NASA HISTORY DIVISION

Office of External Relations

volume 26, number 1 first quarter 2009

FROM

THE CHIEF

HISTORIAN

As discussed in the last Newsletter, 2009 will 

be especially notable for the Apollo anniversaries, including the first Moon landing on 20 

July 1969. But another anniversary should not 

go unnoticed—the 50th anniversary of NASA’s 

history activities. It is no coincidence that this 

anniversary follows so closely NASA’s own 

50th anniversary celebrations last year. NASA 

knew (or was convinced by others) from the 

beginning that its work would be historic. 

As Roger Launius describes in his excellent 

article “NASA History and the Challenge of 

Keeping the Contemporary Past” (The Public Historian, Summer 1999, online at http://

history.nasa.gov/launiuspharticle.pdf), NASA’s 

first Administrator, T. Keith Glennan, had 

been president of Case Institute of Technology 

in Cleveland prior to coming to NASA. One of 

his faculty members was Melvin Kranzberg, 

a respected historian and one of the founders 

of the Society for the History of Technology 

(SHOT). It was Kranzberg who persuaded 

Glennan that NASA’s work required documentation, and who convinced him of the need 

for a NASA Historian. Accordingly, Glennan 

hired Eugene M. Emme on 9 November 1959 

and established the History Office the following year. Emme remained on the job until 

1978, and was the beginning of an unbroken 

line of NASA Chief Historians that included 

Monte D. Wright (1978–1982), Sylvia Fries 

(1983–1990), Roger D. Launius (1990–2002), 

and myself (2003 to the present). They also 

served as Directors of the History Office. 

continued on page 4

The History of Atmospheric 

Science at NASA

By Erik Conway, Historian, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Author’s note: This essay is adapted from the introduction to Atmospheric 

Science at NASA: A History, newly published by Johns Hopkins University 

Press, 2008.

On 24 April 2004, the New York Times reported that NASA leaders had 

issued a gag order to Agency scientists barring them from discussing an 

upcoming film, The Day After Tomorrow.

1

 The film’s plot revolved around 

the sudden onset of an Ice Age provoked by anthropogenic global warming. The idea was loosely based on a 1985 hypothesis by Wallace Broecker 

of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New Jersey.2 He postulated 

that gradual melting of the Arctic ice cap could cause deep ocean currents, 

which carry heat from the equator toward the poles, to slow or stop. This 

might result in cooling of western Europe and the northeast coast of North 

America. In popular culture, this regional cooling had been twisted into 

an Ice Age. Indeed, the Ice Age thesis had become so entrenched in the 

1 The Day After Tomorrow, Roland Emmerich, director, 20th Century Fox, 2004.

2 Wallace S. Broecker, Dorothy M. Peteet, and David Rind, “Does the ocean-atmosphere 

system have more than one stable mode of operation?” Nature (2 May 1985), 21–26.

continued on next page

IN THIS ISSUE:

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

Feature Article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

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

New Publications in Aerospace History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Online Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

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

Other Archival News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Calls for Papers and Upcoming Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Obituaries............................................. 21

Fellowship Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Exploring the Unknown Book Signing Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

History of Atmospheric Science (continued) 

public mind that Donald Kennedy, editor of Science, the premier scientific journal 

in the United States, had decided to greet the movie by publishing an article setting 

out why an Ice Age was a highly unlikely outcome of global warming. The existence 

of the NASA order was “leaked” by an unspecified scientist who was unhappy about 

the overt censorship.3 

The issue of global warming wasn’t the first time NASA had become involved in 

politically controversial science. NASA had also been involved in controversy around 

whether supersonic transports, or NASA’s Space Shuttle, or chlorofluorocarbons, 

would cause ozone depletion.4 But it had entered into such controversies indirectly, 

by developing technological capabilities relevant to the ozone and climate problems 

in its meteorological satellite and planetary science programs of the 1960s. While 

these issues hadn’t been politically controversial in the 1960s, both had been areas of 

active scientific interest. In the 1970s, the Agency substantially expanded its laboratory and instrument development efforts to foster new research into these areas. 

During the 1980s, NASA advocated for, and finally won approval of, an Earth 

Observing System (EOS) to study global change, defined very broadly. Among many 

other things, EOS was to examine land use change, ocean circulation and heat storage, atmospheric temperature, chemistry, circulation, and radiative properties. At a 

projected $17 billion cost in its first 10 years, it was to be the most expensive science 

program in American history, exceeding even the $11 billion Superconducting Super 

Collider: the biggest of big science.5 But as political opposition to climate science 

mounted in the 1990s, NASA’s grand ambitions were cut severely, reducing EOS to a 

“mere” $7 billion. By 2004, EOS had become an orphan, with NASA’s own leaders 

no longer supporting its continuation. Instead, they sought to transfer the politically 

contentious system, and its scientific responsibilities, to some other agency. 

NASA and American Earth Science 

Much of the history of 20th century American science to date has focused on physics and, more recently, biology. The field has also evolved as a history of laboratory 

science. There is only a small body of literature on 20th century field science.6 But 

in the geophysical sciences, field studies and expeditions are vital: these sciences are 

about understanding Earth. No laboratory can capture the complexity of Earth’s 

3 Andrew C. Revkin, “NASA Curbs Comments on Ice Age Disaster Movie,” the New York Times, 25 

April 2004, electronic edition; Andrew J. Weaver and Claude Hillaire-Marcel, “Global Warming and 

the Next Ice Age,” Science (16 April 2004), 400–402. 

4 Erik M. Conway, High Speed Dreams: The Technopolitics of Supersonic Transport Research (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), 157–188. 

5 The term “big science” was coined by Derek de Solla Price, Little Science, Big Science (NY: Columbia 

University Press, 1963). Recently, Catherine Westfall has argued that the concept is irrelevant: Westfall, 

“Rethinking Big Science: Modest, Mezzo, Grand Science and the Development of the Bevelac, 1971– 

1993,” Isis 94:1 (March 2003), 30–56. For a brief history of the demise of the Superconducting Super 

Collider, see Daniel J. Kevles, The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America 

(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995, 2nd ed.), ix–xlii. 

6 Gregory A. Good, ed. The Earth, the Heavens, and the Carnegie Institute of Washington: Vol. 5, History 

of Geophysics. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, 1994; in her study of continental drift, 

Oreskes discusses the relative decline of field studies in the face of new methodologies. Naomi Oreskes, 

The Rejection of Continental Drift: Theory and Method in American Earth Science (NY: Oxford University 

Press, 1999), 290; a new interest in oceanography seems to be developing: Helen M. Rozwadowski and 

David K. van Keuren, eds., The Machine in Neptune’s Garden: Historical Perspectives on Technology and 

the Marine Environment (NY: Science History Publications, 2004). Robert E. Kohler has done important 

work in exploring the relationship between laboratory and field biology: Robert E. Kohler, Landscapes 

and Labscapes: Exploring the lab-field border in biology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002). 

2

VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

processes, hence in Earth sciences one must go outside to study one’s subject. While 

the satellite program of the International Geophysical Year (IGY) has drawn essentially all of the historical interest in that event, the IGY’s purpose had been field 

science, and particularly polar exploration. Following this geophysical tradition of 

field science, NASA built field capabilities of its own. 

In her history of plate tectonics, Naomi Oreskes discusses the effort to make geology a quantitative science in the early 20th century, through laboratory studies and 

the gradual abandonment of the primary 19th century geologic activity: mapping. 

Field studies became secondary, and indeed, derided as an avoidance of “serious 

scholarship.”7 But NASA did the opposite in the second half of the 20th century. It 

not only embarked in field science, it sought to bring lab-quality measurements into 

the field. In other words, the Agency’s science leaders tried to gain for Earth sciences 

the best of both worlds: quantitative measurements taken in the context of the real 

world, or several worlds once one considers that “planetary” sciences are merely the 

Earth sciences carried out elsewhere. 

