artifacts. A module built by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the SpaceLab 

program has been opened for better visibility during engineering integration 

studies. The Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO), active from 1975 to 1996, 

was a pioneering infrared observatory built inside one of the last remaining 

K-141A transport aircraft. The KAO is shown here with SOFIA, its successor, in 

the background. (Photo credit: NASA)

Walter Vincenti (right) talks about the role of the NACA in aerospace science during a July panel discussion at Ames. He is joined by Victor Peterson (left) and Jack Boyd (center). Vincenti started at Ames on 

1 June 1940 as the fourth engineer on staff. He worked in the famed Ames high-speed aerodynamics 

group, which pushed flight into the supersonic and hypersonic realms. In the aftermath of Sputnik, 

Stanford University recruited him to its newly invigorated Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 

and among his students were two future Ames Directors. In 1971, he founded the Stanford Program 

in Science, Technology, and Society and enjoyed a second career as a leading historian of technology. 

His award-winning book of case studies on aeronautical engineering, What Engineers Know and How 

They Know It, is one of the best written on the history of the NACA and on engineering epistemology. 

(Photo credit: NASA Ames)
8

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

Yvonne Clearwater addresses a group of artists at swissnex. (Photo credit: Myleen Hollero)

We bid farewell to Yvonne Clearwater, who retired 

in July following 31 years at Ames. Yvonne started 

as project manager and Principal Investigator on the 

ISS design team that produced guidelines for space 

human factors to improve astronaut performance and 

validated the effectiveness of distributed virtual teaming. In the 1990s, she pioneered NASA work in digital 

media, producing huge interactive digital video shows 

like the Mars Virtual Reality Theater. Most recently, 

Yvonne led the NASA New Media Innovation Team, 

emphasizing creativity at the intersection of art, science, and technology. She led the development of 

the first NASA app for the iPhone in 2009, of the 

“NASA on the (Flickr) Commons” site for NASA to 

share its most historically significant photographs, of 

the NASA “Participatory Exploration” initiative, of 

a historical image gallery for the Ames technology 

transfer site, and of the NASA ArtSpace Web site on 

creative works that inform and inspire space exploration. Though her work was constantly on the cutting 

edge of new media, all of it displayed an abiding love 

of NASA history.

We welcome Eugene Tu as Ames Center Director 

and Tom Edwards as Deputy Center Director. Both 

Eugene and Tom have spent their entire careers at 

Ames, starting in the mid-1980s. Eugene’s contributions to Ames history have come mostly in computational fluid dynamics, supercomputing, and 

exploration technologies, while Tom has led our work 

in aeronautics and aviation operations. Both have 

witnessed more than three decades of our Center’s 

75-year history and are known to speak passionately 

about how the changes they have seen over time serve 

as a basis for the changes they expect to make.

Reference Collection

By April Gage and Danielle Lopez

The archives community welcomed its newest member, 

Danielle Lopez, this spring. Danielle is working in 

the Science Directorate’s Engineering Release Center 

(ERC) with Miriam Freed and cross-training with 

April Gage part-time in the History Office. In the 

ERC, Danielle is digitizing biological payload hardware engineering records and creating the associated 

metadata. In the History Office, she is assisting with 

processing projects and acquisitions. Danielle holds 

a bachelor’s degree in United States history from 

California State University, East Bay, and a master’s 

degree in archives and records administration from 

San Jose State University’s School of Information.

This spring, April also began dividing her efforts 

between the History Office archives, where she has 

been working since 2004, and the Science Directorate. 

Under the direction of Alison French, she is working in the Ames Life Science Data Archive and the 

Biological Specimen Facility. Currently, April and colleague Dorothy Leung are drafting requirements for 

the directorate’s archival storage facilities according to 

federal standards and professional best practices.

A highlight in collections processing activities is 

the completion of the final phase of an audiovisual 

digitization project by April Gage, with assistance 

from graduate student intern Mikael Wester. They 

finished a thorough review of 160 digitized audio 

and video recordings (approximately 96 hours) and 

created descriptive metadata records using the new 
9

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

standards-based schema that April developed. The 

reformatted items span multiple subjects across the 

Archives Reference and Pioneer Project Records collections, as well as two partially processed acquisitions 

of Galileo Probe project records and personal papers 

of Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. Of note in 

this year of the NACA centennial are recordings of 

speeches delivered at biennial inspections held at 

Ames Aeronautical Laboratory. Speakers include John 

F. Victory, Jerome C. Hunsaker, Hugh L. Dryden,

Vannevar Bush, and Ames Director Smith DeFrance.

A HIGHLIGHT IN COLLECTIONS 

PROCESSING ACTIVITIES IS 

THE COMPLETION OF THE FINAL 

PHASE OF AN AUDIOVISUAL 

DIGITIZATION PROJECT BY 

APRIL GAGE, WITH ASSISTANCE 

FROM GRADUATE STUDENT 

INTERN MIKAEL WESTER.

