Editor’s note: I first posted this on 10 Sep 2011. I used to run through the precise place where the plane hit the Pentagon when I lived across the street at Riverhouse III (I moved to Reston in 1990). Eric Sterner lived a few blocks away. Bill Readdy’s friend lived in the same building as I did and watched this happen out his window. And Lon Rains was in traffic and saw this unfold with his own eyes. Two people from my town of Reston did not come home that day. Had I been looking up I could have seen the plane in the sky over our house. A few hours after the attack someone in Reston decided to put up an American flag on the pedestrian overpass a few blocks from our house. It was a flag with only 48 stars. An antique. It was all that they could find on such short notice. Through all these years two haunting color images remain in my mind: some red begonias in a window at the Pentagon and that achingly blue September 11th sky. We have one of those blue skies today. Remember. — Original posting below.

Keith’s note: the archetype for NASA outreach – beyond space enthusiasts – was the original NASA Art Program during Apollo. It expressed in images what math and physics could not. I recall seeing these images as a young boy and they served to heighten the excitement of what lay ahead. I am willing to state that everything NASA has done with and for the arts since that time has its roots in this program – including such things as the Golden Record on the twin Voyagers and the Pale Blue Dot image. According to “James Dean, Founding Director of NASA Art Program, Dies at 92 (NY Times): “James Dean, a landscape painter who ran a NASA program that invited artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Norman Rockwell and Jamie Wyeth to document aspects of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo projects, died on March 22 in Washington. He was 92. … Mr. Dean believed that artists offered a perspective that could not be found in photographs. “Their imaginations enable them to venture beyond a scientific explanation of the stars, the moon and the outer planets,” Mr. Dean and Bert Ulrich wrote in their book, “NASA/ART: 50 Years of Exploration” (2008).” Ad astra James Dean.

Keith’s note: I had an interesting job at STS-1 – I was California Governor Jerry Brown’s advance man. I took a few days off from my job at Rockwell Downey where I stood inside of Discovery and Atlantis as they were being built to work for my old boss (I worked on his 1980 presidential campaign). The trip to the launch was insane. The area was still somewhat boarded up after the post-Apollo economic downturn and things were opening up for the shuttle era. So everyone was happy on the Space Coast.

Keith’s note: As best I can collate the facts, on 18 March 1945, 79 years ago today, a V-2 missile was launched from Statenkwartier in The Hague in occupied Netherlands at 9:25 am by Germany’s Battery 485. My father was almost killed when it struck London a few minutes later. My 50 year career was enabled by that V-2. A direct descendant, a Saturn V, designed by the same V-2 team, placed Americans on the Moon. The other day, yet another direct descendant, the SpaceX Starship, leapt above the sky. I originally wrote this story in 2019 as the Apollo 11 anniversary approached. Humanity now lives in space permanently. Our spacecraft have left the solar system. Our space telescopes look back to the beginning of time. We are spacefarers. Space technology has its roots in weapons of war. America’s early accomplishments in space were achieved with direct use of Nazi technology and personnel. Russia followed a similar path. Today North Korea, Iran, Russia and other nations use rocket designs with a clear lineage originating with Hitler’s V-2. All technology is iterative. Smart technology persists and finds peaceful uses despite its war making origins.

Keith’s note: I spent some time in Washington, DC this morning at the World War II memorial. My father was born 100 years ago today. We lost him a few years ago at age 95. He was a WWII vet. I thought this was an appropriate time to finally visit this hallowed place. As I have written previously my father – barely out of his teens – came within a matter of feet from possible death during a V-2 attack on London in 1945. He was injured physically – and that healed. But the emotional scars stayed with him until he drew his last breath – in my arms. As I also noted – the direct descendants of the thing that nearly killed my father – and thus almost preventing me from ever existing – gave my life purpose as a child and totally directed the course of my career. More Below

Keith’s note: I was just on Deutsche Welle TV and spoke about the legacy of Astronaut Walt Cunningham, the Apollo 7 mission, and The Artemis Generation. Audio below.

Book Review: The Apollo 11 Flight Plan: A Real Script Of Exploration “The Apollo 11 Flight Plan” from relaunch.space is one of the more unusual books that I have “read” or reviewed. Let me get this out of they up front: this book represents a true labor of love and dedication to the art of making history available as if it happened yesterday. This book contains a faithful recreation of […]

“The Apollo 11 Flight Plan” from relaunch.space is one of the more unusual books that I have “read” or reviewed. Let me get this out of they up front: this book represents a true labor of love and dedication to the art of making history available as if it happened yesterday.

