{"id":238989,"date":"2025-06-21T00:17:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T14:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=877100"},"modified":"2025-06-21T00:17:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T14:17:31","slug":"nasa-history-news-and-notes-summer-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=238989","title":{"rendered":"NASA History News and Notes \u2013 Summer 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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7 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the summer 2025 issue of the NASA History Office’s News & Notes<\/em> newsletter, examples of leadership and critical decision-making in NASA’s history form the unifying theme. Among the topics discussed are NASA\u2019s Shuttle-Centaur program, assessing donations to the NASA Archives, how the discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star catalyzed NASA’s exoplanet program, and Chief of the Medical Operations Office Charles A. Berry’s decisions surrounding crew health when planning the Project Gemini missions.<\/p>\n

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Volume 42, Number 2<\/strong>
Summer 2025<\/p>\n

Featured Articles<\/h2>\n

From the Chief Historian<\/h3>\n

By Brian Odom<\/em><\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s is a history marked <\/strong>by critical decisions. From George Mueller\u2019s 1963 decision for \u201call up\u201d testing of the Saturn V rocket to Michael Griffin\u2019s 2006 decision to launch a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, the agency has continually met key inflection points with bold decisions. These choices, such as the decision to send a crewed Apollo 8 mission around the Moon in December 1968, stand at the center of the agency\u2019s national legacy and promote confidence in times of crisis.  Continue Reading<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Shuttle-Centaur: Loss of Launch Vehicle Redundancy Leads to Discord<\/h3>\n

By Robert Arrighi<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the Shuttle\/Centaur decision was very difficult to make, it is the proper thing to do, and this is the time to do it.\u201d With those words on June 19, 1986, NASA Administrator James Fletcher canceled the intensive effort to integrate the Centaur upper stage with the Space Shuttle to launch the Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft. The decision, which was tied to increased safety measures following the loss of Challenger several months earlier, brought to the forefront the 1970s decision to launch all U.S. payloads with the Space Shuttle. Continue Reading<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Speaker<\/a><\/figure>
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Lewis Director Andy Stofan speaks at the Shuttle-Centaur rollout ceremony on August 23, 1985 at General Dynamics\u2019s San Diego headquarters. Galileo mission crew members Dave Walker, Rick Hauck, and John Fabian were among those on stage.\u00a0<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A View into NASA’s Response to the Apollo 1 Tragedy<\/h3>\n

By Kate Mankowski<\/em><\/p>\n

On January 27, 1967, <\/strong>Mission AS-204 (later known as Apollo 1) was conducting a simulated countdown when a fire suddenly broke out in the spacecraft, claiming the lives of astronauts Virgil I. \u201cGus\u201d Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chaffee. The disaster highlighted the risks that come with spaceflight and the work that still needed to be accomplished to meet President Kennedy\u2019s challenge of going to the Moon before the end of the decade. With the complexity of the Apollo spacecraft, discerning the cause of the fire proved to be incredibly difficult. Continue Reading<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Fight to Fund AgRISTARS<\/h3>\n

By Brad Massey<\/em><\/p>\n

Robert MacDonald, the manager of NASA\u2019s Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE), was not pleased in January 1978 after he read a draft copy of the U.S. General Accounting Office\u2019s (GAO\u2019s) \u201cCrop Forecasting by Satellite: Progress and Problems\u201d report. The draft\u2019s authors argued that LACIE had not achieved its goals of accurately predicting harvest yields in the mid-1970s. Therefore, congressional leaders should \u201cbe aware of the disappointing performance of LACIE to date when considering the future direction of NASA\u2019s Landsat program and the plans of the Department of Agriculture.\u201d Continue Reading<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Hubble Space Telescope: The Right Project at the Right Time<\/h3>\n

By Jillian Rael<\/em><\/p>\n

This year, NASA commemorates 35 years of the Hubble Space Telescope\u2019s study of the cosmos. From observations of never-before-seen phenomena within our solar system, to the discovery of distant galaxies, the confirmation of the existence of supermassive black holes, and precision measurements of the universe\u2019s expansion, Hubble has made incredible contributions to science, technology, and even art. Yet, for all its contemporary popularity, the Hubble program initially struggled for congressional approval and consequential funding. For its part, NASA found new ways to compromise and cut costs, while Congress evaluated national priorities and NASA\u2019s other space exploration endeavors against the long-range value of Hubble. Continue Reading<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"c92-2\"<\/a><\/figure>
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Within the tempestuous Carina Nebula lies \u201cMystic Mountain.\u201d<\/div>\n
NASA\/ESA\/M. Livio\/Hubble 20th Anniversary Team<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Appraisal: The Science and Art of Assessing Donations to the NASA Archives<\/h3>\n