With coaching from longtime computing professionals 

B. Douglas Pearson, Jr., and John E. Humbert, April

also completed processing and writing a multilevel

finding aid for a small collection of automatic data

processing (ADP) acquisition planning records. This

collection provides a glimpse into ADP procurement

planning activities conducted by the two Ames ADP

management officers, Phillips J. “Jack” Tunnell and

B. Douglas Pearson. The records reflect their research

and evaluation of projected needs for various ADP

capabilities, including mainframe computers; supercomputers; and increasingly sophisticated facilities,

networks, and programs. Though the collection does

not constitute a complete set of records of this work,

it does offer insight into three decades of computing

capabilities at Ames. The finding aid to this collection is posted on the History Office Web site and the

Online Archive of California.

Finally, a selection of original artwork from the 

Artifacts Collection will be featured in an upcoming 

exhibition focusing on the life and work of the artist 

Rick Guidice. With assistance from Ames property 

manager Carla Snow-Broadway, the archives are preparing a loan of 11 paintings depicting space settlement 

designs that were developed in a 1975 summer study 

jointly conducted by Ames and Stanford University. 

The exhibit will run at the New Museum Los Gatos 

in Los Gatos, California (the hometown of Guidice), 

from 27 September 2015 through 3 January 2016.

ARMSTRONG FLIGHT RESEARCH 

CENTER (AFRC)

Edwards Air Force Base, California

By Christian Gelzer

The summer intern, Christy Ailman, made great progress on the Controlled Impact Demonstration (CID) 

manuscript. Along with the interviews with engineers 

that she is adding to the Center’s collection of oral 

histories, Christy has interviewed a project pilot 

and remotely piloted research vehicle pilots, as well 

as members of the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA). Using primary material from the Center’s collection, she also has begun looking at statistical data 

concerning crashes over the last 50 years to map patterns of risk, all while asking fundamental questions 

surrounding experimentation versus validation.

Christian Gelzer continues juggling two manuscripts, 

one on the Flight Loads Laboratory history and the 

other on the role the Center and Edwards Air Force 

Base played in the Space Shuttle Program. He also 

continues to perform research on two other projects 

that are ongoing: the Prandtl wing and the Towed 

Glider Air-Launch System. Additionally, he has participated in two PBS-affiliated video program shoots 

and one spec shoot concerning the Lunar Landing 

Research Vehicles.
10

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

GLENN RESEARCH CENTER (GRC)

Cleveland, Ohio

By Anne Mills

As we continue to celebrate the centennial of the 

NACA, the GRC History office is pleased to announce 

the release of two new Web sites on NACA history 

topics. The first is a comprehensive look at the NACA 

Inspections. We hope that this Web site, produced in 

partnership with Ames and Langley, provides a unique 

approach to learning about the research of the NACA 

through primary source materials.

The NACA Inspections were what we now might call 

Industry or Business Days. These meticulously planned 

and coordinated events were an opportunity to showcase research to the larger aeronautical community in 

industry, government, the military, and universities. 

NACA researchers gave presentations, and visitors 

toured test facilities. Fortunately for historians and 

researchers, all of these inspections were documented 

as thoroughly as they were planned. At the end of 

each event, all planning materials, correspondence, 

invitation lists, transcripts of presentations, and photographs of the event were collected and bound into 

an inspection volume. In anticipation of the NACA 

Centennial, these volumes have been digitized and 

are now being made available to researchers through 

this Web site.

The NACA Inspection materials serve as miniature 

time capsules and provide excellent insight into the 

state of the NACA, aeronautical research of the time, 

and the people who made it happen. We hope that

through providing this material to a larger audience, 

we can help historians and researchers understand the 

larger impact of the NACA on aeronautics, its influence on NASA, and its role in the history of science 

and technology.

THE NACA INSPECTION MATERIALS 

SERVE AS MINIATURE TIME CAPSULES 

AND PROVIDE EXCELLENT INSIGHT INTO 

THE STATE OF THE NACA, AERONAUTICAL 

RESEARCH OF THE TIME, AND THE 

PEOPLE WHO MADE IT HAPPEN.

Inspection materials from Langley, Ames, and Lewis 

(now Glenn) Research Centers ranging from 1946 

to 1973, as well as background information on the

Inspections, can be found here: http://grchistory.grc.

nasa.gov/inspections.

Additionally, through the Office of Communications 

and External Relations, a history of research aircraft 

used at Glenn Research Center between 1943 and 

1958 has been made available at http://www.nasa.

gov/externalflash/NACA/. When the Aircraft Engine 

Research Laboratory (now GRC) opened, its primary 

focus was to improve the state of aircraft engines. 

Aircraft at the Center were test beds for our engine 

research. On this site, 11 of our most interesting 

research aircraft are profiled, including the Martin 

B-26 Marauder, the Northrop P-61 Black Widow, 

and the F-82E Twin Mustang. Each aircraft profile 

includes images, specs, and a history of the research for 

which the plane was utilized.

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC)

Houston, Texas

By Rebecca Wright

JSC Center Director Ellen Ochoa presented a Group 

Achievement Award to the Center’s History Office 

members during a NASA Honor Awards Ceremony 

held this past summer in Houston. Rebecca Wright, 

Sandra Johnson, and Dr. Jennifer Ross-Nazzal were 

recognized for their efforts that provide a “unique 

bridge between the past and the future for America’s 

human spaceflight program, and for safeguarding 

NASA history for future generations.”
11

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

JSC History Office members were presented a Group Achievement Award during a NASA Honor Awards Ceremony held this past summer in Houston. Pictured are 

(left to right) Center Director Ellen Ochoa; the JSC History Office team, Rebecca Wright, Sandra Johnson, and Dr. Jennifer Ross-Nazzal; and JSC Deputy Director 

Kirk Shireman.