They did this for two reasons. NASA is the space agency, and parts of it are dedicated to the study of other planets. But scientists can’t go there to measure things 

themselves. With the sole exception of Moon rocks returned from the lunar surface 

by the Apollo program between 1969 and 1972, they couldn’t bring the rocks of 

other planets into the laboratory either. So they sought to send their laboratories 

off to the other planets instead. But understanding the data sent back by their robot 

laboratories often meant turning the instruments loose on Earth first. That way the 

planetary instruments’ performance could be checked via comparison by other, 

better understood, instruments. 

Second, NASA scientific leaders sought to achieve credibility with the American 

science advisory community (dominated throughout this period by physicists and 

chemists), and to achieve credibility with policymakers as more and more of NASA’s 

science establishment became involved in politically controversial areas. So NASA 

managers focused a great deal of attention on issues of calibration and intercomparison. They mounted large-scale field “experiments,” as their expeditions were 

called, perhaps attempting to borrow some of the cultural glamour of physics or 

the credibility of experimental science more generally, in order to collect real-world 

data. The best known of these are the Agency’s expeditions to Antarctica to study 

the ozone hole.8 

Methodologically, the Agency’s focus on large-scale data-collection, analysis, and 

emphasis on adequate calibration is recognizably what Susan Faye Cannon labeled 

“Humboldtian” science, after the efforts of 19th century explorer/scientist Alexander 

von Humboldt.9 Humboldt carried a huge variety of instruments on data collecting 

expeditions, along with mules and porters and other assistants to help him carry 

them. Calibration, intercomparison, and a quantitative understanding of errors were 

important parts of his method. He sought patterns in data that could be masked by 

such errors; he was also one of the pioneers of data visualization—isobaric maps, for 

example. Perhaps the most successful application of his methods in the 19th century 

7 Quoted in Oreskes, 290.


8 Sharon Roan, The Ozone Crisis (NY: Wiley, 1989); Maureen Christie, The Ozone Layer: A Philoso­


phy of Science Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 52–65; and W. Henry Lam-


bright, NASA and the Environment: The Case of Ozone Depletion, NASA SP-2005-4538, May 2005.


9 Susan Faye Cannon, Science in Culture: the Early Victorian Period (NY: Science History Publications, 1978).


continued on page 26 

3 
NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

From the Chief Historian (continued) 

NASA’s first Chief Historian, Eugene M. 

Emme, established the NASA History Office 

under the direction of the first Administrator, 

T. Keith Glennan. Emme served in this role 

until his retirement in 1978. NASA Historical 

Reference Collection 

Monte D. Wright, NASA’s second Chief 

Historian and a former USAF Academy 

professor, succeeded Emme in 1978. Wright 

served in this position through 1982. NASA 

Historical Reference Collection 

Sylvia Fries, Chief Historian 1983–1990. 

Fries previously served as a member of the 

NASA Advisory Council and Chair of the 

NASA History Advisory Committee. NASA 

Historical Reference Collection 

Roger D. Launius, Chief Historian 1990– 

2002. Launius is the author of numerous 

publications on the history of spaceflight 

and currently serves as Senior Curator in the 

Division of Space History at the National 

Air and Space Museum. NASA Historical 

Reference Collection 

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VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

Gene Emme (1919–1985) had been a Navy pilot in the Pacific theater during World 

War II, obtained his doctorate in history from the University of Iowa in 1949, and 

served in a variety of positions in the Air Force history program, including the 

faculty of the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama 

from 1949 to 1958. His book, The Impact of Air Power: National Security and World 

Politics (1959), was published just before he came to NASA. He began NASA’s 

history program modeled on that of the Air Force, heavy on research, documentation and publication, and serving not only external audiences, but also to NASA 

executive leadership and other personnel. By 1967 he had hired NASA’s first Chief 

Archivist, Lee Saegasser, who built the NASA Historical Reference Collection from 

almost nothing to 2,000 linear feet by the time of his departure in 1997. That collection, still widely used by scholars under the able direction of Chief Archivist Jane 

Odom, aided by Colin Fries, John Hargenrader, and Liz Suckow, holds a thick file 

testifying to Emme’s many historical activities at NASA. On Emme’s retirement in 

1978, Thomas P. Hughes, an eminent historian and chairman of the NASA History 

Advisory Committee, wrote that Emme “was not only present at the creation of 

what is virtually a new discipline—space history—but he also played a central role 

in establishing sound institutional support for that discipline.” 

Since Emme, the NASA Chief Historians have each brought their own strengths to 

the position. Monte Wright had been an Air Force navigator and taught history at 

the USAF Academy; his history of aerial navigation to 1941, Most Probable Position, 

was well known before he came to the History Office in 1973, having retired as a 

Lt. Colonel in the Air Force. He took up the position of Chief Historian on Emme’s 

retirement in 1978. Sylvia Fries had obtained her Ph.D. in history from Johns 

Hopkins University, had an academic career teaching American and European history at a number of universities, and served on the NASA Advisory Council and as 

Chair of the NASA History Advisory Committee before taking up duties as Chief 

Historian. She became an expert on science and technology policy and produced a 

volume on NASA Engineers and the Age of Apollo, an extensive aggregate biography 

of the engineers who took the United States to the Moon (NASA SP-4104, 1992). 

Roger Launius’s Ph.D. was in history, with major fields in American frontier and 

military history. Prior to coming to NASA, he served in a variety of history positions in the Air Force, including Chief Historian for the Military Airlift Command. 

His books are well known and too numerous to mention, and he continues to produce them from his current position in the Division of Space History of the National 

Air and Space Museum. Finally, I came to NASA from the U.S. Naval Observatory 

with a background in astrophysics and history of science, which possibly accounts 

for my desire to improve NASA history in the areas of Earth and space sciences and 

the societal impact of spaceflight. 

Over the last 50 years the History Office has come under several different organizational structures at NASA Headquarters. Emme came in as a special assistant to 

the Director of the Office of Public Information, but during his time the History 

Office came successively under office of Educational Programs (1960–1963), various 

forms of the Office of Policy Planning (1963–1970), and the Office of the Administrator (1971–1977). Since then, aside from brief stints in the Administrator’s office in 

1991–1992 and the office of Policy and Plans from 1995–2001, the History Office has 

come under the Office of External Relations, which is responsible for all of NASA’s 

international and interagency interactions. 

continued on next page 

5

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

From the Chief Historian (continued) 

With more than 20,000 civil servants at NASA, tens of thousands more contractors, 

and a broad mission that encompasses aeronautics, Earth and space science, human 

spaceflight operations and the development of new systems for human spaceflight, all 

with huge national and international implications, NASA is a never-ending source 

of rich history. In addition to the staff of seven at Headquarters, the history and 

archive functions are therefore also undertaken at the NASA Centers. Some Centers 

have active historians, others have active archivists, and a few lucky ones have both. 

You can read about their activities in each of these newsletters. In order to discuss 

common issues and the latest research in NASA history, each year we gather at one 

of the Centers for our Annual History Review, which will be held this year at NASA 

Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. You can see our latest annual 

report at http://history.nasa.gov/2007.pdf. 

You will find a great deal more about NASA history at our ever-growing Web site 

http://history.nasa.gov/program.html. Readers can also check out “Thinking about 

NASA History” at http://history.nasa.gov/thinking/index.html. Now in press is a new 

50th anniversary edition of Research in NASA History, which will replace the old 

monograph from 1997 found at http://history.nasa.gov/hhrhist.pdf. This new edition 

details the historical and archival resources available for doing space history. You 

can access the NASA HQ Online Historical Reference Collection at https://mira. 

hq.nasa.gov/history/. And as usual, for more about our numerous publications and 

other services see our Web site at http://history.nasa.gov/. 

NASA should be proud of its history program, and I expect Gene Emme would be 

pleased and perhaps amazed at what has developed from humble beginnings in 1959. 

Steve Dick 

News from NASA Headquarters 

and Centers 

Headquarters 

Jane Odom continues to evaluate and acquire new material for the Historical Reference Collection (HRC). As expected, she has been involved with the disposition of 

the official records and other historical materials of the former Administrator and 

Deputy Administrator, working with the records management staff to ensure that 

this history is captured and preserved. Additionally, Jane appraises material for historical value and directs the subsequent processing of collections, answers reference 

requests, and this quarter, participated in a mandatory declassification review. 