Ad Astra Nichelle Nichols, SpaceRef Keith’s note: Actress Nichelle Nichols has died at the age of 89. To generations of Star Trek fans she was the iconic Lt. Uhura. To others she was a symbol of emergent racial equality who literally burst through multiple glass ceilings. To others she was the inspiration for people who actually became astronauts. Regardless of how you first encountered her, she was – and always […]

Keith’s 16 June update: NASA finally got around to mentioning this publicly. NASA’s The Color of Space Documentary Celebrates Black Space Explorers Too bad @NASA can't be bothered to promote this. ".. premiere of NASA’s feature documentary The Color of Space. In honor of #Juneteenth please join us for an evening of inspiration with NASA’s Black astronauts who’ve gone from space to the big screen." https://t.co/1NafLv8nzV pic.twitter.com/VxafZLYZeD — NASA Watch […]

Apollo 1 memorial is finally in place at Arlington National Cemetery. Long overdue. Kudos to all who made this happen. #AdAstra Alas @NASA hasn't bothered to tell anyone unless you happen to know to look for this pic taken today Marc Etkind @PinballMe https://t.co/Fm11aAnAvH pic.twitter.com/ZhhummHBOF — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 2, 2022

How It Started | How It’s Going Keith’s note: NASAWatch turns 26 on 1 Apr 2022. It started as “NASA RIFWatch” on 1 Apr 1996 with this post “RIF at NASA In Summer 1997?“. The website was first hosted on a Mac Classic II on a 128 kbps ISDN line in my old little condo in Reston, Virginia (see 20 Years Ago Today: The Seeds of NASAWatch). Here are a […]

Multiple Historic Resonances With The Moon Aboard ISS Keith’s update: Four small Apollo 11 Moon rocks that went to the summit of Mt. Everest – with an Astronaut – plus a piece of the summit of Everest – are now located in the ISS cupola 2 meters from where this picture was taken. “… Like a mini version, my Cosmic Kiss mission patch floats here next to the Nebra Sky […]

That Time Wernher von Braun’s Rocket Tried To Kill My Father “Humanity now lives in space permanently. Our spacecraft have left the solar system. Our space telescopes look back to the beginning of time. We are spacefarers. Space technology has its roots in weapons of war. America’s early accomplishments in space were achieved with direct use of Nazi technology and personnel. Russia followed a similar path. Today North Korea, Iran, […]

Some people want to rename @yurisnight because the first human to leave Earth was a Russian named "Yuri". Bad idea. BTW Gus Grissom's middle name was "Ivan". "Looking at the earth from afar you realize it is too small for conflict and just big enough for cooperation" Y. Gagarin pic.twitter.com/c3yAZPtbDq — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) March 15, 2022 Bad idea @SpaceFoundation *In light of current world events, the 2022 Space Foundation […]

ICYMI #NASA is obsessed with Apollo things that 2 generations of humanity weren't alive to witness & stumbles when it comes to making what @NASA does now & will be doing in the future relevant to their lives today & tomorrow. The Artemis Generation is not the Apollo Generation. https://t.co/gpVpm1q2Fq — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) March 11, 2022

Last Thursday on 27 January, 2022 NASA marked its Day of Remembrance. A time that is set aside to remember those astronauts who died in the line of duty. On this episode of the Terranauts podcast I talk with Helene and Chris Hadfield about the Day of Remembrance, about their memories of some of the crew who did not make it home from space. We also talk about what remembering […]

11 September 2001: Bad news from Earth, New Moon Rising – SpaceRef Larger image “The news from Earth that morning wasn’t good. Frank Culbertson would soon find that some of the day’s pre-planned routine would be altered. As soon as he was told of the attacks, Culbertson checked to see when they would be passing over the east coast of the U.S. Discovering that this was only some minutes away, […]

Keith’s note: I have lived in the Metro Washington DC area for 33 years – more than half my life. When I first moved to DC to work at NASA HQ I lived in Pentagon City directly across from the Pentagon in the River House III apartment building. The Pentagon was what I saw outside my window every single day. In the afternoons after work I often used to run […]