Homer E. Newell, Jr. and the Development of U.S. Space Science
By John D. Ruley, Space Studies. Advisor: Dr. Paul S. Hardersen.
Research Question:
Highlights of Newell’s Career:
How did U.S. unmanned space science
develop in the 1950s and 60s, and how
was it related to the manned space
program?
1915: He is born in March – the same
month as legislation establishing a
National Advisory Committee on
Aeronautics (NACA) the predecessor of
NASA.
Methodology:
A biographical approach using the
career of Dr. Homer E. Newell, first head
of NASA’s unmanned science and
applications program, as a lens through
which to examine how these programs
developed.
Newell’s involvement with what became
space science actually went back to
1945, when the Naval Research Lab
(NRL) began flying instruments on exNazi V2 missiles acquired in the U.S.
Army’s Operation Paperclip. His
background and education turned out to
be key factors in his career – thus the
project broadened into a full biography.
Sources:
Over 2,000 pages of original documents
copied during three visits to the
Washington DC area at sites including
NASA headquarters (history division),
National Archives II and Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum. Additional material
included a copy of Newell’s federal
personnel files from the National
Personnel Records Center, document
copies from the NRL library, Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and
Johnson Space Center (JSC) archives
and the National Reconnaissance Office
(NRO). Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) requests were executed against
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
with negative results. Secondary sources
include contemporaneous newspaper,
magazine and journal articles, published
books by Newell and others, and oral
history interviews – including one
conducted in person and several others
by electronic mail and / or telephone.
1929: He becomes fascinated with
astronomy.
1936 - 44: B.A. (cum laude) and A.M.T.
degrees in math from Harvard, PhD in
math from the University of Wisconsin.
Assistant professor of math, U.
Maryland.
1944 - 45: Special assistant to head of
NRL guided missile section, which
becomes sounding rocket section after
war ends.
1945 - 55: Supervises development of
Viking sounding rocket to replace exNazi V2.
1952: Co-authors “Pressures, Densities
and Temperatures in the Upper
Atmosphere” in Physical Review.
April 2 1958: Newell is credited as “The
Sparkplug” for creation of a civilian
space agency by scientists including
James Van Allen and Fred Whipple,
among others. (NASA History Office)
1960: Establishes procedures for space
flight experiment selection through a
space science steering committee that he
chairs personally until 1963. The same
basic procedures are used to select NASA
flight experiments today!
1961 – 63 : President Kennedy makes a
manned lunar landing “before this
decade is out” a national priority. Newell
accelerates the unmanned lunar
exploration program.
1953 - 55: Publishes High Altitude
Rocket Research (NY: Academic Press),
the first of his nine books.
1955 - 58: Science coordinator for
Project Vanguard, the first U.S. satellite
program.
1964: Ranger VII becomes the first manmade object to take close-up photos of
the Moon, after six failed attempts.
Newell reverses previous policy,
instructing his staff that supporting the
manned space program must take
precedence over pure science.
1965: “Lunar Exploration Plan”
explicitly subordinates science on early
missions (both manned and unmanned)
to engineering objectives. Science to be
featured on later Apollo Applications
missions that are never flown.
1957: Sputnik I orbits the Earth.
1957 - 1958: Agitates for civilian control
of the space program. Meets with Vice
President Nixon. Congratulated by
colleagues when NASA is created.
Homer E. Newell, Jr. in 1937 (U. Wisconsin)
1958: Joins NASA as assistant director
for space sciences and recruits more
than 50 scientists from NRL.
Mauna Kea Summit, Hawaii – the second small
dome from the right houses the first telescope
on this site – a 2.2 meter instrument funded by
Newell in 1964 over the objections of his staff to
provide improved atmospheric density
measurements in support of Mars probes.
Manned space exploration meets unmanned
space science in 1969 when Apollo 12 lands
within sight of Surveyor 3, which arrived on
the Moon two years earlier (NASA Photo).
1972 – 74: Elected president of the
American Geophysical Union (AGU).
Earlier, he founded the Union’s
planetary sciences section.
1959: Starts NASA’s first official
program for unmanned lunar
exploration – two years before President
Kennedy makes a manned landing U.S.
policy.
1961 - 63: Assigned to head NASA’s
sustaining university program (SUP),
which eventually spends $100 million on
training, institutional and facility grants.
