AAS Explorer Issue #5
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lookingback: Earth from space | 17 AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY Newsletter of the AAS History Committee | www.astronautical.org | Editor: Tim Chamberlin ([email protected]) INSIDE Anniversaries on my mind FEBRUARY 2008 | ISSUE 5 nniversaries are appearing on calendars on a regular basis, A which in some ways attests to the significance of events 50 years ago: From the Soviet launch of Sputnik in October 1957 to the U.S. launch of Explorer 1 (our namesake) in January 1958 … and looking down the road we see NASA’s birthday looming prominently. By Michael L. Ciancone, Chair, AAS History Committee SPACE HISTORY As much as I enjoy a good cele- ON THE RADIO bration, I prefer instead to anticipate future anniversaries, such as setting some remote participants. ® Dr. David Livingston and his ‘Space Show’ has a the cornerstone for the first perma- I always seem to get an adrena- global following / 2 nent human settlement on the moon, line rush coming out of these meet- and the first human landing on Mars. ® Doors open on new Saturn V ings, flush with ideas and plans. The facility in Huntsville, Ala. / 3 I like to think that current spaceflight results of the meeting are reflected in ® Notes from the AAS annual activities around the world are laying the History Committee’s goals listed meeting / 6 the groundwork for new anniver- on page six of this newsletter, along ® History Committee goals saries and celebrations and providing with reports on various activities. for 2008 / 6 fodder for future historians. I appreciate the opportunity that ® News briefs / 8 The History Committee met History Committee membership has ® The History Committee’s during the Society’s national confer- provided to mix and mingle with annual list of astronautical books / 10 ence in Houston in November. The such a fascinating group of folks. I meeting was very well attended look forward to our efforts over the ® Space calendar / 15 (there are worse places to be than coming year to bring our ideas to ® Remembering Kenneth Kleinknecht, a pioneer of NASA’s Houston in November), including fruition. piloted spaceflight programs / 23 In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it. — Robert Heinlein (1907 - 1988) www.quotationspage.com Read about Rick W. Sturdevant, deputy director of history at Spotlight Headquarters Air Force Space Command, Peterson Air Force Base in 16 Colorado Springs, Colo. AMERICAN ASTRONAUTICAL SOCIETY | AMERICA’S NETWORK OF SPACE PROFESSIONALS EXPLORER 2 NEWSLETTER OF THE AAS HISTORY COMMITTEE ¢ IN THE NEWS Space history common theme of ‘Space Show’ By Matt Bille pace history tends to get short shrift in the main- stream media, except during anniversary years S and when someone wants to make a comparison (often an irrelevant one) to the success of Apollo. Fortunately, there are sources that fill in the gap and maintain a flow of information. One of these is “The Space Show.” The brainchild of Dr. David Livingston, “The Space Show” is heard live on one radio station (AM 1150 in Seattle) but has a global following through Internet broadcasting. The show is available as a podcast on the iTunes Web site. Livingson is a business consultant and space aficionado who wrote his dissertation on space commerce. As the program he created approaches its seventh anniversary, Livingston reflected on the show’s evolution and its value as a resource for space history. COURTESY OF DAVIDLIVINGSTON.COM “I am actually overwhelmed by the growth of the “The Space Show,” hosted by David Livingston, can be heard show, including the international growth,” he said. live on AM 1150 in Seattle. The show is podcast for free on The number of high-profile guests has grown along iTunes and available for free download at thespaceshow.com. with the show’s reputation. “Early on, it was very difficult to have people on from NASA, Boeing and many other organizations or GUESTS OF ‘THE SPACE SHOW’ special interest groups. I still run into some problems David Livingston has hosted more than 870 shows since the program’s with some government agencies and large private debut in 2001 and has interviewed former Apollo astronauts, rocket scien- corporations, but often I am now contacted to do a tists and space historians, including: show around a top person.” Charles Lundquist, a scientist who helped launch Explorer 1, the first On space history, “I can tell you that some of my U.S. satellite. (Feb. 8, 2008) favorite topics are talking about how space develop- Jay Barbree, NBC reporter who has covered NASA’s human space- ment can improve our living here on Earth, inspiring flight program since 