FROM THE CHIEF HISTORIAN BORIS CHERTOK'S Rockets and ...

nasa history division
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other news in aerosPaCe history
News from the American Astronautical
Society (AAS) History Committee
Newsletter and Distribution List
Explorer, the periodic newsletter of the AAS History Committee, is available on
the AAS Web site at http://astronautical.org/committees/history/. If you would like
to directly receive each issue, as well as an occasional bit of information related to
spacefight history, send an e-mail with your request to the Chair of the History
Committee, Michael Ciancone, at michael.l.ciancone@nasa.gov.
News from the National Air and Space Museum (NASM)
The National Air and Space Museum will open the exhibition Alan Bean: Painting
Apollo, First Artist On Another World at the Museum on the Mall, 16 July 2009
through 13 January 2010, in conjunction with the 40th anniversaries of the frst two
Apollo Moon landings. Alan Bean: Painting Apollo, First Artist On Another World
represents a major exhibition of paintings by American artist and Apollo 12 astronaut
Alan Bean. The exhibition will be the largest exhibition of Bean’s work to date with
approximately 40 original paintings and drawings. The exhibit will enable viewers to
experience a world 238,000 miles away through the eyes of the only artist to walk on
the lunar surface. Artifacts from NASM’s collection will supplement the exhibit as
three-dimensional references to the lunar equipment depicted in the paintings.
A number of NASM staff participated in the 22nd annual Mutual Concerns of Air
and Space Museums Conference in Ottawa, Canada, cohosted by NASM and the
Canada Aviation Museum from 18 to 21 April 2009. NASM staff presented on topics
including hanging artifacts in public spaces, collections planning, the care and preservation
of textiles, controversy in museum exhibits, civic engagement, lab-oriented
aerospace education programs, aerospace art collections, and exhibit cell phone
tours. The very successful conference, which included nearly 150 participants from
as far afeld as Poland and Australia, concluded with extra tours of museums near
Ottawa and an overnight trip to three aviation museums near Toronto.
Two NASM staff members, Roger D. Launius, Division of Space History, and
Andrew K. Johnston, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, have published the
Smithsonian Atlas of Space Exploration (New York: HarperCollins, 2009, $34.99,
230 pages). As the advertising copy from HarperCollins says, “The Atlas of Space
Exploration depicts the ever-fascinating history of the space age and humanity’s
progress in exploring new frontiers. Incredible images from NASA and other
sources, visual conceptions of Moon bases, and newly commissioned maps reveal a
visual history spanning the earliest eras of the universe, the dawn of the space age,
the launch of Sputnik, missions to the Moon, robot landings on the terrestrial planets,
and the exploration of the outer solar system. These developments in technology
are illuminated by a rich historical context, highlighting how space exploration has
changed and expanded our vision of the universe.”
Roger D. Launius received the frst annual Roger R. Trask Award from the Society
for History in the Federal Government (SHFG). The award is given in recognition of
his commitment to federal history at NASA and the Smithsonian’s National Air and