By Alan Arellano<\/em><\/p>\n

The major functions of an archivist center include appraising, arranging, describing, preserving, and providing access to historical records and documents. While together these are pillars of archival science, they are more of an art than a science in their application, fundamentally necessitating skilled decision making. Throughout the NASA archives, staff members make these decisions day in and day out. Continue Reading<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Orbit Shift: How 50 Pegasi b Helped Pull NASA Toward the Stars in the 1990s<\/h3>\n

By Lois Rosson<\/em><\/p>\n

On October 20, 1995, the New York Times<\/em> reported the detection of a distant planet orbiting a Sun-like star. <\/sup>The star, catalogued as 51 Pegasi by John Flamsteed in the 18th century, was visible to the naked eye as part of the constellation Pegasus\u2014and had wobbled on its axis just enough that two Swiss astronomers were able to deduce the presence of another object exerting its gravitational pull on the star\u2019s rotation. The discovery was soon confirmed by other astronomers, and 51 Pegasi b was heralded as the first confirmed exoplanet orbiting a star similar to our own Sun. Continue Reading<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Exoplanet<\/a><\/figure>
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Detail from an infographic about 51 Pegasi b and the significance of its discovery.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Four, Eight, Fourteen Days: Charles A. Berry, Gemini, and the Critical Steps to Living and Working in Space<\/h3>\n

By Jennifer Ross-Nazzal<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1963, critical decisions had to be made about NASA\u2019s upcoming Gemini missions if the nation were to achieve President John F. Kennedy\u2019s lunar goals. Known as the bridge to Apollo, Project Gemini was critical to landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade and returning him safely to Earth. The project would demonstrate that astronauts could rendezvous and dock their spacecraft to another space vehicle and give flight crews the opportunity to test the planned extravehicular capabilities in preparation for walking on the lunar surface on future Apollo flights. Perhaps most importantly, Gemini had to show that humans could live and work in space for long periods of time, a fiercely debated topic within and outside of the agency.  Continue Reading<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Astronaut<\/a><\/figure>
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Dr. Charles Berry prepares to check the blood pressure of James A. McDivitt, Command Pilot for the Gemini\u00a0IV mission. McDivitt is on the tilt table at the Aero Medical Area, Merritt Island, FL, where he and Gemini IV pilot Edward H. White II underwent preflight physicals in preparation for their four-day spaceflight.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Imagining Space: The Life and Art of Robert McCall<\/h3>\n

By Sandra Johnson<\/em><\/p>\n

As we walked into Bob McCall\u2019s Arizona home, it quickly became obvious that two talented and creative people lived there. Tasked with interviewing one of the first artists to be invited to join the NASA Art Program, our oral history team quickly realized the session with McCall would include a unique perspective on NASA\u2019s history. We traveled to Arizona in the spring of 2000 to capture interviews with some of the pioneers of spaceflight and had already talked to an eclectic group of subjects in their homes, including a flight controller for both Gemini and Apollo, an astronaut who had flown on both Skylab and Space Shuttle missions, a former NASA center director, and two former Women\u2019s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) who ferried airplanes during WWII. However, unlike most interviews, the setting itself provided a rare glimpse into the man and his inspiration.  Continue Reading<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Inside the Archives: Biomedical Branch Files<\/h3>\n

By Alejandra Lopez<\/em><\/p>\n

The Biomedical Branch Files (1966\u20132008) in the Johnson Space Center archives showcase the inner workings of a NASA office established to perform testing to provide a better understanding of the impacts of spaceflight on the human body. Ranging from memos and notes to documents and reports, this collection is an invaluable resource on the biomedical research done with NASA\u2019s Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, and Space Station projects. Files in the collection cover work done by groups within the branch such as the Toxicology, Microbiology, Clinical, and Biochemistry Laboratories. It also reveals the branch\u2019s evolution and changes in its decision-making process over the years. Continue Reading<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Portrait<\/a><\/figure>
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Dr. Carolyn S. Huntoon, shown here in 1972, became the Biomedical Branch\u2019s first chief in 1977.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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