Atmosphere of Freedom: 70 Years at the NASA Ames Research Center

As the NASA Ames Research Center approached its 70th anniversary in December 2009, there was interest in updating the 60th anniversary history Atmosphere of Freedom: Sixty Years at the NASA Ames Research Center (NASA SP-4314). Much had happened in the decade from 1999 to 2009.Ames stayed focused on its historical mission of basic research and forward-thinking technologies-in information technology, aeronautics, reentry systems, space life sciences, and planetary science. Still, the...
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As the NASA Ames Research Center approached its 70th anniversary in December 2009, there was interest in updating the 60th anniversary history Atmosphere of Freedom: Sixty Years at the NASA Ames Research Center (NASA SP-4314). Much had happened in the decade from 1999 to 2009.Ames stayed focused on its historical mission of basic research and forward-thinking technologies-in information technology, aeronautics, reentry systems, space life sciences, and planetary science. Still, the Center confronted new challenges and new programs emerged. Notable was the growth of astrobiology, the birth and death of nanotechnology, the establishment of the NASA Research Park, the LCROSS mission to the Moon and the Kepler mission to hunt for Earth-sized planets. Perhaps the most important challenge was NASA''s Constellation program, a full-bore effort to create a transportation system for human spaceflight to replace the Space Shuttle and return America to the Moon. Furthermore, events of the most recent decade shed new light on parts of NASA Ames'' legacy. The renewed emphasis on small spacecraft, for example, prompted renewed interest in Ames'' historical strengths in spacecraft engineering dating back to the1960s. The renewed emphasis on NASA research to resolve the common concerns of commercial space, likewise, prompted renewed interest in Ames work to support the information technology industry. This update also allowed for a reconfiguration of the text. The story here starts in1958 when the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), of which Ames was apart, was incorporated into the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The first twenty years of Ames'' history-back to 1939, its NACA years-remains relevant. The NACA culture is firmly fixed with in Ames and often colored its work in the NASA years, especially in its continuing efforts in aeronautics and in how it provides research support to firms and other Centers pursuing larger projects. For those interested in Ames during the NACA years, that story is told well in Edwin P. Hartman, Adventures in Research: A History of the Ames Research Center, 1940-1965 (NASASP-4302, 1970). The 60th anniversary edition of Atmosphere of Freedom was organized largely chronologically, with topical areas broken into larges watches of time. This 70th anniversary edition begins with a history of the Center from the perspective of the Center directors- there have been ten since 1958.This ties the history of Ames into its larger context of space policy and politics, and addresses the impact of leadership on the history of the Center. Then the chapters are organized by the subjects that persisted throughout Ames'' history: spacecraft projects, human exploration, planetary sciences, space life sciences, information technology, and aeronautical research. Each of these stories has a history dating back to at least 1958, so issues of overlap in the narrative remain-in that what Ames has done best is explore the fruitful interchanges of disciplines and capabilities. Computational fluid dynamics, for example, developed from iterative advances in aerodynamics, supercomputing and software development, and so will be addressed in various chapters. Astrobiology, likewise, grew along the shifting border between the space life sciences and planetary science. However, the larger themes relevant on its 60th anniversary remain relevant on the 70th anniversary of NASA Ames: the complex and constant intermingling and convergence of people, tools and ideas. Ames people value the perpetual reinvention of their careers and the cross-fertilization of ideas. Ames stands as an extraordinary repository of high-tech equipment, research laboratories, and facilities. That physical infrastructure supports what Ames truly is-a growing and evolving community of researchers and support staff who have given birth to new technologies, and thus enabled the human conquest of the atmosphere and the exploration of space.