Science Mission Directorate
Oral History Project
In 2016,
Jim Green, then Director of the Planetary Science Division at
NASA Headquarters, provided funding to the JSC History Office
to conduct a series of interviews with some of the nation’s
top scientists who received NASA funding as well as those who
helped to shape the Agency’s role in space exploration.
Within these transcripts, the interviewees share their memories,
anecdotes, and the details of NASA's scientific exploration
of our solar system and the universe, from the Voyager I space
probe to the Cassini spacecraft and Mars exploration programs.
The Science Mission
Directorate (SMD), under which the Planetary Science Division
sits, sponsors scientific research about the Earth, the Sun,
the solar system, and the universe. The directorate works with
America’s scientific community, supporting and sponsoring
research in universities across the country. SMD has provided
the funds to develop the satellites, probes, and rovers that
have been sent to Mars and Jupiter. NASA’s SMD is also
working to find life in the universe outside of Earth.
These interviews
were conducted by the JSC History Office, 2017-2018.
Beebe, Reta
4-25-17
4-26-17
|
Astronomer,
Professor Emerita, New Mexico
State University
Principal Investigator, NASA
Planetary Data System (PDS) Atmospheres Node
Chair, Committee on Lunar and Planetary Exploration
Member, Space Studies Board,
National Research Council
Researcher, Voyager, Galileo,
and Cassini spacecraft mission data and Hubble Space Telescope,
Jupiter/Saturn Observing Program |
Brown,
Linda
5-10-17 |
--Jet
Propulsion Laboratory
Astronomer, ATMOS (Atmospheric
Trace Molecule Spectroscopy)
Principal Scientist |
Diaz,
Alphonso V.
4-12-17
6-6-17 |
--Langley
Research Center
Technical Management, Viking
Project, GAS Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer.
--NASA Headquarters
Program Manager, International
Solar-Polar Mission (now Ulysses Mission)
Manager, Galileo Program
Manager, Planetary Advanced
Programs
Deputy Director, Solar System
Exploration Division
Director, Strategic Plan and
Programs for Space Station
Assistant Associate Administrator,
Deputy Associate Administrator,
Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA),
Deputy Associate Administrator,
Space Science
Chief Engineer
-- Goddard Space Flight Center
Deputy Director
Center Director
-- NASA Headquarters
Associate Administrator of Science
|
Green,
James L.
4-11-17
6-7-17
|
--
NASA Headquarters
Director of the Planetary Science
Division
NASA Chief Scientist
|
Hubbard,
G. Scott
8-22-17
8-20-18
11-13-18
|
--Ames
Research Center
Division Staff Scientist, Space
Exploration Projects Office
-- NASA HQ
Chief, Space Instrumentation
and Studies Branch
Chief, Systems Engineering and
Analysis Office, Centrifuge Facility Project Office (Space
Station life science facility)
Deputy Chief, Space Projects
Division
Chief (acting), Space Projects
Division
Ames Mars Pathfinder Project Manager
Associate Director, Space Directorate
Deputy Director, Space Directorate
Founding Director, NASA Astrobiology
Institute
Manager, Lunar Prospector Mission
Associate Director, Astrobiology
and Space Programs
First Mars Program Director
--Ames Research Center
Deputy Director for Research
Director, NASA Ames Research
Center |
Jennings,
Donald E..
6-9-17 |
--Goddard
Space Flight Center
Engineer
Main area of research: planetary infrared astronomy. Developed
instruments to observe infrared spectra of the Sun, planets,
Earth, stars.
Co-Investigator and Instrument
Scientist on Cassini/CIRS.
Co-Investigator on New Horizons
Principal Investigator on
the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA)
Other Flight Missions: Voyager,
STS-39, STS-62, EO-1, Lewis, OSIRIS-REx, Herschel/SPIRE,
Canadian ACE, RRM3/CTI |
Kostiuk,
Theodor
8-16-17 |
--Goddard
Space Flight Center
Space Scientist
Senior Research Scientist, Planetary
Systems Laboratory, Solar System Exploration Division
Principal Investigator, instrument
development and planetary investigation research
NASA Sensor Working Group
Chief Scientist, Exploration,
Science Directorate
--NASA Headquarters
Discipline Scientist/Manager,
Planetary Instrument Definition and Development Program
NASA Solar System Exploration Subcommittee
NASA Keck-IRTF, Management Operations Working Group. |
Mahaffy,
Paul R.
6-7-17 |
--Goddard
Space Flight Center
Director, Solar System Exploration
Division
--Main research interests: Planetary
science, especially chemical and isotopic composition of
planetary atmospheres and comets; Advanced instrument development
for organic and light isotope analysis in planetary targets;
Analog studies for Martian and cometary materials including
both laboratory and field work. |
Mather,
John C.
6-11-13
6-8-17 |
--Goddard
Space Flight Center
Senior Astrophysicist,
Observational Cosmology Laboratory,
Winner
of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 2006 |
McFadden,
Lucy A.
