Herbert Stephen Desind Collection

Download Image

There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

1 Images

To view items in this collection, use the Online Finding Aid

The collection consists of 109 cubic feet of material, primarily photographs with some additional documentation, covering aerospace topics. The bulk of the material relates to US space exploration, including extensive photo files on US manned missions through the Space Shuttle, and satellite and sounding rocket work. The first series consists of unmanned spacecraft material, the second series consists of manned spacecraft material, and the third series consists of aircraft material.

Herbert Stephen Desind was a Washington, D.C. area native born on January 15, 1945, raised in Silver Spring, Maryland and educated at the University of Maryland. He obtained his BA degree in Communications at Maryland in 1967, and began working in the local public schools as a science teacher. At the time of his death, in October 1992, he was a high school teacher and a freelance writer/lecturer on spaceflight. Desind also was an avid model rocketeer, specializing in using the Estes Cineroc, a model rocket with an 8mm movie camera mounted in the nose. To many members of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), he was known as "Mr. Cineroc." His extensive requests worldwide for information and photographs of rocketry programs even led to a visit from FBI agents who asked him about the nature of his activities. Mr. Desind used the collection to support his writings in NAR publications, and his building scale model rockets for NAR competitions. Desind also used the material in the classroom, and in promoting model rocket clubs to foster an interest in spaceflight among his students. Desind entered the NASA Teacher in Space program in 1985, but it is not clear how far along his submission rose in the selection process. He was not a semi-finalist, although he had a strong application. In 1991, Desind was named Science Teacher of the Year by Prince George's County and the Potomac Electric Power Company. Desind died October 16, 1992, having succumbed to colon cancer. On November 17, 1994, the Herbert Desind Memorial Space Awareness Center, a state-of-the-art facility, was created and dedicated at Laurel High School. Today that Center houses the Cooperative Satellite Learning Project (CSLP) class as well as other science classes. The CSLP is a business, government, and educational partnership, focusing on space sciences and engineering. One of the sponsors of CSLP is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In 1997, Desind's father and sister donated his collection to the National Air and Space Museum.

Identifier

NASM.1997.0014

Creator

Desind, Herbert Stephen.

Date

1950-1992

Provenance

Barbara Desind Kernan, Gift, 1997

Extent

109 Cubic feet (305 boxes)

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

The Herbert Stephen Desind Collection (acc. 1997-0014) contains approximately 109 cubic feet of material relating to aviation and space flight. The material is primarily photographic in nature and focuses on manned and unmanned space flight activities.

Arrangement note

Series 1: Unmanned Space Programs Series 2: Manned Space Programs Series 3: Aviation subjects Series 4: Country files Series 5: Miscellaneous files Series 6: Press Kits

Restrictions

No restrictions on access.

Citation

Herbert Stephen Desind Collection, Accession 1997-0014, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Manned space flight
Artificial satellites
Astronautics
Space flight
Space shuttles
Rockets (Aeronautics)

Type

Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs

Visit

One museum, two locations

What's On

At the museum and online

Explore

Dive deep into air and space

Learn

For teachers and parents

Give

Be the spark