NASA History News & Notes

For decades, part of the work of the NASA History Office has included documenting the experiences of the agency’s experts through oral history interviews. These interviews allow deeper understanding of the programs, organization, and teamwork involved. In this issue, we discuss how oral histories are being used by personnel working on NASA’s Artemis program, and how we are working to capture their stories for future generations.

In this first edition of the newsletter for 2026, we introduce NASA History News & Notes’ new email format, reflect on the narratives around tragedies in NASA’s human spaceflight program, invite you to the next presentation in our lecture series, and fill you in on some updates to our website.

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!