Discovery and New Frontiers
Oral Histories
The oral history transcripts presented here include those collected by the NASA History Office for the 30th anniversary of Discovery and 20th anniversary of New Frontiers (2022-2025). Other interviews listed were conducted as part of the Science Mission Directorate Oral History Project (2017-2018), and those collected by Dr. Susan Niebur, Discovery Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters (2003-2006), as background for her publication, NASA’s Discovery Program, The First Twenty Years of Competitive Planetary Exploration.
Oral Histories
The NASA History Office gathers first-hand experiences through oral history interviews from a variety of individuals serving in the NASA and contractor work force, eliciting details of procedures, processes, methodologies, rationale, and background of operations.
The oral history transcripts presented here include those collected by the NASA History Office for the 30th anniversary of Discovery and 20th anniversary of New Frontiers (2022-2025). Other interviews listed were conducted as part of the Science Mission Directorate Oral History Project (2017-2018), and those collected by Dr. Susan Niebur, Discovery Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters (2003-2006), as background for her publication, NASA’s Discovery Program, The First Twenty Years of Competitive Planetary Exploration.
The oral histories are still be processed, and more transcripts will be made available as they are finalized and archived.
| Name | Interview Date | Missions | Titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael A’Hearn | 3/11/09 | Deep Impact, EPOXI | Principal Investigator |
| Leon Alkalai | 10/15/21 | GRAIL | Proposal Manager, Capture Lead |
| Judith Allton | 8/10/17, 10/12/17 | Genesis | Solar Wind Sample Curator |
| Daniel R. Andrews | 6/8/22, 10/4/22 | LCROSS/Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter | Project Manager |
| Ken Atkins | 8/10/09 | Stardust | Project Manager |
| Sami Asmar | 4/21/22 | GRAIL | Project Scientist |
| Shari E. Asplund | 6/1/22 | Discovery Program Office | Education and Public Outreach |
| W. Bruce Banerdt | 7/19/22, 1/18/23 | InSight | Principal Investigator |
| Kirk D. Barrow | 2/27/23 | Stardust, Genesis | Safety, Mission Assurance |
| Arlin Bartels | 6/16/23, 6/30/23, 8/18/23, 8/25/23, 9/8/23, 9/15/23 | LRO, MESSENGER, OSIRIS-REx, Lucy, DAVINCI | Instrument Systems Manager, Instrument Manager, Flight System Manager, Deputy Project Manager |
| Peter D. Bedini | 7/9/09 | MESSENGER | Project Manager |
| Steven Brody | 6/9/22 | Discovery Program Office Lunar Prospector, Genesis, Deep Impact | Program Executive |
| Scott Brylow | 5/4/23 | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter | Instrument Manager |
| Richard D. Burns | 12/4/23, 12/13/23, 1/30/24 | OSIRIS-REx, Lucy Space Science Mission Operations | Project Manager |
| Andrew F. Cheng | 7/31/09 | NEAR, CONTOUR, MESSENGER | Project Scientist, Co-Investigator |
| Anthony Colaprete | 6/23/22, 9/8/22 | LCROSS | Principal Investigator |
| John E.P. Connerney | 7/29/24 | Juno | Deputy Principal Investigator |
| Nagin Cox | 7/26/22 | InSight | Proposal Manager |
| Donya Douglas-Bradshaw | 8/30/23 | Lucy | Project Manager |
| Riley M. Duren | 3/15/24 | Kepler | Chief Engineer |
| Lindy Elkins-Tanton | 5/5/23, 7/7/23 | Psyche | Principal Investigator |
| David F. Everett | 11/18/22 | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, OSIRIS-REx | Mission Systems Engineer, Project Systems Engineer |
| Margaret (Peg) Frerking | 10/24/23 | Kepler | Deputy Project Manager |
| James B. Garvin | 2/9/22, 4/20/22 | NEAR-Shoemaker, OSIRIS-REx, DAVINCI | Chief Scientist, HQ & Goddard, Principal Investigator |
| G. Randall Gladstone | 11/30/22 | New Horizons, Juno, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter | Atmospheres Lead, UVS instrument Lead, LAMP instrument Principal Investigator |
| Matthew Golombek | 8/9/22 | InSight | Landing Site Lead |
| David G. Grant | 7/28/09 | MESSENGER | Project Manager |
| Paul L. Hertz | 3/1/22 | NASA Headquarters Discovery Program Office, Science Mission Directorate | SMD Chief Scientist Discovery Program Scientist Director of Astrophysics |
| Ed Hirst | 6/27/23 | Genesis, Stardust, Juno | Mission Planning, Mission Systems Engineer, Project Manager |