Among the facilities funded are two
ground-based planetary observatories
still in use today.
December 6, 1958: Vanguard Test Vehicle 3
explodes on the launch pad. Newell was
responsible for the satellite, which survived
and is now in the Smithsonian Air and Space
Museum.
1966: Applications Technology Satellite I
is launched into geostationary orbit. It
employs a new “spin-scan” technique
(invented by University of Wisconsin
meteorologist Vernor Soumi) to deliver a
complete image of the hemisphere every
20 minutes, providing the basis for
continuous analysis of weather patterns.
Newell supported development of
Soumi’s technique over the objections of
his own staff.
1973 - 74: Newell retires from NASA,
but serves as a consultant, among other
things leading an advisory committee
that recommends integrating scientists
as payload specialists and mission
specialists on space shuttle flights.
The first image showing both the Earth
and Moon (top of picture), taken by the
ATS-1 spin-scan system in 1966. (NASA
photo).
1967-73: Newell becomes associate
administrator of NASA (3rd ranking
position in the agency), but not general
manager, which both of his predecessors
were. His initial assignment is to develop
“an orderly, routine approach to longterm planning.”
1968: Apollo 8 circles the Moon and
James E. Webb Jr. resigns as
administrator of NASA. He is succeeded
by Thomas O. Paine, who is not
impressed by Newell’s approach to
planning.
1969: Apollo 11 lands on the Moon.
1975 - 78: Newell negotiates a $30,000
per year contract for three years, an
office at NASA headquarters and a fulltime assistant, jointly funded by the
NASA history division and office of space
science to write a history of space
science. Chapters are reviewed by a wide
range of officials.
1980: Newell’s last book, Beyond the
Atmosphere: Early Years of Space
Science. (Washington, DC: NASA SP4211) is published, to mixed reviews. It
eventually becomes a standard reference
on the subject.
1983: Newell dies of a stroke in
Alexandria, VA. He is denied a
posthumous National Medal of Science
because his work has been mainly
administrative. The GSFC library and an
asteroid are eventually named for him.
1970 - 71: Paine assigns Werner von
Braun, designer of the Saturn V moon
rocket as Newell’s deputy for planning.
Attempts to sell an expanded space
program fail, and NASA’s budget is
sharply reduced.
1971: Newell meets with ScientistAstronauts, who expected to fly on nowcancelled Apollo Applications missions.
He recommends that at least one of
them be assigned to a lunar landing,
and two on each of three Skylab Earthorbiting mission. Geologist Harrison
Schmitt is eventually assigned to Apollo
17, becoming the last man (and only
scientist) to set foot on the Moon, but
only one scientist flies on each of the
Skylab missions.
A 1973 Skylab ATM photo of the Sun in
Ultraviolet light – Newell advocated for space
science using both manned and unmanned
platforms. The ATM was operated by
Scientist-Astronauts, one of whom flew on
each Skylab ,mission (NASA Photo)
Newell’ official photo (NASA)
Conclusions:
Plans for unmanned lunar exploration
predate Kennedy’s decision to land a man on
the moon in the 1960s. That decision appears
to have accelerated the unmanned program,
but also changed its focus from scientific
research to acquiring engineering data
supporting the manned landings. By 1964,
Newell made this clear to his staff, and by
1965 it was official NASA policy.
He told an interviewer in 1972 that the overall
lunar program could have been improved if
the unmanned missions continued. He also
pointed out that manned lunar missions were
supported by unmanned spacecraft, including
Pioneer deep space probes that sampled the
cislunar radiation environment, weather
satellites that predicted conditions in the
launch and recovery areas, and
communications satellites that relayed
television images and flight data from the
spacecraft to users on Earth.
Newell’s unique background as both a
government research scientist and teacher
were critical to the development of space
science early on – he was uniquely able to
bridge the concerns of the NASA staff,
dominated by engineers and managers, with
those of the scientific community. This was
helped by his low-key personality and
willingness to let others take credit for
accomplishments.
Later, when he was given responsibility for
NASA-wide planning, Newell was less
successful. This also reflected his personality
– both at NRL and in his earlier NASA career
he employed tough, no-nonsense deputies
who could (and did) enforce his decisions.
This did not happen in his later role as
associate administrator, which coincided with
a low point in NASA funding.