The team continues gathering oral history for NASA 

and recently began a project with the International 

Space Station Program. More than 20 individuals 

were interviewed to provide information that will 

be used for an upcoming publication from the ISS 

Program. The transcripts will be posted on the JSC 

History Portal (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history) at the 

conclusion of the project. Also, the JSC History Office 

is capturing information for the JSC Knowledge 

Management Office from several longtime members 

of the JSC workforce.

This past summer, thanks to fortunate scheduling, the 

team enjoyed a week of talking with various Center 

Directors. Responding to the oral history projects 

mentioned above as well as those for JSC and the 

NASA Headquarters History Program Office, the 

team had the opportunity to interview General 

Jefferson D. Howell, who shared his experiences as 

JSC Director from March 2002 through November 

2005; Michael L. Coats, who discussed his seven years 

of leading the Center (November 2005–December 

2012); and Robert Cabana, current Kennedy Space 

Center Director (since October 2008), who has also 

served as Director of Stennis Space Center and as 

Deputy Director of JSC. Also collected during this 

brief time period were thoughts from Dr. Hans Mark, 

NASA’s Deputy Administrator in the early 1980s.

The JSC History Office team continues to offer its 

research expertise to the Center’s Historic Preservation 

Office for a couple of ongoing projects. These include 

restoring the historic Apollo Mission Operations 

Control Room (MOCR), designated a National 

Landmark in 1985, and assisting in tasks related to 

the historic and architectural 50-year survey and evaluation of the Center’s facilities.
12

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER (LARC)

Hampton, Virginia

By Gail Langevin

On 8 May, Langley Research Center was recognized by 

the American Helicopter Society (AHS) International 

as a Vertical Flight Heritage Site. NASA Administrator 

Charles Bolden and Associate Administrator for 

Aeronautics Jaiwon Shin visited the Center for the 

presentation of a bronze plaque by Mike Hirschberg, 

Executive Director of AHS International. The 

Honorable Scott Rigell, Congressman from Virginia’s 

second district, provided video remarks, and the 

Honorable George Wallace, mayor of Hampton, 

offered his congratulations at the ceremony.

A Sikorsky YR-4 is shown in the NACA Langley Full-Scale Tunnel in 1944.

Investigations into helicopter flight began during 

the NACA era. In 1920, NACA Chief Physicist 

Edward Warner published NACA Technical Note 4, 

“The Problem of the Helicopter,” detailing the 

then-challenges to safe helicopter flight and noting 

that most of the technical papers on helicopters of 

the time were in languages other than English. In 

1929, aviation pioneer Harold Pitcairn demonstrated 

his Cierva C-8 autogiro by flying from Philadelphia 

to Langley Field. The Cierva C-8 was on display at 

the fourth NACA Conference. In the 1930s, Langley 

research pilots flew a Pitcairn PCA-2 autogiro. Data 

from the flights resulted in some of the first substantive reports on rotorcraft flight.

To complement the flight tests, from the 1930s onward, 

many Langley wind tunnels investigated various 

aspects of rotorcraft flight, including flight dynamics, 

handling qualities, aeroelasticity, and vibratory loads. 

What is now known as the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic 

Tunnel began as a research facility for vertical takeoff 

and landing concepts in the 1970s. The tunnel continues to contribute to rotorcraft flight knowledge today.

At the end of the Apollo era, the Langley Lunar 

Landing Facility was converted into the Impact 

Dynamics Research Facility. Since its conversion to 

impact studies, this facility is unique in providing 

controlled, angled drop tests. Full-sized production 

rotorcraft are suspended from cables and released to 

impact the ground to improve our understanding of 

how structural damage occurs and to help determine 

improvements for crash survivability. A 

concept for severing cables before the 

rotors contacted them was also tested at 

the Impact Dynamics Facility. For this 

series of tests, a helicopter was suspended 

and then swung in an arc without contacting the ground into a taut cable to 

test the cutting ability of the mechanism. 

Now known at the Landing Impact 

Research (LandIR) Facility, it was used 

for two tests of a transport rotorcraft 

airframe in 2013 and 2014. Last summer, LandIR was used to demonstrate a 

10-propeller free-flying aircraft concept 

with 10-foot wings that rotate for hover 

or forward flight. The aircraft, known 

as the GL-10, is advancing our understanding of hybrid diesel/electric engines. 

During its first few flights, it flew tethered to the LandIR.
13

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

Reference Collection

By Mary Gainer Hurst

The Langley Research Center archives collection is 

taking on a dramatic new look. As we prepare for 

the demolition of the building currently holding the 

collection, we are making some decisions that affect 

the collection and how it is accessed. The overall goal 

is to completely inventory the collection, move to a 

digital repository, and reduce the physical holdings to 

material with historic significance.

The last inventory was conducted in 1999, providing 

an overview of the holdings. Since that time, more 

than 700 linear feet of donations had been received 

but not appraised. Since starting the current task this 

year, we have received and appraised another 68 linear 

feet of donations.