| Tom Hoffman | 8/1/22, 2/17/23 | Stardust, GRAIL, InSight | Flight System Manager Deputy Project Manager Project Manager |
| Scott Hubbard | 8/22/17, 8/20/18, 11/13/18 | Lunar Prospector | Mission Manager |
| Donald M. Hudgins | 5/23/24 | NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program | Program Scientist |
| Troy L. Hudson | 7/10/23 | InSight | Instrument System Engineer |
| Wesley T. Huntress | 1/9/03 | NASA Headquarters | Director, Solar System Exploration Division; Assoc. Administrator, Space Science |
| Kenneth J. Hurst | 9/19/22 | InSight | Instrument Engineer, Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) |
| David B. Jarrett | 9/29/22 | Discovery Program Office | Program Manager |
| Jon Jenkins | 6/18/24 | Kepler | Co-Investigator Operations Lead, SOC |
| Donald E. Jennings | 6/9/17 | New Horizons, OSIRIS-REx | Co-Investigator |
| Stamatios (Tom) Krimigis | 8/27/09 | MESSENGER, NEAR, CONTOUR | APL Space Department Head |
| Dante S. Lauretta | 8/7/24, 8/12/24 | OSIRIS-REx | Principal Investigator |
| David J. Lawrence | 1/12/24, 3/22/24 | MESSENGER, Psyche, MEGANE (MMX), Dragonfly, Dawn | Science Lead, Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer |
| David H. Lehman | 9/7/21 | GRAIL | Project Manager |
| Harold F. Levison | 7/19/23, 8/2/23 | Lucy | Principal Investigator |
| Jessica A. Lounsbury | 9/13/23, 11/6/23 | Lucy | Lead Systems Engineer |
| Nicole G. Lunning | 6/27/24 | OSIRIS-REx | Lead Sample Curator ARES |
| Lucy Ann McFadden | 6/9/17 | NEAR-Shoemaker Deep Impact/EPOXI Dawn | Science Team Co-Investigator |
| Ralph L. McNutt | 7/31/09 | MESSENGER, NEAR | Project Scientist, Instrument Scientist |
| Michael H. New | 2/23/22, 4/6/22 | NASA Headquarters, Discovery Program Office | Lead Program Scientist |
| Curt Niebur | 9/20/24 | NASA Headquarters, Planetary Science Program | Lead Program Scientist, Lead Scientist for Flight Programs |
| Keith S. Noll | 7/27/23 | Lucy | Project Scientist |
| David Oh | 6/22/23 | Psyche | Chief Engineer |
| Catherine Olkin | 9/8/23, 10/24/23 | New Horizons, Lucy | Instrument Principal Investigator, Deputy Project Scientist, Deputy Principal Investigator |
| Catherine L. Peddie | 4/27/23, 5/11/23 | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter | Deputy Project Manager |
| Humphrey Price | 4/20/22 | GRAIL | Project System Engineer |
| Louise Prockter | 12/10/09 | MESSENGER | Deputy Project Scientist |
| Kevin Righter | 8/15/24 | OSIRIS-REx | Curation Lead |
| Michael P. Saunders | 5/11/22 | NASA Headquarters, Discovery Program Office | Program Manager |
| Ronald P. Seeders | 5/25/23 | Genesis, Stardust | Sample Return Mission Team, Field Recovery Specialist |
| Suzanne M. Smrekar | 7/27/22 | InSight, VERITAS | Deputy Principal Investigator, Principal Investigator |
| Sean C. Solomon | 3/22/09 | MESSENGER | Principal Investigator |
| Harlan Spence | 2/23/23 | LRO, CRaTER instrument | Principal Investigator |
| S. Alan Stern | 4/15/08 | New Horizons | Principal Investigator |
| Jessica Sunshine | 2/25/25 | Deep Impact/EPOXI (DIXI), Stardust NExT, Dawn, Lucy | Deputy Principal Investigator, Science Co-Investigator, Participating Scientist |
| Faith Vilas | 3/21/22 | NASA Headquarters, Discovery Program Scientist | Planetary Astronomer |
| Richard R. Vondrak | 6/8/17 | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter | Project Scientist |
| Michael M. Watkins | 1/18/22 | GRAIL | Project Scientist |
| Benjamin P. Weiss | 11/15/23 | Psyche | Deputy Principal Investigator |
| Roger C. Wiens | 5/2/23 5/15/23 | Genesis | Los Alamos National Laboratory Project Lead and Co-Investigator |
Exploration on a Budget
"Someone once told me Discovery missions are about the cost of a Hollywood movie. For the price of a movie that we’re entertained by…we’re going to explore a new world for the first time ever. The first time ever!"
Dr. James B. Garvin, Chief Scientist, Goddard Space Flight Center
More NASA Oral Histories
Hubble Space Telescope Oral Histories
The oral history interviews listed below represent the contributions of a wide selection of individuals involved in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) program, and also include interviews collected by Christopher Gainor for his book, Not Yet Imagined, A Study of Hubble Space Telescope Operations.