Collectively, Colin Fries, John Hargenrader, and Liz Suckow all share reference 

duties, answering inquiries received by e-mail, assisting walk-in researchers, and 

helping Jane with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. They also recently 

assisted Jane in reviewing several thousand PDFs in the database in an effort to 

resolve an ongoing search issue. 

Colin has finished scanning a collection of life sciences materials dated 1993–2003, 

and a collection of records transmittal forms dated 1951–1985, that describe official 

6

VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

records transferred by Headquarters (HQ) to the Washington National Records 

Center. He has re-processed the HQ organization files and processed a small collection of congressional material. He is currently processing a collection of History 

series unpublished historical reports, monographs, and notes. Colin continues to 

maintain the History Division Web pages and recently finished updating the forecast of upcoming anniversaries pages. 

John is continuing to scan the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance chronological 

correspondence files dated 1986–2001. He is working to preserve deteriorating newspaper clippings in the early Administrators’ files and the Explorer spacecraft files. 

As he goes through the records, he is reorganizing the material chronologically and 

segregating the official NASA items from secondary source materials in an effort to 

facilitate research use. 

Liz Suckow has completed the appraisal of a 67-cubic foot collection of Apollo 

program files and Office of Policy files borrowed from the Federal Records Center, 

copying historically significant items from this collection to add to the HRC. Her 

next collection, recalled from the Records Center, contains sources for a history 

of the Apollo program, circa 1963–1970. Liz is currently processing a collection of 

files on the Space Flight Participant Program, including information on the teacher, 

journalist, and educator-astronaut in space programs. Additionally, she is working 

on a preservation project of the old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 

(NACA) files, refoldering material in acid-free folders and photocopying deteriorating materials; and she continues to enter descriptive information about our oral 

histories into the database. 

Ames Research Center (ARC) 

The ARC Hall of Fame inducted nine new members with its 70th anniversary class. 

Their selection followed a Center-wide nomination process, and reflects the diversity 

of scientific and technical work for which ARC is famous. The hall “recognizes those 

people whose contributions have had the most sustained and far-reaching influence 

on the direction and mission of NASA Ames, and/or whose work at NASA Ames has 

generated fundamental advancements in either a scientific or engineering field.” In 

a well-attended ceremony on 23 February 2008 the inductees thanked those friends 

and coworkers they collaborated with and reflected on the meaning of their careers. 

John Billingham was chief of the ARC life sciences division in the 1980s and fostered 

the transdisciplinary foundation of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 

(SETI) and astrobiology. John W. Boyd is widely respected for his varied roles 

in NASA technical management and for making the Center’s past relevant to its 

future. Estelle P. Condon—a science manager during the 1980s and 1990s—helped 

make ARC a leading Center for the Earth sciences. Alfred J. Eggers was a pioneer 

in aerothermodynamics in the 1950s and led ARC into space project management in 

the 1960s. Heinz Erzberger brought mathematical rigor to air traffic management, 

bringing greater efficiency and safety to air travel. Henry McDonald, as Director 

of ARC, provided exceptional leadership and keen technical insight as the Center 

reinvented itself in the 1990s. Emily Morey-Holton’s research papers are among the 

most cited in NASA history, and are compelling examples of how basic research in 

space life sciences prove useful in medical research on Earth. Alvin Seiff pioneered 

the technology of entry probes, thereby creating an effective tool for understanding 

planetary atmospheres. Paul F. Yaggy forged a strong relationship between ARC 

continued on next page 

7 
NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued) 

and the U.S. Army, and built a research group that made ARC a world leader in 

rotorcraft aeromechanics. 

They join a class of 12 ARC notables inducted for the 60th anniversary of the Center: 

Smith DeFrance, Robert T. Jones, H. Julian Allen, Harvard Lomax, George Cooper, Dean Chapman, Hans Mark, Clarence Syvertson, Harold Klein, James Pollack, 

Charles Hall, and William Ballhaus. 

ARC and Airship Ventures LLC celebrated the 75th anniversary of the commissioning of Moffett Field with a ceremony on the airfield. Airship Ventures, a partner of 

the NASA Research Park, recently began operations of a dirigible at Moffett Field 

out of Hangar Two. The dirigible is available for NASA’s remote sensing and atmospheric research and, by providing provide sightseeing flights over the Bay Area, it 

gives insight into cleaner and more efficient vehicles for air tourism. 

In addition to the usual ARC luminaries, included in the celebrations on 21 November 2008 were descendants of Admiral William 

Moffett and of Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin, and representatives 

of the German government. Three of only 12 remaining airship 

hangars in the U.S. are at Moffett Field. 

Another NASA Research Park partner, the Lunar Image Recovery 

Project Team, unveiled a newly restored image of Earth rising taken 

in 1966 by the Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft. At a press conference on 

13 November 2008, Dennis Wingo and Greg Schmidt of the NASA 

Lunar Science Institute spoke on the process of refurbishing the 

machines required for a high-resolution print from the original data, 

and the value of the image in understanding the history of changes 

to the Moon’s surface. Lunar Orbiter data still generate the highest 

resolution images taken of the lunar surface. The images can be seen 

at www.moonviews.com or searching “LOIRP” via Google. 

The Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) 

celebrated its 25th anniversary in November 2008 with a gala at the 

Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. RIACS 

was formed 1983 as a collaboration between NASA and Universities Space Research Association (USRA) to staff ARC’s Numerical 

Aerodynamic Simulation facility. Founding RIACS director Peter 

Denning spoke on the history of the institute, joined by the current Directors of ARC, RIACS, and USRA. Denning noted the 

early work done at RIACS in pioneering the field of intelligent and 

autonomous systems, on code for computational fluid dynamics, 

using open-source systems, and adopting flexible network protocols. A 25th anniversary history of RIACS is available at history. 

arc.nasa.gov. 

ARC is preparing to host the 2009 NASA History Training and 

Review. It will be held 28–30 April in Building 3 at ARC. The 

program will include updates on NASA history efforts throughout 

the Agency. 

A stunning image of Earth rising, taken by the Lunar Orbiter 1 in 1966 and recently 

restored by the Lunar Image Recovery Project Team. 

8

VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

Recently, Jack Boyd and Glenn Bugos published “Accelerating Entrepreneurial Space: 

The Case for a NACA-Style Organization,” in Space Policy 24 (2008) 140–147. 

The ARC archives enjoyed extended visits from two researchers: Janet Vertesi is 

studying the organization of the science teams managing robotic exploration; and 

Renee Rottner is studying extended innovation in research teams using the Spitzer 

telescope as her case study. We accessioned more than 30 cubic feet of documents 

and artifacts since the last newsletter, notably records of the joint U.S./Soviet biological satellite programs from the 1970s through the 1990s. 

April Gage is preparing the archives for several months in mothballs while building 

N207 undergoes renovation. Researchers interested in using records should give 

April plenty of advance notice, and be aware that records may not be accessible. 

Glenn Research Center (GRC) 

A local television station has begun work on a piece to air next summer highlighting 

GRC contributions to the space program and its current Ares work. The History Office 

provided the producer with a synopsis of the Center’s achievements related to the space 

program and found historical films to highlight each section. The producers are viewing a number of our historic films for possible inclusion in the piece and hope to also 

interview local retirees about their experiences working on the Apollo program. 

Demolition has begun on another of GRC’s historic buildings. The Propulsion 

Systems Laboratory (PSL) began operating in October of 1952 with two 24-foot 

diameter and 14-foot long altitude chambers. The chambers, which occupied two 

floors, could simulate altitudes up to 70,000 feet; however, only one chamber could 

be operated at a time. Its first tests were of the 18-inch ramjet that was to be used by 

the Navajo missile. 

PSL 1 was initially primarily used for turbojet studies. Later in the 1950s it was 

used for missile studies. PSL 2 was initially for ramjet and rocket studies. Later, it 

became involved in more complex rocket systems. PSL 1 and 2 were used to study the 

Centaur rocket’s RL-10 engine as well as tank insulation and pressurization during 

the early 1960s. PSL 1 and 2 were closed down in late 1979. 