1961. (Sept. 24, 2007) Listen here others to be the best they can be,” he said. “I also enjoy Rusty Schweickart, Apollo 9 astronaut who served as pilot during the oral histories by the gray beards that have been first manned flight of the lunar module. (April 21, 2006 ) Listen here guests. On “The Space Show,” gray beards are not just Gene Kranz, NASA flight director during the Gemini and Apollo limited to rockets and engineering but also to oral histo- programs. (Aug.21, 2005) Listen here Wally Schirra and Ed Buckbee. Schirra was one of the original ries.” Mercury 7 astronauts, and Buckbee was the first director of the “Several of the Apollo and Gemini astronauts have Alabama Space & Rocket Center. (May 9, 2005) Listen here Note: (date show was recorded) Continued on next page ® PAGE 2 WWW.ASTRONAUTICAL.ORG FEBRUARY 2008 | ISSUE 5 ¢ IN THE NEWS ® THE SPACE SHOW Continued from Page 2 been on, like Wally (Schirra) for example. We talked lots of history. A good many of the Saturn 5 guys have been on. People who wrote terrific books on the Atlas rocket’s history, the Saturn 5, Dyna-Soar and so much more.” The anniversary of Sputnik, the first satellite in space, brought an unusual number of history shows for 2007. Guests included best-selling author Andy Chaikin, Soviet-era space scientist Dr. Roald Sagdeev (from Moscow), writer Paul Dickson and journalist Jay Barbree of NBC. COURTESY U.S. SPACE AND ROCKET CENTER Livingston is gratified by the role his show serves in The Davidson Center for Space Exploration in preserving space history. Huntsville, Ala. “I have 872 shows, and many of them refer to space history even if that was not the major subject. One can search for a guest by last name, so I would advise an Doors open to new interested person to go to www.thespaceshow.com and use the “Guest search tool” in the middle of the page in Saturn 5 facility the upper half of the Web site. “First, do a search for the last name of a guest you The new Davidson Center for Space are interested in and see if the person has been on the Exploration officially opened to the public Jan. 31 show. If so, it shows you the date the person was on and at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in then on the Web site you can simply go to that specific Hunstville, Ala., during a gala dinner celebration show. If a reader is looking for a specific history subject, attended by more than 1,000 people. please e-mail me with the subject. I can see if a program The event coincided with the 50th anniver- has addressed that issue, its date and by who, as I can sary of the launching of the first U.S. satellite, search files that are not part of the Web site,” he said. Explorer 1. What if a listener wants to suggest a guest? The 68,200-square-foot Davidson Center “If the person you had in mind has not been on, houses a fully restored Saturn 5 rocket — one of please send me a note at [email protected] only three remaining in the United States — and and suggest the person. Include contact information if will serve as the visitor entrance to the U.S. you have it,” he said. Space and Rocket Center. The rocket is separat- “The Space Show” now broadcasts four times a ed into its various stages and elevated for visi- week. Listeners can subscribe to an email bulletin tors to walk under. announcing the guests for each show. The new center is part of an ongoing improvement plan to prominently display the On Oct. 3, 2007, Matt Bille was a guest on “The Space contributions made to space exploration by Show” with Erika Lishock, whom he collaborated with to NASA at the adjacent Marshal Space Flight write “The First Space Race.” Bille says Livingston is Center. highly knowledgeable and keeps the program moving with Read a review of the Davidson Center online his own questions and comments plus those from listeners at The Space Review. who range from astronauts to entrepreneurs (not to mention a few eccentrics). WWW.ASTRONAUTICAL.ORG PAGE 3 EXPLORER 2 NEWSLETTER OF THE AAS HISTORY COMMITTEE ¢ EMME AWARD FOR ASTRONAUTICAL LITERATURE Yale University researcher named recipient By Michael Ciancone 2 006 EMME AWARD WINNER eter J. Westwick received the 2006 Emme Award for Astronautical Literature at the American Into the Black — P Astronautical Society’s national conference in JPL and the American Space November in Houston for Into the Black — JPL and the Program, 1976-2004 American Space Program, 1976-2004. Published by Yale University Press, the book By Peter J. Westwick recounts the extraordinary story of Hardcover: 416 pages the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Publisher: Yale University Press accomplishments, failures and evolu- ISBN: 978-0-300-11075-3 tion.