Currently, we are implementing two major changes. 

Langley has been the repository for the Agency’s 

Research Authorizations (RAs) for many years. Those 

273 linear feet of historically valuable materials are 

being preliminarily inventoried and will be boxed and 

shipped to the NASA Historical Reference Collection 

to be processed and ultimately made available for 

research use.

The other major activity is scanning reference materials 

and organizing them on our Web site (http://crgis.ndc.

nasa.gov/historic/larc). This searchable database will 

provide images of most of the collection and includes 

documents, photos, and the models and artifacts that 

will be maintained as part of the archives collection. 

Searches will also yield items that are maintained in 

the physical collection, whether they are also available electronically or not. An interesting example of 

a document that was not scanned is an advertising 

brochure for Carey Stone, a product that was used as 

the exterior facing for several buildings including the 

Full-Scale Tunnel.

This image shows an example of the entry for the Whirl Flutter Model, part of the 

Langley Archives Collection.

Although demolishing NASA buildings is an emotionally charged action, at Langley there have been 

positive outcomes in terms of salvage and historic 

preservation. Moving the Langley Archives Collection 

to digital format is yet another positive step resulting 

from the loss of another of our historic buildings.

ALTHOUGH DEMOLISHING NASA 

BUILDINGS IS AN EMOTIONALLY 

CHARGED ACTION, AT LANGLEY 

THERE HAVE BEEN POSITIVE 

OUTCOMES IN TERMS OF 

SALVAGE AND HISTORIC 

PRESERVATION.

MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER 

(MSFC)

Huntsville, Alabama

By Michael Wright

This year marks Marshall’s 55th anniversary. The 

Center opened on 1 July 1960 and was dedicated by 

President Eisenhower on 8 September 1960. That’s 55 

years of space accomplishments—Mercury Redstone, 

Saturn, Skylab, the Space Shuttle, the Space Station, 

and more. The anniversary also represents 55 years of 

information gathering and sharing among thousands 

of Marshall’s managers, employees, contractors, and 

others. It reminds us of the millions of hours that 
14

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

Marshall’s employees have contributed to the space 

program and to solving thousands of the technical 

challenges assigned to the Center.

Mike Wright, the Marshall historian, and Brian 

Odom, the Marshall archivist, recently traveled to the 

National Archives Southeastern District in Morrow, 

Georgia. The boxes and boxes of historical records 

from Marshall were impressive to see. Mike and 

Brian concentrated on the speeches that Wernher von 

Braun presented during his 10 years as the Director of 

Marshall. They used flatbed scanners to copy many of 

the speeches and to return digital copies to Huntsville.

The number of speeches that they were able to review 

was obviously limited by time. The extent and scope of 

the Marshall archives in Georgia is, of course, massive, 

with collections containing von Braun’s foreign correspondence, Director’s files, and files from the Saturn 

Program Manager’s office from the years 1961 to 1968. 

Seeing the thousands of boxes is a testament that well 

reflects 55 years of Marshall’s history.

Before Mike and Brian returned to Huntsville, the 

archivists in Georgia provided them with a guide to the 

Marshall collections on file there. Anyone who is interested in Marshall’s history and would like a complete 

copy of the guide may contact Mike (256-544-6849) 

or Brian (256-544-5670). Meanwhile, information 

related to Marshall records at the National Archives at 

Morrow, Georgia, can be found at http://www.archives.

gov/atlanta/.

Reference Collection

By Brian Odom

The Marshall History Archive continues in the arrangement and description of both the hard-copy document 

and digital-format collections. To mark Marshall’s 

55th anniversary, Center archivist Brian Odom and 

History public affairs officer Tracy McMahan participated in the 20 June NASA Day on the Square event 

in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. The history portion of the exhibit included a graphic timeline of the 

Center’s history as well as several historical photos of 

launch vehicles, projects, and facilities. The event also 

provided the office with the opportunity to gauge the 

interest of local retirees and other attendees for the creation of a community archive centering on Huntsville’s 

experience in the history of space exploration.

The office continues to take in new collections related 

to the history of the Center. A recent addition to the 

archive is a collection of documentation, photographs, 

and log books donated by Lois Brown on behalf of 

her now-deceased father, Homer C. Powers. Powers 

began employment at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal 

in Huntsville, Alabama. With the creation of NASA’s 

Marshall Space Flight Center in 1960, Powers took a 

position as electrical engineer in Marshall’s Astrionics 

Laboratory Gyro and Stabilizer Division and worked 

in this capacity throughout the Saturn program. At 

the close of the program, Powers went on to work 

closely with Stratoscope II and III. The Homer C. 

Powers Collection spans the period 1951–76. The 

largest portion of these papers concerns materials 

related to Stratoscope II and III; land navigation 

system testing in Flagstaff, Arizona (1966–68); and 

issues of Electrical Engineering (1951–54). Significant 

items in the collection include log books from the 

Stratoscope II and III programs and one log book covering the testing of Surface Vehicle Navigation System 

gyro compasses from Aviation Electric Limited. The 

collection also includes nine films of sled testing from 

the period 1963–65 and photographs of Supersonic 

Naval Ordnance Research Track testing at China Lake 

and Hill Air Force Base.