In 1967 work began on adding an additional two altitude chambers that were referred 

to as PSL 3 and 4. At 24 feet in diameter and 40 feet in length, these new chambers 

were longer than the original chambers. They were also both on ground level. PSL 

3 and 4 had separate diffusers, but shared a plenum and cooler, which gave them a 

Y-shape. PSL 3 and 4 began operation in 1972. In 1990, a major rehab of PSL 3 and 

4 began and the chambers could simulate altitudes up to 90,000 feet. 

Archivist Bob Arrighi (Wyle) is undertaking a project to document this historic 

facility as part of NASA’s continuing commitment to cultural resource management. Photographic surveys of the facility were taken prior to demolition. Numerous 

construction photographs were identified and scanned. Extensive research was 

conducted on both the PSL’s physical composition and testing history through 

records and retiree interviews. A Web site documenting the history of the facility 

is nearly complete. A short manuscript on the facility and a large display panel are 

also underway. 

continued on next page 

9

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

News from Headquarters and the Centers (continued) 

The Society for History in the Federal Government recently announced that Bob 

Arrighi, GRC Archivist, has been awarded their John Wesley Powell Prize for 

excellence in historical preservation and display. His work, Altitude Wind Tunnel at 

NASA Glenn Research Center. An Interactive History, is an interactive, multimedia 

CD celebrating the history and engineering of this technological first. Along with 

its accompanying Web site: http://awt.grc.nasa.gov/Interactive/awt.html, the CD 

documents the design, history, and technological contributions of the Altitude Wind 

Tunnel through the inclusion of a timeline, photos, primary technical reports and 

diagrams, and interactive illustrations of its layout. 

Kennedy Space Center (KSC) 

A History of the Kennedy Space Center has won the 2009 Gardner-Lasser Aerospace 

History Literature Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This award recognizes the best nonfiction work in aero- or astronautical history 

addressing the science, technology, or societal impact of aero- or astronautics. 

Amy Harris, Exhibits, Awards, and Events Coordinator at the University Press of 

Florida, nominated the work which details the Center’s history and the engineering 

and administration contributing to the successful construction and launch of hundreds of manned and unmanned rockets, shuttles, and other spacecraft. A History 

of the Kennedy Space Center was written by Kenneth Lipartito, Professor of history 

at Florida International University, and Orville Butler, Associate Historian at the 

American Institute of Physics. 

Recent Publications 

NASA History Publications 

Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space 

Program, Volume VII (NASA SP-2008-4407), edited by John M. Logsdon with 

Roger D. Launius. Exploring the Unknown, a collection of source documents that 

have helped shape the U.S. space program, provides primary access illuminating 

the major issues in American spaceflight. Volume VII addresses the beginnings of 

human spaceflight with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo projects, featuring official 

reports, internal memoranda, letters, and interviews on the subject, each with a 

short essay outlining its significance. Exploring the Unknown can be purchased for 

$35 from the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI) at http://ntrs.nasa. 

gov/search.jsp, the NASA Information Center, the Government Printing Office, or 

private vendors. 

William H. Pickering: America’s Deep Space Pioneer (NASA SP-2008-4113), by 

Douglas J. Mudgway. As the first Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, William Pickering led the U.S. effort to develop viable rocket propulsion systems and 

played an integral role in the American response to Sputnik through the launching 

of Explorer I. In this revised second edition, Mudgway, a former JPL engineer working under Pickering, captures the significance of Pickering’s contribution to early 

astronautical development in the U.S. and the role he played at JPL in establishing 

America’s presence in space. This edition can be purchased through the CASI for 

10

VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

$25 or from the Government Printing Office, NASA Information Center, or from 

private vendors for $39. 

Remembering the Space Age: Proceedings of the 50th Anniversary Conference (NASA 

SP-2008-4703), Steven J. Dick, editor. There is no doubt that the last 50 years have 

brought numerous accomplishments in the “new ocean” of space, harkening back to 

a long tradition of exploration. After 50 years of robotic and human spaceflight, and 

as serious plans are being implemented to return humans to the Moon and continue 

on to Mars, it is a good time to step back and ask questions that those in the heat of 

battle have had little time to consider. What has the Space Age meant? What if the 

Space Age had never occurred? Has it been, and is it still, important for a creative 

society to explore space? How do we, and how should we, remember the Space Age? 

This book is an edited collection of 21 essays stemming from an October 2007 conference sponsored by the NASA History Division and the National Air and Space 

Museum to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik I and the dawn of the 

Space Age. This volume, with a number of full-color illustrations, may be purchased 

through GPO or amazon.com for $54 or through CASI for $55. 

Other NASA Publications 

Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report (NASA SP-2008-565), available in 

electronic format only at http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/298870main_SP-2008-565.pdf.

After the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s (CAIB) inquiry regarding the 

cause of the accident was completed, further consideration produced the question 

of whether there were lessons to be learned about how to improve crew survival in 

the future. This investigation was performed with the belief that a comprehensive, 

respectful investigation could provide knowledge that can protect future crews in 

the worldwide community of human spaceflight. This report is the first comprehensive, publicly available accident investigation report addressing crew survival for a 

human spacecraft mishap; and it provides key information for future crew survival 

investigations. The results of this investigation are intended to add meaning to the 

sacrifice of the crew’s lives by making spaceflight safer for future generations. 

NASA Publications Reprinted by Dover Publications 

Project Vanguard: The NASA History, by Constance McLaughlin Green and Milton 

Lomask (Dover Publications, January 2009). This authoritative, illustrated history 

chronicles the Vanguard project, which placed the United States’ second satellite 

into Earth orbit. In addition to analysis of the program’s scientific and technical 

challenges, it surveys the influence of the launchings of the first Russian Sputniks 

and Vanguard’s impact on subsequent space missions. Originally published by 

NASA as SP-4202, 1970, the Dover edition features a new introduction by author 

Paul Dickson. 

continued on next page 

11

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Recent Publications (continued) 

Commercially Published Works 

Compiled by Chris Gamble. 

Around the World in 84 Days: The Authorized Biography of Skylab Astronaut Jerry 

Carr, by David Shayler (Apogee Books Space Series/Collector’s Guide Publishing, Inc., September 2008). For 84 days—from 16 November 1973, to 8 February 

1974—mission commander Gerald P. Carr orbited Earth on board the American 

space station Skylab 4, setting a new record for time in space. Covering his recordsetting time in space as well as his training in the U.S. Marine Corps, his career with 

NASA, and his retirement years, this biography brings the story of Jerry Carr to life. 

Saturn I/IB: The Complete Manufacturing and Test Records, by Alan Lawrie (Apogee 

Books Space Series/Collector’s Guide Publishing, Inc., October 2008). A complete 

history of the life of each Saturn I/IB rocket stage that played a central role in the 

Apollo project, this book reviews the manufacturing process, reveals how the rockets were tested, and identifies the problems associated with them. Rarely published 

photographs of how the rockets were built and tested are included with statistical 

data—such as details of the engines attached to each stage and the transportation 

records of each stage—as well as information on the many manufacturing and test 

facilities used and the current status of each one. 

Robotic Exploration of the Solar System: Part II: Hiatus and Renewal, 1983–1996, 

by Paolo Ulivi and David Harland (Praxis, November 2008). Robotic Exploration of 

the Solar System provides a detailed history of unmanned missions of exploration of 

our solar system. Technical descriptions of the spacecraft, of their mission designs, 

and of instrumentations are provided. Scientific results are discussed in considerable 

depth, together with details of mission management. It details planetary missions of 

the 1980s up to the Soviet Phobos mission; the flybys of Halley’s comet; the “flagship” missions of the 1990s, including Magellan, Galileo, and Mars Observer; and 

planetary missions from the early 1990s up to 1996, including Ulysses, Clementine, 

NEAR, Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars-96, and early proposals for 

a small Pluto probe. 