6-9-17 |
--Goddard
Space Flight Center
Director of Education and Public
Outreach, Deep Impact and Dawn missions
Lead, Higher Education and University
Programs
Member of the science team for
the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission
Member of an expedition of the
Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET)
Member of the fourth recovery
expedition for Almahata Sitta meteorite in northern Sudan
Co-Investigator, Deep Impact
and its extended mission EPOXI (Deep Impact Extended Investigation)
Co-Investigator, Dawn mission
to the asteroid 4 Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres
Vice-Chair of the American Astronomical
Society's Division of Planetary Sciences
In current role, supports development of future missions
exploring our Solar System |
Mendell,
Wendell W.
9-20-17
|
--Johnson
Space Center
Planetary Scientist
Assistant Director for Exploration,
Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science Directorate
Chief, Office for Lunar &
Planetary Exploration for Constellation
Lunar science consultant to
the Constellation Program Manager, Constellation Program |
Morrison,
David D.
5-9-17 |
--Ames
Research Center
Chief of the Space Science Division
Director of Space
Senior Scientist
Chief Scientist, Ames Planetary
Defense research team
Chair, NASA Planetary Astronomy
Committee
Chair, NASA Spaceguard Working
Group
Chair, NASA Astrobiology Roadmap
Working Group
Founding member of the multidisciplinary
science of astrobiology
Drafted Original Charter and Coorperative Agreement notice
for the competitive selection of the Institute teams for
the NASA Astrobiology Institute
Leading role in defining the
asteroid impact hazard, including chairing the congressionally
mandated NASA Spaceguard Committee in 1991-92
Founding Director of the NASA
Lunar Science Institute
Senior Scientist at SSERVI,
NLSI successor Institute
-- NASA Headquarters
Galileo Program Scientist and Interdisciplinary
Scientist
|
Squyres,
Steven W.
8-22-17
9-14-17 |
--Ames
Research Center
Research Scientist
--Major
areas of research:
Robotic exploration of planetary surfaces, History of
water on Mars,
Geophysics and tectonics of icy satellites, Tectonics
of Venus, Planetary
gamma-ray and x-ray spectroscopy
--Abbreviated
list of NASA Research
Co-Investigator, Comet Penetrator/Lander, Comet Rendezvous/Asteroid
Flyby Mission
Guest Investigator, Magellan Mission
Member, Imaging Science Team, Cassini Mission
Co-Investigator, Mars '96 Mission
Co-Investigator, MARDI, Mars Polar Lander mission
Gamma-Ray Spectrometer Flight Investigation Team, Mars
Odyssey Mission
Principal Investigator, APEX, Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander
mission
Principal Investigator, Athena Rover Investigation, Mars
Exploration Rover mission
Co-Investigator, HiRISE, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission
Co-Investigator, APXS, Mars Science Laboratory mission
Co-Investigator, SAM analytical instrument suite, Mars
Science Laboratory mission
Crewmember, NEEMO 15 and 16, Aquarius habitat, Florida
Keys
--Chairmanships
Group chair, NASA Cassini Saturn Orbiter Review Panel
Chairman, MESUR Mission Science Definition Team
US Co-chair, US/Russian Mars Environment Implementation
Team
Chairman, NASA Mars Science Working Group
Chairman, NASA Campaign Strategy Working Group for Prebiotic
Chemistry in the Outer Solar System
Chairman, NASA Solar System Exploration Subcommittee
Chairman, NASA Space Science Advisory Committee
Chairman, National Research Council Planetary Decadal
Survey
Chairman, NASA Advisory Council
|
Vondrak,
Richard R.
6-8-17 |
--
Goddard
Space Flight Center
Laboratory Chief, Laboratory
for Extraterrestrial Physics
Deputy Director, Lunar Exploration,
Solar System Exploration Division
Director, Lunar Exploration,
Solar System Exploration Division
Consulting Scientist, Lunar
Exploration, Solar System Exploration Division Emeritus
Scientist, Lunar Exploration, Solar System Exploration
Division
--NASA Headquarters
Director, Robotic Lunar Exploration
Program
|
Weiler,
Edward J.
10-31-07
4-4-17 |
--NASA
Headquarters
Staff Scientist
Chief, Ultraviolet/Visible
and Gravitational Astrophysics Division
Chief Scientist, Hubble Space
Telescope
Director, Astronomical Search
for Origins Program
Associate Administrator, Space
Science Enterprise
--Goddard
Spaceflight Center
Center Director
--NASA
Headquarters
Associate Administrator, Science
Mission Directorate
|
|
More transcripts
are available from the alphabetical list above or from the complete
list of participants.
Please note: Links on the following pages are active once the
Oral History transcript is archived in the JSC History Collection.
To view
the newest additions to the JSC History Collection, visit
the "What's New" announcement.
Transcript
lists were last updated: Jan. 5, 2021
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