The archivist also was asked to appraise and select 

16-millimeter and 35-millimeter original historical

films for digitization. The over 100 hours of film

selected for the project included footage of the visit of

President Eisenhower to Marshall in October 1960, the 

celebration of Alan Shepard’s historic Mercury flight,

and hours of briefings by Marshall Center Directors.
15

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

In this photo taken at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico on 12 May 1964, Homer Powers is fourth from the right.

The archivist also assisted with several research projects, 

one of which included searching the photograph collection for images of Apollo-era system-level testing of 

the Saturn IV Stage at Douglas Aircraft’s Sacramento 

Test Facility. The search turned up several very interesting photographs of the Saturn IV stage testing at 

the site. Other noteworthy research included Walter 

Cronkite’s visit to Marshall during the Skylab program, 

testing of the Local Scientific Survey Module, and the 

critical design review for the Space Shuttle Program.

If anyone is interested in Marshall’s history or has a 

question about the Marshall History Archive, please 

contact the archivist at 256-544-5670 or online at 

http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/.
16

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

STENNIS SPACE CENTER (SSC)

Stennis Space Center, Mississippi

By Daphne Alford

A preliminary reorganization of more than 70 unprocessed boxes was recently performed in the History 

Office of the John C. Stennis Space Center. Contents 

of the boxes included dated materials from as far back 

as the early 1950s, 16-millimeter films produced in 

the 1960s, and files of Dr. Wernher von Braun.

Speeches and press releases were among the 22 von 

Braun files. Shared below is one of the most interesting 

items in his collection—a copy of an undated Q&A 

titled “Dr. von Braun Discusses the Next Decade 

in Space.”

Q. The first decade in space has produced manned 

landings on the moon, operational weather 

satellites, communications satellites, a tremendous quantity of scientific data. What do you 

predict the second decade in space will produce in manned and unmanned space flight?

A. The duality of our space program—the distinction between manned and unmanned space flight 

that was the trademark of the first decade—will 

probably disappear to a very great extent in the 

next decade. Now that we know that man can 

fly through space, that he can survive the space 

environment, that he can do something useful 

in space, it becomes important to put man to 

use as an explorer, a researcher, an operator, a 

maintainer of scientific equipment.

Q. What types of projects do you think we will be 

doing by the late 1970s to 1980s?

A. I consider the shuttle the most exciting program 

that NASA is involved in at the moment. I think 

it will drastically change the mode in which space 

flight will be conducted. In the first place, the 

shuttle can reduce transportation costs to orbit. 

At the moment, it still costs anywhere between 

$500 and $1,000 to put a pound of payload into 

a low earth orbit. I think there’s reason to believe 

that this cost can be reduced to something like 

$50 to $100 per pound in orbit.

But this is not the only significant cost saving that 

the shuttle will bring about. Equally important 

will be the fact that it will enable us to get more 

out of our payloads for the dollar. Let me give you 

an example in the field of astronomical research.

The present mode of conducting astronomical 

research from outer space is to build a scientific 

spacecraft for a very long lifetime and give it a 

capability to accept certain instructions from the 

ground. Of course, this basic spacecraft cannot 

collect data beyond what it was originally designed 

for. But, with a shuttle that can fly up into orbit 

like an airplane, and that can return with that 

same payload that it takes up, you can conduct 

astronomical research from orbit much as NASA 

presently does from high altitude airplanes.

Q. Do you expect that we will have big multimanned space stations in orbit toward the end 

of the 1970s?

A. Yes, I think so. On the other hand, I believe since 

the shuttle will also be a very effective carrier for 

space science, in the sense of an oceanographic 

research ship[,] that the space station will more 

and more concentrate on those kinds of space science and applications missions that require longer 

duration. In addition, the shuttle will play a major 

role as a support facility for science operations.

For example, you may have a telescope in orbit 

that requires repeated reloading of the cameras, 

or taking out of videotapes. You would dock that 

telescope onto a space station, do your work from 

the space station, and then release the telescope 

again for independent operation.
17

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

So the space station will become more and more 

a combination hotel, restaurant, kitchen, medical dispensary, spare-part supply station—the 

railroad station for the shuttles. It will be a computer center. It will be a communications center 

insofar as it will provide the basic utilities that all 

space science applications operations will have 

in common.

SO THE SPACE STATION 

WILL BECOME MORE AND 

MORE A COMBINATION 

HOTEL, RESTAURANT, 

KITCHEN, MEDICAL 

DISPENSARY, SPAREPART SUPPLY STATION—

THE RAILROAD STATION 

FOR THE SHUTTLES.

Q. How large do you envision U.S. space stations

will be? And how long

do you think men will

stay in such labs without a crew change?

A. Well, at the moment

NASA is firmly engaged

in developing a first generation space station. We

call it the Skylab project.

The Skylab will never

have more than three

men up there because 

each crew goes up and 

returns before the next crew comes up in its own 

spacecraft. Skylab has its limitations because all 

its subsystems for life support and for electrical 

power generation support are spun off the Apollo 

program. We have just stretched out its utility a 

few months by bringing more consumables up. 

Nevertheless, there will be a lot of science conducted even from Skylab.