The Hunt for Planet X: New Worlds and the Fate of Pluto, by Govert Schilling 

(Springer, November 2008). The Hunt for Planet X: New Worlds and the Fate of Pluto 

goes beyond a standard scientific read encompassing who and what is involved in the 

pursuit of planetary endeavors. Touching on over 300 years of debates, debacles, and 

discoveries, this book offers the reader insight into the minds and motives of planetary astronomers and their findings. The real-life characters presented in the book 

look for glimpses of light in the dark, from icy Kuiper Belt objects to full-fledged 

planets, in the process challenging how such worlds should be defined and ultimately 

describing the universe. 

Radical Wings & Wind Tunnels: Advanced Concepts Tested at NASA Langley, by 

Joseph R. Chambers and Mark A. Chambers (Specialty Press, October 2008). Radical Wings and Wind Tunnels presents a behind the scenes look at how the NACA, 

and today’s NASA, have used wind tunnels and flight testing in past and current 

projects to advance aeronautical science. 

X-Plane Crashes: Exploring Experimental, Rocket Plane & Spycraft Incidents, Accidents & Crash Sites, by Peter W. Merlin and Tony Moore (Specialty Press, October 

12

VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

2008). Known as “The X-Hunters,” authors Peter W. Merlin and Tony Moore 

have located more than 100 crash sites of exotic aircraft from Edwards Air Force 

Base and Area 51. Together they have recovered parts of supersonic rocket planes, 

stealthy spycraft, and vehicles that have reached the edge of space. Each story in the 

book profiles an unusual aircraft and the brave men who flew them. The authors 

examine the contributing causes of each crash and use then-and-now photographs 

to illustrate their findings. 

Mars: From Myth and Mystery to Recent Discoveries, by Markus Hotakainen 

(Springer, November 2008). Mars has always been shrouded in mystery. It is very 

difficult to resolve through a telescope; for many centuries it remained just a reddish 

blur in the sky. Even in ancient times, its blood-red color evoked fear and gave rise to 

myths and legends that are still with us today. Over the centuries, bits and pieces of 

data on Mars have accumulated, and as more probes have made their way to the Red 

Planet, its veil of mystery is falling away. Nearly every week we are seeing exciting 

new pictures of Mars and learning more about its geology, weather, and history. This 

book is a journey from myth to reality, finding out what we do know about Mars, 

and what is still a mystery. 

Humans in Outer Space—Interdisciplinary Odysseys Series: Studies in Space Policy, 

Vol. 1, edited by Luca Codignola and Kai-Uwe Schrogl (Springer, November 2008). 

The spacefaring nations are heading for the human exploration of the Moon, Mars, 

and Near-Earth Objects. They might be soon prepared with regard to technology 

development. But they also need to benefit from the humanities (history, philosophy, 

anthropology), the arts as well as the social sciences (political science, economics, 

law) to implement their plans. This book is the first comprehensive transdisciplinary 

dialogue on humans in outer space. This dialogue goes further than regarding 

humans as better-than-robot tools for exploration. It investigates the human quest 

for odysseys beyond Earth’s atmosphere and reflects also on the implications of 

finding extraterrestrial life. 

Earthcam: Watching the World from Orbit, by Terry Hope (David & Charles PLC; 

2nd ed., October, 2008). For the past 40 years, satellites have been sent into space to 

look back at our amazing planet with ever more sophisticated imaging technology. 

Earthcam presents an amazing collection of these images, allowing us to view our 

planet from an extraordinarily revealing perspective. From the ice caps to deserts, 

cities, and landmarks to volcanoes and forest fires, Earthcam brings together the 

most spectacular images captured of our home planet into a remarkable visual 

spectacle. Images illustrate the incredibly minute details that modern satellites are 

able to capture. Fascinating models of phenomena such as temperature and moisture are presented in the form of graphic representations from the latest scanning 

technology. This title provides stark evidence as to how global warming is changing 

the environment and the face of the planet irreversibly. 

Homesteading Space: The Skylab Story, by W. David Hitt, Owen K. Garriott, and 

Joe P. Kerwin (University of Nebraska Press, November 2008). As the United States 

and the Soviet Union went from exploring space to living in it, a space station 

was conceived as the logical successor to the Apollo Moon program. But between 

conception and execution, there was the vastness of space itself, to say nothing of 

monumental technological challenges. Homesteading Space, by two of Skylab’s own 

astronauts and a NASA journalist, tells the dramatic story of America’s first space 

station from beginning to fiery end. 

continued on next page 

13

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Recent Publications (continued) 

Earthrise: How We First Saw Ourselves, by Robert Poole (Yale University Press, 

November 2008). Earthrise tells the remarkable story of the first photographs of 

Earth from space and the totally unexpected impact of those images. The Apollo 

“Earthrise” and “Blue Marble” photographs were beamed across the world some 40 

years ago. They had an astounding effect, Robert Poole explains, and in fact transformed thinking about Earth and its environment in a way that echoed throughout 

religion, culture, and science. Gazing upon our whole planet for the first time, we 

saw ourselves and our place in the universe with new clarity. 

Lunar Outpost: The Challenges of Establishing Human Settlements on the Moon, 

by Erik Seedhouse (Praxis, November 2008). Lunar Outpost provides a detailed 

account of the various technologies, mission architectures, medical requirements, 

and training needed to return humans to the Moon within the next decade. It focuses 

on the means by which a lunar outpost will be constructed and also addresses major 

topics such as the cost of the enterprise and the roles played by private companies 

and individual countries. Lunar Outpost also describes the human factors, communications, exploration activities, and life support constraints of the missions. 

Planetology: How Earth Is Unlocking the Secrets of the Solar System, by Tom Jones 

and Ellen Stofan (National Geographic, November 2008). In a stunning and completely new view of the solar system, an astronaut and a geologist team up to 

investigate, through parallel views made possible by cutting-edge space technology, 

how Earth itself can help science unravel the mysteries of the heavens. This comprehensive new portrait of the solar system brings to light an array of important 

features never seen until today—and it highlights, for the first time, the similarities 

and contrasts between Earth and its neighbors in space. 

Who Owns the Moon?, by Virgiliu G. Pop (Springer, December 2008). This work 

investigates the permissibility and viability of property rights on the celestial bodies, 

particularly the extraterrestrial aspects of land and mineral resources ownership. In 

lay terms, it aims to find an answer to the question “who owns the Moon?” After 

critically analyzing and dismantling with legal arguments the trivial issue of sale of 

extraterrestrial real estate, the book addresses the apparent silence of the law in the 

field of landed property in outer space, scrutinizing whether the factual situation on 

the extraterrestrial realms calls for legal regulations. 

The First Jet Pilot: The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz, by Lutz Warsitz 

(Pen & Sword Aviation, November 2008). On 27 August 1939, Flugkapitan Erich 

Warsitz became the first man to fly a jet aircraft, the Heinkel He 178; in June of the 

same year he flew the first liquid-fuel rocket aircraft, the Heinkel He 176. His legendary flying skills enabled him to assist the pioneering German aircraft and engine 

design teams that included Wernher von Braun and Ernst Heinkel. He repeatedly 

risked his life extending the frontiers of aviation in speed, altitude, and technology 

and survived many life-threatening incidents. 

How Spacecraft Fly: Spaceflight Without Formulae, by Graham Swinerd (Springer, 

October 2008). The aim of this popular science text is to explain aerodynamic and 

astrodynamic flight without the use of mathematics and in an informal style, for 

nontechnical readers who are interested in spaceflight and spacecraft. 

Conquistadors of the Sky: A History of Aviation in Latin America, by Dan Hagedorn 

(University Press of Florida, December 2008). Coinciding with the opening of a new 

permanent exhibit, America by Air, at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air 

14

VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

and Space Museum, Conquistadors of the Sky celebrates the aviation achievements 

of 21 Latin American nations over the last 100 years—making this chronicle of 

heroic ventures and epic flights the best reference available on the subject. 

Mars 3-D: A Rover’s-Eye View of the Red Planet, by Jim Bell (Sterling, November 

2008). What would it be like to visit Mars—to explore the distinctive, untouched terrain that inspired astronomers and stirred so many sci-fi writers’ imaginations? Two 

highly capable robotic geologists—Spirit and Opportunity—made that amazing voyage, and spent the last four years roaming the Red Planet’s unique landscape. Thanks 

to 120 stunning 3-D and color images shot by these rovers, we can come along—and 

right now, it’s the closest we can get to actually setting foot on Mars. These superrealistic pictures pop off the page, allowing us to see for ourselves the rocks, craters, 

valleys, and other geologic configurations that define the Martian terrain. 

