The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023, at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range.

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, mission will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail

Discovery and New Frontiers
Oral Histories

Approved by Congress in 1993, the Discovery Program ushered in a new concept for low-cost science exploration within our solar system — competitively selected missions led by a principal investigator (PI) with an established cost cap and high-value, focused studies.

The New Frontiers Program, established in 2002, followed the Discovery model of competitive selection and PI-led teams but provides a method for selecting medium-class missions with specific exploration objectives determined top-priority within the planetary science community and identified in the Decadal Survey.

The NASA History Office is currently collecting oral history interviews to document the experiences of individuals who have dedicated their time and expertise to the Discovery and New Frontiers planetary exploration missions, including lessons learned, science objectives and methodologies, mission proposal processes, team dynamics, and management decisions.

NASA HISTORY SERIES EBOOK

NASA's Discovery Program

The First Twenty Years of Competitive Planetary Exploration

A new book by Susan M. Niebur with David W. Brown, Editor, is now available.

A new NASA History Series publication by Susan M. Niebur with David W. Brown, Editor.

The interview transcripts presented here also include some that were conducted as part of the Science Mission Directorate Oral History Project in 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 current project to collect Discovery and New Frontiers oral histories is ongoing, 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
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	InSight	Principal Investigator
Kirk D. Barrow	2/27/23	Stardust, Genesis	Safety, Mission Assurance
Nagin Cox	7/26/22	InSight	Proposal Manager
James B. Garvin	2/9/22, 4/20/22	NEAR-Shoemaker, OSIRIS-REx, DAVINCI	Chief Scientist, HQ & Goddard, Principal Investigator
Matthew Golombek	8/9/22	InSight	Landing Site Lead
Paul L. Hertz	3/1/22	NASA Headquarters Discovery Program Office, Science Mission Directorate	SMD Chief Scientist Discovery Program Scientist Director of Astrophysics
Tom Hoffman	8/1/22, 2/17/23	Stardust, GRAIL, InSight	Flight System Manager Deputy Project Manager Project Manager
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
David H. Lehman	9/7/21	GRAIL	Project Manager
Michael H. New	2/23/22, 4/6/22	NASA Headquarters, Discovery Program Office	Lead Program Scientist
Humphrey Price	4/20/22	GRAIL	Project System Engineer
Michael P. Saunders	5/11/22	NASA Headquarters, Discovery Program Office	Program Manager
S. Alan Stern	4/15/08	New Horizons	Principal Investigator
Faith Vilas	3/21/22	NASA Headquarters, Discovery Program Scientist	Planetary Astronomer
Richard R. Vondrak	6/8/17	Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter	Project Scientist

The transcripts available on this site are created from audio-recorded oral history interviews. To preserve the integrity of the audio record, the transcripts are presented with limited revisions and thus reflect the candid conversational style of the oral history format. Brackets and ellipses indicate where the text has been annotated or edited for clarity. Any personal opinions expressed in the interviews should not be considered the official views or opinions of NASA, the NASA History Office, NASA historians, or staff members.

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

Exploration on a Budget

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket with NASA's Lucy spacecraft atop lifts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

A United Launch Alliance V 401 rocket, with NASA’s Lucy spacecraft atop, powers off the pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida at 5:34 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021.

NASA/Kevin O’Connell and Bob Lausterer

More NASA Oral Histories

Scott Carpenter in spacesuit after mission splashdown speaks on telephone

NASA Oral Histories

Read the oral history transcripts from interviews conducted with NASA's workforce. This collection contains hundreds of interviews with team members from across the Agency.

From left to right, Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Dr. T. Keith Glennan smile as they have a discussion. Dryden and Eisenhower hold cylindrical objects in their hands; Glennan looks down at their hands. They are all wearing suits.

NASA Senior Leadership Oral Histories

This collection of interviews is an attempt to document the experiences of NASA’s senior leadership, their personal histories, the lessons learned, their thoughts on NASA’s past, and the decisions made that have directed NASA’s priorities over the years and continue to do so into the future.

The photograph shows Saturn V S-IC flight stages being assembled in the horizontal assembly area at the MAF.

Saturn Rocket Oral Histories

Read transcripts from interviews with the project engineers who worked on the Saturn rockets.

The core stage for the first flight of NASA’s SLS rocket undergoes a second hot fire test in the B-2 Test Stand on March 18.

Stennis Space Center Oral Histories

This anthology of oral history interviews includes interviewees who participated in the Mississippi Oral History Program, the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs, Hurricane Katrina and Stennis Space Center’s 50th Anniversary.

Seal of NACA, including an illustration of the first flight at Kitty Hawk

NACA Oral Histories

Oral histories with former NACA members capture the experiences of only a handful of people who worked at the facilities but provide the human story of America’s endeavor to serve as the leader in aeronautical research and the technical innovations that resulted from their labors.

Dec. 11, 2023

Psyche

A cat named Taters

Members of the Deep Space Optical Communications team react to the first high-definition streaming video to be sent via laser from deep space on Dec. 11, 2023, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Sent by the DSOC transceiver aboard the Psyche spacecraft, nearly 19 million miles from Earth, the video features a cat named Taters.

Learn more about this technology demonstration

Dec. 11, 2023

Psyche

Members of the DSOC team react to the first high-definition streaming video to be sent via laser from deep space on Dec. 11 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Sent by the DSOC transceiver aboard the Psyche spacecraft, nearly 19 million miles from Earth, the video features a cat named Taters.

NASA/JPL-Caltech