The second generation of space station, envisioned for the latter part of the 1970s, will be a 

modularized unit, designed for long stays—kind 

of a permanent space station. Each module will 

accommodate 12 men and these modules can 

be stuck together. In a way, it’s an open-ended 

thing. It depends on how many modules you put 

together. But the most important thing about this 

second generation space station is that all its life 

support systems will be built for long duration.

Q. What activities will we conduct on the moon

in the next decade?

A. By the end of the next decade we are likely to

have several small lunar base camps, from which

surface exploratory operations are conducted

with the help of roving vehicles pretty much like

in Antarctica.

Q. Do you expect that there 

will be any manned flights to

planets other than the moon

in this period?

A. I don’t think we’ll have

a man on Mars by 1980,

mainly because there are so

many interesting things to do

near earth.

Q. You specifically said a

manned Mars landing. How

about flights to the vicinity

of Mars?

A. It takes quite a while to get close to Mar[s] for

even a few hours. And I don’t think that man

could find out in a short fly-by a lot more than

automatic instrumentation could.

The men would probably be busy taking pictures all the time in order to preserve the records.

And, if that’s all they’re doing, then we might as

well take the pictures automatically. I think men

on Mars, just like men on the moon, will really

become very important once they’re down there

on the surface as explorers.

Q. What technological developments are needed

for the second decade in space?

A. Well, the shuttle, of course, requires many

advances in the field of aerodynamics, in the

design of reusable vehicles that can fly to orbit
18

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

100 times and return and go through the heating/pressurization cycles of the cabin 100 times 

without fatigue problems. It is loaded with technological challenges of this kind, none of which I 

think is insurmountable. But all require that a lot 

of homework be done before we have assurance 

that the thing will hang together after 100 flights. 

It’s a pretty challenging thing. In the shuttle, we 

will try to utilize the next plateau of technology 

all the way through.

Q. What do you consider to be the most critical

items, the ones that will determine the pace of

the program?

A. The booster element, or first stage of the shuttle, is probably the most straightforward. It

doesn’t reach the very high orbital velocity that

the upper stages reach. It is more forgiving

with respect to overweight of the structure and

under-performance of the engines. The orbiting

element is the more demanding of the two.

Other than that, I would say that the shuttle

probably has as many difficulties as the Apollo

program had in 1961, but I don’t think I could

single out any one thing that will make or break it.

Q. You must be putting great stress on testing

this time. Won’t contractors have to guarantee

that parts will operate for an extended period

rather than a relatively short time?

A. Yes, I think there will be quite a bit of sample

testing. For example, before you build a wing of

the orbiter, you may want to build a full scale

test panel of the wing, and subject this test panel

through 100 cycles of the typical reentry environment to make sure that it holds together. There

will be lots of that.

Q. Isn’t there a requirement on the contractors

that the shuttle must be ready to refly within

two weeks? Are you stipulating how much 

replacement of parts, if any, they can make?

A. The desire to reduce the tum-around time to

something like two weeks reflects pretty clearly

that if you have too much rebuilding to do, you

haven’t gotten a viable package. It’s in the nature

of the shuttle—just like an airliner—that it loses

money while sitting on the ground. And the

more you fly it, the more cost-effective it will

be. To make the shuttle cost-effective, superior to

the throw-away systems we have today, you have

to insist on short turn-around times. And this

means simply that with the exception of a few

replacements in critical areas, you had better give

the thing more life.

In a normal airplane, for example, a tire must be

exchanged after 20 landings or so. So here you

have a part where the industry accepts refurbishing of some equipment. In the shuttle, we may

accept ablative leading edges or some such a thing

that we would replace like tires in an airplane. But

if we go way beyond that, then it would really

defeat its own purpose.

Q. What kind of a lifetime do you see for the shuttle? A decade? Or two? Or three?

A. Oh, I think the shuttle can be very useful for

20 years.

Q. Do you see any developments in the next

decade in the area of booster rockets?

A. Well, of course, the shuttle and its booster will

have the most modern type rocket propulsion

that we could think of. Most stages of the shuttle will be powered with liquid hydrogen and

liquid oxygen.

Q. Aren’t you looking forward to the nuclear

engine yet?
19

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

A. Yea. But we are not planning to fly any nuclear

engines from the surface of the earth at all.

The Nerva nuclear rocket is planned to be lit

up only in orbit. Its main field will be deep

space transportation.

Q. Can you estimate the cost of some of these

things that you think you’ll be doing in space

during the next decade?

A. Well, the greatest uncertainty is probably the

question of continued inflations. I’d be much

more comfortable if I could answer your question in terms of percentage of the gross national

product rather than in terms of dollars, because 

when I see what the dollar buys today, compared 

to what it bought when we started the Apollo 

program, it’s just two different worlds. But the 

shuttle should only cost a small fraction of the 

$23 billion it cost to build Apollo.

Q. Could you put a specific figure on it? There

have been estimates of $6 billion.

A. I’m not saying that this is entirely off, but I can’t

confirm it either. I guess it’s probably as good a

guess as anyone can make today.