A Place in Space: The History of Swiss Participation in European Space Programmes 

1960–1987, by Stephan Zellmeyer (Paris: Beauchesne Editeur, November 2008). 

Small, neutral Switzerland was one of the driving forces in setting up the first 

Europe-wide space agency, the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO). 

Following that, Switzerland went on to become an active member of the European 

Space Agency (ESA). This book explains how and why Switzerland came to play 

such a role. 

Spain and the European Space Effort, by José María Dorado Gutiérrez (Paris: 

Beauchesne Editeur, November 2008). This book contains nine historical monographs that present important aspects of the Spanish participation in ESRO and 

ESA programs. The authors are persons with direct experience of the matters they 

describe and have obtained industry-wide support to obtain the information used. 

A list of Spain’s major achievements in space and a series of tables presenting the 

details of Spanish investments and participation in all major ESA projects are also 

included as well as photographs of hardware delivered to ESA. 

The Sun from Space, by Kenneth R. Lang (Springer, 2nd edition, December 2008). The 

first edition of The Sun From Space, completed in 1999, focused on the early accomplishments of three solar spacecraft, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), 

Ulysses, and Yohkoh, primarily during a minimum in the Sun’s 11-year cycle of magnetic activity. This comprehensive second edition includes the main findings of these 

three spacecraft over an entire activity cycle, including two minima and a maximum, 

and discusses the significant results of six further solar missions. After describing the 

scientific objectives of the nine solar missions and a historical perspective on studies of 

the Sun and heliosphere, the author presents key advances in our understanding of the 

solar interior; the heating of the million-degree outer atmosphere of the Sun, known 

as the solar corona; the origin and nature of the solar winds; the cause, prediction, 

and propagation of explosive solar flares and coronal mass ejections; and all aspects 

of space-weather interactions of the Sun with Earth, with unprotected astronauts on 

the Moon or Mars, and with spacecraft in outer space. 

The Greatest Comets in History: Broom Stars and Celestial Scimitars, by David 

Seargent (Springer, November 2008). The Greatest Comets in History is a detailed 

descriptive account —in non-technical language—of what are deemed to have been 

the most spectacular and notable comets ever recorded beginning with “Aristotle’s 

Comet” of 372 BC and ending with McNaught’s Comet of 2007. Halley’s Comet is 

continued on next page 

15

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Recent Publications (continued) 

given a separate chapter and there is an introductory chapter on comets in general, 

explaining in lay terms what they are and correcting a few popular misconceptions. 

Spaceplanes: From Airport to Spaceport, by Matthew A. Bentley (Springer, December 2008). Spaceplanes presents a vision of the near future in which space vehicles 

can take off from an international airport, refuel in space, and fly regularly between 

Earth and the Moon. In a few years it will be possible to board a spaceplane and 

fly into Earth orbit, and perhaps visit a space station. Later development could 

include refueling in orbit to take a tour of cislunar space. As the latest news has 

shown, the successful flight of SpaceShipOne and the imminent inauguration of 

Virgin Galactic’s suborbital rides from the New Mexico desert have already begun 

this process. This book explains the technical details of precisely how all this can be 

accomplished within the next few decades. 

Space Rescue: Ensuring the Safety of Manned Spacecraft, by David J. Shayler (Praxis, 

January 2009). In Space Rescue, author David J. Shayler reviews the development of 

crew survival and escape methods from the earliest designs of manned spacecraft to the 

current discussions of systems for the International Space Station and on to the future 

prospect of sending men and women out toward Mars. The author reviews the numerous proposed systems of crew rescue and also analyzes the adopted systems of ejection 

seats, escape towers, and abort profiles during the ascent from Earth to space, including 

the safety requirements and contingency procedures available during various mission 

profiles to get the crew safely back to Earth. He also examines the various wilderness 

training programs and abort simulations used to help prepare the crews for almost any 

unplanned and emergency contingency they may face during their mission. 

The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team: Their Lives and Legacies, by Colin Burgess and 

Rex Hall (Praxis, December 2008). The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team relates who 

these men were and offers far more extensive background stories on them in addition to those of the more familiar names of early Soviet space explorers from that 

group. Many previously unpublished photographs of these “missing” candidates 

are included for the first time in this book. It is a detailed but highly readable and 

balanced account of the history, training, and experiences of the first group of 20 

cosmonauts of the USSR. A covert recruitment and selection process was set in 

motion throughout the Soviet military in August 1959, just prior to the naming of 

America’s Mercury astronauts. Those selected were ordered to report for training 

at a special camp outside of Moscow in the spring of 1960. Just a year later, Senior 

Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Air Force (promoted in flight to the rank of 

major) was launched aboard a Vostok spacecraft and became the first person ever to 

achieve spaceflight and orbit Earth. 

Eyes on the Skies: 400 Years of Telescopic Discovery, by Govert Schilling and Lars 

Lindberg Christensen (Wiley-VCH, February 2009). Adopted as the official book of 

the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) 2009, this stunningly illustrated history 

of telescopic discovery spans the range from the first telescopes via the Hubble Space 

Telescope to next generation platforms, and how they have changed and continue 

to change our view of the universe, our place in it, and where it all came from. The 

book features numerous full-page photographs and is printed in high-quality color 

throughout. Also includes the official IYA DVD with 59 minutes of narrated text, 

expert comments and interviews, animations, computer simulations, and science 

results, plus footage from observatories. 

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VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

1969, The Year Everything Changed, by Rob Kirkpatrick (Skyhorse Publishing, 

January 2009). For the 40th anniversary of 1969, Rob Kirkpatrick takes a look back 

at a year when America witnessed many of the biggest landmark achievements, 

cataclysmic episodes, and generation-defining events in recent history, including 

the Apollo 11 Moon landing. The book chronicles the year through all its ups and 

downs, in culture and society, sports, music, film, politics, and technology. 

Online Resources 

http://www.sdfo.org/stl/ 

The Space Technology Laboratories (STL) Online Archive features a collection of 

articles on the STL, the NASA facility used to test propulsion systems and the Space 

Shuttle main engines; and NASA’s early, unmanned Pioneer, Atlas, and Explorer 

programs. Gideon Marcus, the site administrator, includes original space history 

articles written for Quest Magazine as well as primary reports, photos, and technical 

documents regarding the missions’ results. 

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/index.html 

A comprehensive collection of images, audio, source documents, and interactive 

media, this official NASA site commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 

program. As new material is being added until 2012 to correspond to each mission’s 

anniversary, this site is a valuable resource for primary materials and reflective 

pieces on the program’s significance. 

http://www.shfg.org/SHFGv3JournalIssues.html 

The Society for History in the Federal Government annually produces an online journal, Federal History, focusing on the workings and trends in federal government as they 

influence the American people. The first issue, published in January, includes articles 

on science policy of the New Deal and the cultural effects of Roosevelt’s program, the 

financing of the Civil War and the establishment of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the National Negro Republican Assembly during the 1964 election. 

Other News in Aerospace History 

News from the American Astronautical 

Society (AAS) History Committee 

Nominations Sought for 2008 Emme Award 

The AAS History Committee is soliciting nominations for the 2008 Emme Award 

for astronautical literature. This annual award recognizes an outstanding book that 

advances public understanding of astronautics. It rewards originality, scholarship, 

continued on next page 

17

NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Other News in Aerospace History (continued) 

and readability. Please send nominations (including title, author, publisher, and 

publisher contact information) to aas@astronautical.org. 

Newsletter and Distribution List 

Explorer, the periodic newsletter of the AAS History Committee, is available on 

the AAS Web site at www.astronautical.org/committees/history/. If you would like 

to directly receive each issue, as well as an occasional bit of information related to 

spaceflight history, send an e-mail with your request to the Chair of the History 

Committee, Michael Ciancone, at michael.l.ciancone@nasa.gov. 

