NASA History News & Notes

Leadership and Decision-Making

In the Summer 2025 issue of News & Notes, the NASA History Office explores the theme of leadership and decision-making. How has NASA navigated tough choices in its past? How have leaders at the agency sculpted a path forward?

Among the topics discussed are NASA’s Shuttle-Centaur program, 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.

NASA’s historians and archivists reflect on some of the transitional periods in NASA’s past, as well as the legacies of a few of NASA’s past programs and projects. Topics include NASA’s 1967 class of astronauts, historic experiments in airborne astronomy, NASA’s aircraft consolidation efforts in the 1990s, lightning observations from space, the founding of the NACA, the DC-8 airborne science laboratory, and more!

As we close out 2024, NASA’s historians and archivists reflect on the progress made over the year and share snapshots of the agency’s history revealed in their recent work. Topics include questions about blood pressure ahead of America’s first human spaceflight, lessons from NASA’s Electronics Research Center, the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at Marshall Space Flight Center, Landsat and the Green Revolution, oral histories from the NASA leaders that helped save the lives of 33 Chilean miners, a farewell to the Administration Building at NASA Glenn, and much more!

NASA’s Archives Program

With American Archives Month upon us, what better time is there to underscore the importance of NASA’s historical records and how they shape our understanding of the agency’s activities. NASA’s archivists preserve and provide access to the documents, photos, oral histories, and other media that illustrate the missions, programs, and people of the agency from its earliest days. These records help tell the story of NASA’s work, its leaders, its triumphs and challenges, and not only become the basis of historical research communicated in books and documentaries, but also inform managers, engineers, and program planners, and inspire new generations with lessons from our past.