JPL: A History

       One January 19 we met with JPL Historian Erik Conway. Before working as the JPL historian Conway worked as a historian at Langley Research Center. Although his main interest at JPL was the technological development history his research and knowledge of JPL is balanced and extension in all areas. As a historian he did not just look at the past but the present and the future. His job was not only research and writing about the past but making sure whatever information we have today is stored forever. He also looked at the future of JPL and other NASA space programs and we learned that due to lack of public interest and funding it's future is looking pretty bleak. What I liked most was that even after our meeting he walked with us to our next destination answering any questions we had.  

        We learned that the institution we fondly call "JPL" was founded quite informally in 1936 by a group of young men who built and launched their own Rockets in Pasadena. During WWII the Government asked them to build rockets and from that point on the rockets became more and more sophisticated. In 1944 JPL formally became an army constitute lab and 14 years later it became the NASA branch that is remains today. 

       One of my questions that I did not get to ask during the talk but was answered after the meeting was how Wernher von Braun affected NASA at the time and afterwards as far as funding and public opinion. Von Braun who was brought to the US along with other Nazi Scientists after WWII in the top secret "operation paperclip" became the director of the Marshal Space Flight Center. I had wondered if having a former Nazi on staff had an effect on funding and if also public opinion put pressure on the government to fund his programs less. However after he said that von Braun's true identity remained a secret until after his death it is clear that his presence did not effect funding in anyway since the government brought him over for the purpose of building rockets. Of course when the public found out they were not happy, but this man had become an American hero in some ways since he basically got us to the moon. For those who worked for him and other members of NASA it was no longer that their success was being credited to a foreigner but to a Nazi party member.