News from the National Air and Space Museum 

Division of Space History (DSH) curators are at work on a new exhibition with the 

working title of Moving Beyond Earth that focuses on U.S. human spaceflight since 

the Moon landings. Through artifacts, electronic and mechanical interactives, and 

a high- definition television presentation center, this new exhibition will focus both 

on the experience of spaceflight as evidenced in the Space Shuttle and International 

Space Station (ISS) programs and on possible futures envisioned for human exploration beyond Earth. It will open in two parts, with the presentation center and minimal artifacts in September 2009 and the exhibition’s full build-out by September 

2011. Moving Beyond Earth accents the extreme nature of human spaceflight where 

risk is high and margin for error is slight, highlighting the people involved in the 

endeavor, creating an immersive environment that simulates a spaceflight setting, 

providing visitor activities to make more real the experience of human spaceflight, 

and displaying artifacts from various efforts that relate the challenges of becoming a 

spacefaring people. By experiencing what spaceflight is like and identifying with the 

people who make it possible, visitors will discover the challenges and opportunities 

of human spaceflight. Stay tuned for more details in the future. 

During 2008 DSH curators were active in a broad range of historical research and 

writing projects. Members of the division published seven books, as follows: 

• Ceruzzi, Paul E. Internet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner, 1945–2005. 

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. 

• Ceruzzi, Paul E. The Internet and American Business. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 

2008. Edited with William Aspray. 

• DeVorkin, David H. Hubble: Imaging Space and Time. Washington, DC: National 

Geographic Society, 2008. With Robert Smith and Elizabeth Kessler. Enlarged and 

expanded version of The Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe (2004). 

• Lassman, Thomas. Sources of Weapon Systems Innovation in the Department of 

Defense: The Role of In-House Research and Development, 1945–2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2008. 

• Launius, Roger D. Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel. 

Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. With Howard E. McCurdy. 

• Launius, Roger D. Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the 

U.S. Civil Space Program, Volume VII, Human Spaceflight: Projects Mercury, 

Gemini, and Apollo. Washington, DC: NASA SP-2008-4407. With John M. 

Logsdon, General Editor. 

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VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

• Neufeld, Michael J. Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War. Paperback 

edition. New York, NY: Vintage, 2008. 

In addition, members of the division staff recently published 22 articles and a large 

number of book reviews and made numerous historical presentations to professional 

audiences. Notably, the just-published NASA History book edited by Steve Dick, 

Remembering the Space Age, features articles by Michael Neufeld, Martin Collins, 

Cathleen Lewis, and Roger Launius, as well as former Fellow Monique Laney. 

Roger Launius and Margaret Weitekamp published articles in a special Fall 2008 

issue of the Florida Historical Quarterly on NASA’s 50th anniversary in Florida. 

Launius published “Heroes in a Vacuum: The Apollo Astronaut as Cultural Icon,” 

Florida Historical Quarterly 87 (Fall 2008): 174–209, and Weitekamp published 

“Selling Education in the Shape of a Shuttle,” Florida Historical Quarterly 87 (Fall 

2008): 210–234. 

Finally, Roger Launius has won the Trask Award of the Society of Historians in the 

Federal Government, honoring him for his services to federal history. The award 

will be presented at the SHFG meeting in March. 

Other Archival News 

Historic Documents Archived 

The family of Dr. William H. Pickering, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

from 1954 to 1976, has donated a collection of his speeches, papers, and other memorabilia to the Museum of History in Pasadena, California. Following Dr. Pickering’s 

death in 2004, the collection was initially used by Douglas Mudgway in research 

for his book William H. Pickering, America’s Deep Space Pioneer, published in 2007 

by the NASA History Division (NASA SP-2007-4113). The collection also includes 

photographs, pamphlets, correspondence, and news clippings from Dr. Pickering’s 

career, as well as recorded transcripts of interviews conducted by Mudgway in 

preparation of his book. In accepting the collection, Executive Director Jeannette 

O’Malley expressed her appreciation to Dr. Pickering’s family for making these 

historic documents available for further research on NASA’s origins and early activities. Inquires regarding the collection can be addressed to Laura Verlaque, Museum 

archivist, at lverlaque@pasadenahistory.org. 

Neil Armstrong Pledges Papers to Purdue University 

This fall Neil Armstrong announced his decision to donate a collection of personal 

papers and other resources to Purdue University, where he earned a bachelor’s 

degree in aerospace engineering in 1955. The papers will complement Purdue’s current collection of flight history materials, including the papers of Amelia Earhart, 

who worked at Purdue prior to her circumnavigation attempt, and are accompanied 

by a donation of 55 hours of personal interviews by Armstrong biographer James R. 

Hansen. The archive will reside in the newly built Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives 

and Special Collections Research Center, which will open this spring. For more 

information, please see http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0810/31armstrong/. 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Calls For Papers and Upcoming 

Meetings 

Calls for Papers 

The History of Science Society 

The History of Science Society (HSS) will hold its 2009 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, 

Arizona in the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Phoenix (the weekend before Thanksgiving). Proposals for sessions, contributed papers, and posters must be submitted by 

1 April 2009 to the History of Science Society’s Executive Office. Papers that are 

part of a session (i.e., sessions with an organizer) are due no later than 8 April 2009. 

Poster proposals must describe the visual material that will make up the poster. 

The HSS encourages precirculated papers. Submissions on all topics are requested 

via the HSS Web site (http://www.hssonline.org) or on the annual meeting proposal 

forms that are available from the HSS Executive Office. HSS members are asked 

to circulate this announcement to non-HSS colleagues who may be interested in 

presenting a paper or poster at the annual meeting. You do not need to be a member 

to participate, but all participants must register for the meeting. Before sending a 

proposal to the HSS office, please read the Committee on Meetings and Programs’ 

“Guidelines for Selecting Papers, Posters, and Sessions” on the HSS Web site. The 

2009 program cochairs are Cathryn Carson (University of California, Berkeley) and 

Jessica Riskin (Stanford University). 

United States Air Force Academy Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies 

Space and Defense seeks contributions that further inquiry and intelligently inform 

space policy issues. The journal welcomes submissions of scholarly, independent 

research articles and viewpoint essays. There is no standard length for articles, but 

7,500 to 10,000 words, including notes and references, is a useful target for research 

articles, and viewpoint essays should be in the range of 2,500 to 5,000 words. All 

articles are required to have a separate abstract of up to 250 words that describes the 

main arguments and conclusions of the article. Details of the authors’ institutional 

affiliation, full address, and other contact information should be included in a separate file or cover sheet. Contributors are required to submit all articles electronically 

by e-mail attachment as a .doc (or .docx) file. Contributors should not submit PDF 

files. Manuscripts and all correspondence should be e-mailed to Eligar Sadeh at 

eligar.sadeh@usafa.edu. 

Upcoming Meetings 

The 2009 Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians will be 

held 26–29 March 2009 in Seattle, Washington at the Seattle Sheraton Hotel and 

Washington State Convention Center. Please see http://www.oah.org/meetings/2009/

for more details. 

The second 2009 Biannual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society will be 

held 7–11 June 2009 in Pasadena, California. Please see http://aas.org/meetings/meetings_ future.php for more details. 

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VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

The 2009 Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists will be held 11–16 

August 2009 in Austin, Texas at the Austin Hilton. Please see http://www.archivists. 

org/conference/index.asp for more details. 

The 2009 Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology will be held 

15–19 October 2009 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Please see http://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual_meeting.html#future_mtgs for more details. 

The 2009 Annual Meeting of the History of Science Society will be held 18–22 November 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona. For more details, please see http://www.hssonline.org/. 

The AAS History Committee will host its 2009 Annual Meeting on 19 November 2009 

in conjunction with the AAS National Conference at the Pasadena Hilton in Pasadena, California. Please see http://www.astronautical.org/events/ for more details. 

Obituaries 

Nick A. Komons, 79 

Nick A. Komons, an aviation historian, died in Potomac, Maryland, on 12 August 

following a long illness. Dr. Komons was Agency Historian of the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) until his retirement in 1991. He then received a fellowship 

with the National Air and Space Museum, and continued his lifelong interest in historical writing. Prior to joining the FAA, Dr. Komons was a historian with the U.S. 