OTHER AEROSPACE HISTORY NEWS

NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

By Michael Neufeld

Progress on the construction of the renovated Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall continued in 

the last few months. If you visit the National Air and 

Space Museum (NASM), not only should you be able 

to see progress, but you should also begin to notice 

that some of the elements of 

the final design are now being 

put in place. Conservation 

work has been done in full 

view of the public on the 

Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis, 

as well as SpaceShipOne 

and the Ryan NYP Spirit of 

St. Louis. And artifacts that 

had been removed from the 

gallery space for conservation have now started to be 

reinstalled. Pioneers 10 and 

11, Mariner 2, and models of 

Sputnik and Explorer 1 have 

been rehung. Beginning after Labor Day 2015, come 

visit the museum to see LM-2, a real lunar module, 

unstacked and on the floor for conservation in the 

middle of the Hall. The grand opening of the renovated hall will be on 1 July 2016. Lead curators for 

this project are Bob van der Linden and Alex Spencer 

(Aeronautics), along with Paul Ceruzzi and Margaret 

Weitekamp (Space History).

BEGINNING AFTER LABOR 

DAY 2015, COME VISIT 

THE MUSEUM TO SEE 

LM-2, A REAL LUNAR 

MODULE, UNSTACKED 

AND ON THE FLOOR FOR 

CONSERVATION IN THE 

MIDDLE OF THE HALL.

Meanwhile, planning is continuing for a complete Mall 

building overhaul in the 

years 2018–24, dependent 

on congressional funding. A 

complete reconstruction of 

the mechanical systems of the 

NASM building is needed, 

as is the replacement of the 

exterior stone. The museum 

will never close, but large 

sections will be walled off 

during construction. Current 

conceptions have the building 
20

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

makeover proceed from west to east, one section at 

a time. The curators and scientists in the research 

departments (Aeronautics, Space History, and the 

Center for Earth and Planetary Studies) have completed a new gallery plan for a completely refreshed set 

of exhibitions for NASM by the mid- to late 2020s. 

Some existing exhibits will be presented in a revised 

form, and some will close and be replaced with entirely 

new exhibitions. (Milestones is the one exhibit that 

will emerge almost unchanged.) Incorporated in the 

exhibit planning is a project that has been going on for 

some time, Destination Moon, which will replace the 

old Apollo to the Moon gallery, but in a new location. 

The opening for that exhibit is currently estimated as 

2020 or 2021. The lead curators are Michael Neufeld 

and Allan Needell (Space History).

The Bell X-1 “Glamorous Glennis” is shown on display at the National Air and 

Space Museum in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Eric Long, Smithsonian 

Institution)

AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY 

HISTORY COMMITTEE 

By Michael Ciancone

History Series Publications 

As a result of the persistence and diligence of series 

editor Dr. Rick Sturdevant, and with the efforts of 

volume editor Niklas Reinke and copy editor Joni 

Wilson, Univelt has announced the publication of the 

2012 proceedings as volume 43 in the International 

Academy of Astronautics (IAA) History Series. Univelt 

is also preparing to publish volume 44, Pioneering 

American Rocketry: The Reaction Motors, Inc. (RMI) 

Story, 1941–1972, by Frank H. Winter and Frederick 

I. Ordway III.

Ordway Award

The subcommittee tasked with managing the Ordway 

Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History 

has begun deliberations. It is now anticipated that the 

award will be presented in conjunction with the Von 

Braun Memorial Symposium, 27–29 October 2015, 

in Huntsville, Alabama.

This award is named in memory of Frederick I. 

Ordway III (1927–2014), human spaceflight advocate and chronicler of the history of rocketry and 

space travel. The award is presented on an occasional 

basis by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) 

and recognizes exceptional, sustained efforts to inform 

and educate on astronautical history through one or 

more media, such as 1) writing, editing, or publishing 

a book series (as opposed to a single title); 2) preparing 

and presenting exhibits; or 3) producing for distribution through film, television, art, or other non-print 

media. The award process is managed by the AAS 

History Committee. Nomination forms are available 

at http://www.astronautical.org/awards/ordway.

Annual Meeting

The History Committee convened a virtual meeting 

on 13 May 2015 during the Astronauts and Robots 

Conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 

Pasadena, California. Topics of discussion included 

future translation efforts to build on the success of the 

recently completed translation of Die Rakete zu den 

Planetenräumen, by Hermann Oberth. A number of 

suggestions are under consideration, including titles 

by Robert Esnault-Pelterie (French), Yakov Perel’man 

(Russian), and Sergei Korolev (Russian, under a 

pseudonym). Additional suggestions are welcome.

New Members

The History Committee is pleased to announce that 

George James has accepted an invitation to join 

the Committee.
21

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

JOHN W. KLUGE CENTER

The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress is accepting applications for the Baruch S. Blumberg 

NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology. 

The application deadline is 1 December 2015.

The Astrobiology Chair is a distinguished senior 

research position in residence at the Library of Congress 

for a period of up to 12 months. Using research facilities and services at the Library of Congress, the scholar 

engages in research at the intersection of the science 

of astrobiology and its humanistic and societal implications. The appointment ensures that the subject 

of astrobiology’s role in culture and society receives 

considered treatment each year in Washington, DC. 

A stipend during the term of appointment supports 

the scholar.

The John W. Kluge Center was established at the 

Library of Congress in 2000 to foster a mutually 

enriching relationship between the world of ideas and 

the world of action, between scholars and political 

leaders. The Center attracts outstanding scholarly 

figures to Washington, DC; facilitates their access 

to the Library’s remarkable collections; and helps 

them engage in conversation with policy-makers and 

the public.

