This collection contains the interviews for the Space Telescope History Project. These interviews examine the early planning and development of what would eventually be known as the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The period covered is from the 1970s into the 1980s. This project constitutes one of several oral history projects carried out within the National Air and Space Museum's (NASM) Department of Space History. This interview set consists of over 235 hours of interviews with 94 individuals. Please note that there are a few instances where audio cassette tapes of the interview subjects exist but without written transcripts while there are a few cases of existing transcripts of the interviews without any audio cassette tapes. Those interviewed include astronomers, scientists, engineers, as well as administrators, all of whom were involved in the space telescope project. The following were interviewed for this project: Bob Adams, Ken Ando, Marcel Aucremanne, John N. Bahcall, Neta Bahcall, William Baum, Michael J.S. Belton, Marc Bensimon, Livingston Biddle, Robert C. Bless, Greg Boeshaar, Albert Boggess, III, John Brandt, Robert A. Brown, Bert Bulkin, Margaret E. Burbridge, J.J. Caldwell, Frank Carr, Clark R. Chapman, John Clark, Art Code, Frank V. Costa, Allan Cree, E.G. Danielson, Arthur Davidsen, Mike Disney, James A. Downey, III, Roger Doxsey, Frank K. Edmondson, James L. Elliot, Garvin Emmanuel, William G. Fastie, George Field, Don Fordyce, Laurence W. Fredrick, Riccardo Giaconi, Alan Goldberg, Edward Groth, Arun K. Guha, Don Hall, Richard Harms, Kitty Havens, Richard Henry, Noel Hinners, Donald Hunten, William W. Keathley, Warren J. Keller, Sam Keller, Ivan King, A.L. Lane, Barry Lasker, Robin J. Laurance, David Leckone, Malcolm Longair, John L. Lowrance, Duccio Macchetto, Bruce McCandless, Kent Meserve, Jesse L. Mitchell, Jim Moore, Max Nein, Don Noah, Memphis Norman, T. Bland Norris, James B. Odom, Jean R. Olivier, Charles Pellerin, Arthur J. Reetz, Jack Rehnberg, Evan Richards, Nancy Roman, James Rose, Jeffrey D. Rosendahl, Jane Russell, Ethan Schreier, Daniel J. Schroeder, Thomas J. Sherrill, Pete F. Simmons, Stanley Sobieski, Fred A. Speer, Lyman Spitzer, Peter Stockman, Ernst Stuhlinger, John Teem, Domenick Tenerelli, William G. Tifft, Rodger Thompson, Robert Trevino, Hendrick C. van de Hulst, Edward Weiler, James C. Welch, James A. Westphal, Richard L. White and Ray Zedekar.

NASM.1999.0035

Arranged and described by Mark Kahn, 2008. Encoded by Amanda Buel, 2014.

National Air and Space Museum (U.S.). Division of Space History

1983-1991

Department of Space History, NASM, Transfer, 1999, 1999-0035, Varies.

3.7 Cubic feet (15 cassette boxes; 5 letter-size document boxes)

This collection consists of the oral history transcripts and related research documentation for the Space Telescope History Project (STHP), which examined the space sciences, predominantly astronomy, viewed through the lens of a particular undertaking, the Hubble Space Telescope, 1970s-1980s.

Some restrictions apply; see permission forms in the collection accession file.

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Slides (photographs)

Press releases

Transcripts

Photographs

Reports

Publications

The Space Telescope History History Project interviews are arranged alphabetically by interviewee. Boxes 1-14 contain interviews on audio cassette tapes. Boxes 15-20 contain the transcripts for these cassette tapes. Most of these transcripts are available to researchers though, restrictions are placed on a small number of them. A NASM staff member will advise the patron which transcripts are available for copying and/or viewing and how to order copies of transcripts. Transcripts with user restrictions are highlighted in bold type.