Air Force. His many published works include: Science and the Air Force; Bonfires to 

Beacons, the first volume of the FAA history series; and The Third Man, a study of 

an airline labor issue. 

Born on the Greek island of Leros, Dr. Komons served in a U.S. Army airborne division from 1951–1953 and became a U.S. citizen in 1953. He attended Big Creek High 

School in Welch, West Virginia. He graduated from Marshall College and received 

his doctoral degree from George Washington University. Dr. Komons is survived by 

his wife, Cris Komons; by two sons, Alex and Ben; by a daughter, Jennifer Roussos; 

and by eight grandchildren. 

Dr. Wilhelm Raithel, 95 

Dr. Wilhelm Raithel, one of the members of Dr. Wernher von Braun’s team of 

German rocket engineers, died 15 November 2008 at his home in Chevy Chase, 

Maryland at the age of 95. Raithel was born in Hoechst an der Nidder in Germany 

and later worked as a civil engineer in Munich. In World War II, a civilian draft 

order assigned him to Peenemunde and work with von Braun on the V2 rocket. After 

the war, he rejoined the von Braun team in Texas in 1947 and came with them to 

Huntsville in 1950. He became director of the Structures and Mechanics Laboratory 

at Redstone Arsenal and worked on the Army’s Redstone and Jupiter missiles, 

among other projects. One of Raithel’s most important contributions was the “ablation concept” of dealing with the extreme heat on nose cones or other areas of a 

vehicle reentering Earth’s atmosphere from space, Lucas said. Instead of a heavy 

continued on next page 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

heat sink or shield material that might be able to take the temperatures, ablation 

used layers of protection that burned up and peeled away during reentry. 

Raithel began work with General Electric (GE) in 1956. During his years with GE, 

Raithel worked on Atlas and Titan intercontinental ballistic missile reentry systems, 

the Thor intermediate range missile for the Air Force and on projects involving 

satellites, possible lunar and Earth orbiting space stations and a lunar base. In 1970, 

he moved to Maryland and became director of Bus and Para-transit Technology for 

the U.S. Department of Transportation, working on automated driverless transport 

and alternative fuel programs, among other projects. He retired in 1980 but served 

as a consultant for a few years afterward. 

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Ingeborg Raithel; son Thomas Raithel of 

Washington, DC; daughter Doris King of Bethesda, Maryland; four grandchildren; 

and a sister, Gretel Schnedler of Altenstadt, Germany. 

Fellowship Opportunities 

The NASA Fellowship in the History of Space Technology, offered by SHOT and 

supported by the NASA History Division, will fund one predoctoral or postdoctoral 

Fellow for up to one academic year to undertake a research project related to 

the history of space technology. The fellowship may support advanced research 

related to all aspects of space history, leading to publications on the history of 

space technology broadly considered, including cultural and intellectual history, 

institutional history, economic history, history of law and public policy, and history 

of engineering and management. Applications are due 1 April 2009 and are available 

at http://www.historyoftechnology.org/awards/nasa.html. 

The History of Science Society Fellowship in the History of Space Science, supported 

by the NASA History Division, funds a nine-month research project that is related to 

any aspect of the history of space science, from the earliest human interest in space 

to the present. The program is broadly conceived and includes the social, cultural, 

institutional, and personal context of space science history. The fellowship is open 

to applicants who hold a doctoral degree in history or a closely related field, or 

students who have completed all requirements for the Ph.D., except the dissertation, 

in history of science or a related field. Applications are due 3 April 2009 and are 

available at http://www.hssonline.org/about/society_NASAFellowship.html. 

22

VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

Photos from the Exploring 

thE Unknown: VolUmE Vii 

book signing, held at NASA 

Headquarters, 4 December 2008 

All photos by Steven Dick. 

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin (left) looks on during remarks 

by Chief Historian Steven Dick. 

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin addresses 

reception attendees. 

Editor John M. Logsdon admires the completed 

volume. 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION 

Editors Roger Launius (left) and John Logsdon (right) sign copies of their book. 

Al Condes, Lynn Cline, and Kathy Dakon enjoying the reception. 

Members of the CSSC Team (from left): Gail Carter-Kane, Ann-Marie Wildman, Shelley 

Kilmer-Gaul, and Tamara McCaughey, during the reception. 

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VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

Lori Garver, of the Obama Transition Team, talks with NASA Administrator Michael 

Griffin during the reception. 

Asif Siddiqi, assistant professor at Fordham 

University and series editor for the four-volume Boris 

Chertok memoirs. 

Michael Neufeld (left), Chair of the Division of Space History at the 

National Air and Space Museum, with David Mindell, Science, Technology 

and Society Department Head at MIT. 

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NASA HISTORY DIVISION

26

History of Atmospheric Science (continued)

was to the study of tides, leading eventually to useful tide charts. Whether they knew 

it or not, NASA leaders replicated Humboldt’s methods, although one suspects 

Humboldt would miss the mules and porters that NASA’s airplanes have replaced. 

Humboldt was also very interested in Earth’s and humanity’s place in the universe, 

and the spacecraft the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) sent to Mars and Venus radically altered scientists’ understanding of that subject.10 These two worlds, Earth’s 

nearest neighbors, were largely expected by the scientific community of the 1950s 

to be roughly Earth-like, with Mars assumed to have at least plant life.11 But both 

turned out to be enormously inhospitable. This fact forced planetary scientists to 

think about the relationship between chemistry and climate. Mars and Venus had not 

started out much differently than Earth, sharing the same basic elemental composition and receiving only slightly different amounts of energy from the Sun. How did 

they become so alien?

This question proved their entry to one of the great scientific controversies of the 

late 20th century: global warming. It was already well known by the late 1960s that 

human activities were changing the chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere; as planetary 

exploration largely ended in the late 1970s and early planetary scientists turned their 

interests to Earth. What would anthropogenic changes to atmospheric chemistry do 

to Earth? 

Asking this question, and many others related to it caused NASA to embark on 

a deliberate program of scientific reconstruction. Its leaders of the middle 1980s 

wanted to reshape the Earth sciences into a new, integrated discipline. They perceived that during the first half of the century, barriers between various components 

of what had once been the discipline of natural history had grown high enough to 

impede understanding of how Earth really worked. There were complex interactions 

between the oceans, land surface, atmosphere, and (perhaps most importantly) 

between and among the life forms inhabiting Earth. Earth was a living system, not a 

dead one with a thin “green scum” on its surface. This planetary view of Earth was 

not immediately welcome in the Earth sciences. Hence NASA set out on a radical 

agenda in 1986. It created “Earth Systems Science,” built up around a holistic, and 

Humboldtian, view of Earth.

The political controversies in which NASA found itself embroiled were a direct 

legacy of its scientific program. Agency scientists developed a view of the world that 

put them at odds with American political culture, and even at times with various 

communities of the Earth sciences. Their response was to try to reconstruct their 

sciences in the hope of resolving both the scientific questions and political controversies with the methodological tools of modern science.

10 Aaron Sachs, The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American 

Environmentalism (NY: Viking, 2006), 73–79.

11 Steven J. Dick, The Biological Universe: The Twentieth-Century Extraterrestrial Life Debate and the 

Limits of Science (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 120–126.
VOLUME 26, NUMBER 1 first quarter 2009 

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

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

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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 

Elizabeth Suckow, Archivist elizabeth.suckow-1@nasa.gov 

202-358-0375 

Created and produced by the following: 

Steve Garber, NASA Headquarters History Division 

Stacie Dapoz, Editor, NASA Headquarters Communications Support Services Center 

Shelley Kilmer-Gaul, Designer, NASA Headquarters Communications Support Services Center 

Hanta Ralay, Printing Specialist, NASA Headquarters Communications Support Services Center 

Trenita Williams, Mail Coordinator, NASA Headquarters Mail Room 

Carl Paul, Distribution, NASA Headquarters Communications Support Services Center 

27

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National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

NASA HISTORY DIVISION

Office of External Relations

Washington, DC 20546

http://www.nasa.gov

http://history.nasa.gov