Projo Politics Blog

A Brown University professor who was active in the early stages of the nation's manned space travel program will be one of a handful of featured speakers next week at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the National Aviation and Space Administration.

James W. Head III, a planetary geologist who joined the Brown faculty in 1973, will be among four noted scientists on hand Oct. 14 at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia to talk about how space exploration triggered advances in the study of this planet's origins.

Since the Soviets stunned the world in 1957 with the successful launch of the satellite Sputnik, NASA has sent manned and unmanned spacecraft to explore the moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, comets, the asteroid belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and many planetary satellites, Head has noted. "Together," Head said in a Brown news release, "the results of this exploration have unveiled stunning planetary vistas and revealed the missing chapters of Earth history."

Head figures in history as one of the scientists recruited to work on NASA's Apollo Lunar Exploration Program during the years of preparation for astronaut Neil Armstrong's arrival on the moon in what he called a ``giant step for mankind.'' Among other jobs, Head helped NASA to select the lunar landing sites. Today his research focuses on processes that form and modify planetary surfaces.

 Tags  Apollo Brown University James W. Head III NASA

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