This collection consists of the oral history transcripts and related research documentation for the Space Telescope History Project (STHP), which examined the space sciences, predominantly astronomy, viewed through the lens of a particular undertaking, the Hubble Space Telescope, 1970s-1980s. The principal investigator for the STHP was Robert W. Smith, and the interview set contains 235 hours of interviews with 80 individuals. The central thread of this collection was the problem of configuring new political relations among the space sciences and sponsors. The following were interviewed: Bob Adams (with Robert Trevino and Kitty Havens); M. Aucremanne; John Bahcall; Neta Bahcall; William Baum; Michael Belton; March Bensimon; Robert Bless; Greg Boeshaar; Albert Boggess; John Brandt; Robert Brown; Bert Bulkin; Margaret Burbidge; J. J. Caldwell; Frank Carr; Clark Chapman; John Clark; Art Code; Frank Costa; E. G. Danielson; Arthur Davidsen; Mike Disney; John Downey; Rodger Doxsey; Frank Edmondson; James Elliot; Garvin Emanuel; William Fastie; Riccardo Giacconi; Alan Goldberg; Edward Groth; Arun Guha; Don Hall; Richard Harms; Richard Henry; Noel Hinners; Donald Hunten; William Keathley; Warren Keller; Sam Keller; Ivan King; A.L. Lane; Barry Lasker; Robin Laurence; David Leckrone; Malcolm Longair; John Lowrance; Duccio Macchetto; Bruce McCandless; Kent Meserve; Jesse Mitchell; Jim Moore; Mas Nein; Don Noah; Memphis Norman; T. Bland Norris; James Odom; Jean Olivier; Charles Pellerin; Arthur Reetz; Jack Rehnberg; Evan Richards; Nancy Roman; James Rose; Jeffrey Rosendhal; Jane Russell; Ethan Schreier; Daniel Schroeder; Thomas Sherrill; F. Pete Simmons; Stanley Sobieski; Fred Speer; Lyman Spitzer; Peter Stockman; Ernst Stuhlinger; John Teem; Domenick Tenerelli; William Tifft; Hedrick van de Hulst; Edward Weiler; James Welch; James Westphal; Richard White; and Ray Zedekar. The collection also contains the following documentation gathered from a variety of sources: photographs, slides, NASA publications and reports, contractor reports and studies, press releases, and finding aids produced by the Space History Department, NASM.

Slides (photographs)

Press releases

Transcripts

Photographs

Reports

Publications

Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.

National Air and Space Museum (U.S.). Division of Space History

National Air and Space Museum. Department of Space History

Space Telescope History Project (U.S.)

Adams, Robert

Aucremanne, M.

Bahcall, John N.

Bahcall, Neta

Baum, William

Belton, M. J. S.

Bensimon, March

Bless, Robert, 1927-

Boeshaar, Greg

Boggess, Albert

Brandt, John C.

Brown, Art

Brown, Robert A.

Bulkin, Bert

Burbidge, E. Margaret

Caldwell, J. J.

Carr, Frank

Chapman, Clark R.

Clark, John

Costa, Frank

Danielson, E. G.

Davidsen, Arthur Falnes, 1944-

Disney, Michael

Downey, John

Doxsey, Rodger E.

Edmondson, Frank K. (Frank Kelly)

Elliot, James, 1943-2011

Emanuel, Garvin

Fastie, William

Giacconi, Riccardo

Goldberg, Alan

Groth, Edward

Guha, Arun

Hall, Donald N. B.

Harms, Richard

Havens, Kitty

Henry, Richard B. C.

Hinners, Noel W.

Hulst, H. C. van de (Hendrik Christoffel), 1918-

Hunten, Donald M.

Keathley, William

Keller, Sam

Keller, Warren

King, Ivan R.

Lane, A. L.

Lasker, Barry M.

Laurence, Robin

Leckrone, David

Longair, M. S., 1941-

Lowrance, John

Macchetto, F.

McCandless, Bruce

Meserve, Kent

Mitchell, Jesse

Moore, Jim

Nein, Mas

Noah, Don

Norman, Memphis

Norris, T. Bland

Odom, James

Olivier, Jean

Pellerin, Charles

Reetz, Arthur

Rehnberg, Jack

Richards, Evan

Roman, Nancy Grace, 1925-

Rose, James

Rosendhal, Jeffrey D.

Russell, Jane

Scherrill, Thomas

Schreier, Ethan

Schroeder, D. J.

Simmons, F. Pete

Smith, Robert W. (Robert William), 1952-

Sobieski, Stanley

Speer, Fred

Spitzer, Lyman, 1914-

Stockman, Peter

Stuhlinger, Ernst, 1913-

Teem, John

Tenerelli, Domenik

Tifft, William G.

Trevino, Robert

Weiler, Edward

Welch, James

Westphal, James

White, Richard Lee, 1953-

Zedekar, Ray

Space Telescope History Project, NASM.1999.0035, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

National Air and Space Museum Archives