The Chair is open to scholars in the fields of philosophy, 

history, religion, astrobiology, astronomy, planetary 

science, the history of science, paleontology, Earth 

and atmospheric sciences, geological sciences, ethics, or other related fields. The Chair may undertake 

research on a range of societal issues related to how 

life begins and evolves or may examine the religious, 

ethical, legal, cultural, and other concerns arising from 

scientific research on the origin, evolution, and nature 

of life in the universe.

Applications may be submitted online through 

the Kluge Center’s new online application system. 

Visit http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/fellowships/NASAastrobiology.html for more information.

CALL FOR ENTRIES: SHFG THOMAS JEFFERSON PRIZE

The Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG) seeks entries for its 2016 Thomas 

Jefferson Prize for research tools published in 2014 

or 2015. The prize recognizes the creator(s) of an 

outstanding research aid (e.g., inventory, index, finding aid, biographical directory, or bibliography) that 

facilitates the work of those researching the history 

of the federal government. It will be awarded at the 

SHFG annual meeting in spring 2016. See http://www.

shfg.org for criteria, a list of past winners, and general 

requirements for all SHFG prizes.

A copy of each entry with a letter briefly stating its 

qualification and merits should be sent to each of the 

Jefferson Committee members by 30 November 2016:

1. Jennifer Ross-Nazzal, Ph.D., 2003 Seakale Lane, 

Houston, TX 77062

2. Alisa Whitley, 5212 Leeward Lane, Alexandria, 

VA 22315

3. Lincoln Bramwell, Ph.D., 1410 Woodman Ave., 

Silver Spring, MD 20902

The SHFG, founded in 1979, is a nonprofit professional organization that promotes the study and broad 

understanding of the history of the United States 

government. It also serves as the voice of the federal 

historical community.
22

NASA HISTORY PROGRAM OFFICE — News & Notes

UPCOMING MEETINGS

The History Department of the United States Naval Academy will host the 2015 McMullen 

Naval History Symposium in Annapolis, Maryland, 

on 16–18 September, 2015. Visit http://www.usna.

edu/History/Symposium/ for more information.

The Society for the History of Technology will host its 

annual meeting 8–11 October 2015 in Albuquerque, 

New Mexico. Visit http://www.historyoftechnology.org/

features/annual_meeting/ for more information.

The 66th International Astronautical Congress will be 

held 12–16 October 2015 in Jerusalem, Israel. Visit 

http://www.iac2015.org/ for more information.

IMAGE IN NASA HISTORY

Because the slots he was designing opened directly into the 8-Foot High Speed Tunnel’s hazardous 

igloo-shaped test chamber, where high levels of pressure, temperature, and noise would be encountered, 

Ray H. Wright had to don a diving suit before venturing into the test section.

In 1947, Langley was already trying out the 

slotted-wall idea in the test section of a small pilot 

tunnel and had learned, apparently serendipitously, 

that the slots enabled smooth operation not just at 

very high subsonic speeds, but also at low supersonic 

speeds. By the time of Chuck Yeager’s famous research 

flight that October, Stack had long since begun 

considering how to apply the slotted-wall results in 

two full-size, high-speed tunnels—industrial-scale 

facilities with huge, powerful fans and test-section 

diameters of 8 feet and 16 feet, sizable by any era’s 

standards. With Ray Wright’s specific design concept, 

John Stack’s vision and leadership, engineer Vernon 

G. Ward’s technology-development contributions, 

and the NACA Langley technical staff’s wind tunnel 

expertise and experience, the research and development effort led relatively soon to the conversion of 

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

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

Elizabeth Reimer elizabeth.d.reimer@nasa.gov

Intern
23

Volume 32, Number 3 Third Quarter 2015

these two national research facilities: the now-retired 

8-Foot High-Speed Tunnel, designated a national 

landmark in 1985, and the 16-Foot High-Speed 

Tunnel, later called the 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel and 

still operational with slotted walls in 1998. The resulting Collier Trophy for Stack and 19 of his colleagues 

was the first one ever awarded outright for a research 

tool and the only Collier ever awarded for a groundbased one—even though, as with particle accelerators 

and detectors for nuclear science, wind tunnels have 

been crucially important for American aeronautics.

This image was taken on 13 June 1950.
CREATED AND PRODUCED BY:

Victoria Johnson, Newsletter Editor 

Lisa Jirousek, Editor

Michele Ostovar, Graphic Designer

Tun Hla, Printing Specialist

Trenita Williams, Mail Coordinator

Carl Paul, Distribution

JOIN THE 

NASA HISTORY 

PROGRAM 

OFFICE 

ONLINE ON 

OUR SOCIAL 

NETWORKS! 

Get short, timely messages and stay updated on a wide 

variety of topics by following @NASAhistory on Twitter.

Learn the history of NASA’s exploration of the universe 

and its many discoveries about our home planet by 

liking the Facebook page at 

https://www.facebook.com/NASAHistoryOffice.

Find our collection of great images from NASA 

history at NASA on the Commons on Flickr: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Headquarters

300 E Street SW 

Washington, DC 20546

www.nasa.gov