Guide to the Robert W. Jackson Collection, 1964-1999

NASA Ames History Office, NASA Ames Research Center
Inventory prepared by Leilani Marshall
NASA Ames Research Center History Office
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Ames History Office
Mail-Stop 207-1
Moffett Field, CA 94035
Phone: (650) 604-1032
Email: ARC-DL-history@mail.nasa.gov
URL: http://history.arc.nasa.gov
2004
NASA Ames Research Center. All rights reserved.

Note

Aerospace Engineering

Guide to the Robert W. Jackson Collection, 1964-1999

PP03.02

NASA Ames History Office, NASA Ames Research Center

Contact Information:

  • NASA Ames History Office
  • NASA Ames Research Center
  • Mail-Stop 207-1
  • Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
  • Phone: (650) 604-1032
  • Fax: (650) 604-6673
  • Email: ARC-DL-history@mail.nasa.gov
  • URL: http://history.arc.nasa.gov/contacts.htm
Collection processed by:
Leilani Marshall
Date Completed:
March 2004
Encoded by:
Leilani Marshall
Date encoded:
March 2004
2004 NASA Ames Research Center. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Robert W. Jackson Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1964-1999
Collection number: PP03.02
Creator: Jackson, Robert W. (Robert William)
Extent: 1.4 cubic feet
Repository: NASA Ames Research Center Ames History Office
Moffett Field, California 94035
Abstract: This collection consists of materials that document four NASA space programs during the years 1967 to 1988: Biosatellite, Magellan, Pioneer and Voyager. The materials were collected by Robert W. Jackson, who served as Recovery Controller for the Biosatellite program and as Flight Director for the Pioneer spacecraft.
Physical location: NASA Ames History Office, NASA Ames Research Center
Language: All material is in English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright does not apply to United States government records. For non-governmental material, researcher must contact origical creator.

Preferred Citation

NASA Ames History Office, NASA Ames Research Center. Moffett Field, California. PP03.02, Robert W. Jackson Collection, 1964-1999, [Container number] : [Folder number]. [Identification of item]. [Date, if available].

Acquisition Information

Donated by Robert W. Jackson in January 2004.

Biography

Robert William Jackson was born March 31, 1937 in Yonkers, New York. He earned a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1959. After working for the Boeing Company, he received an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 1963. He joined the NASA Ames Research Center in 1963.
At NASA Ames, Mr. Jackson provided Mission Analysis and Study Management for numerous scientific space project studies including: Earth Orbiting and Reentry Satellites; Free Flying and Space Station attached telescopes; Earth Escape Missions; Planetary Orbiters for Venus, Moon, and Mars; and Entry Probe and Lander Missions to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Mr. Jackson performed recovery planning for the Earth Orbiting Biosatellite flights in the late 1960s and served as Recovery Controller during the flights. During the 1980s, he served as Flight Director for the Pioneer Venus Orbiter spacecraft, including the periods when the spacecraft was used as a remote observatory for Comets. He also simultaneously served as Flight Director for the six older Interplanetary Pioneer spacecraft.
Mr. Jackson was responsible for operations planning for the Space Station-based Biological Research Project and managed preparations for the first item of NASA Ames hardware to be operated in the Station, a Passive Dosimeter system.
He has received numerous NASA awards including an Exceptional Service Medal for Pioneer Venus operations.
Mr. Jackson served as Chief of the Spacecraft Operations Branch in 1992 until his retirement from NASA in August 2001.

Scope and Content of Collection

The Robert W. Jackson Collection (1.67 linear feet) is composed of journal articles, photographs, monographs and other publications, and reports that cover four NASA space missions: Biosatellite, Magellan, Pioneer, and Voyager.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into four series based on these space missions.
The first series, Biosatellite, contains clippings and publications about the Biosatellite Project. The three Biosatellites were earth-orbiting biological satellites that were designed to return their experiments to the ground for analysis at the conclusion of their flights. Their combined mission was to study the effects on living organisms of weightlessness, radiation, weightlessness combined with radiation, and the absences of the effects of the earth's rotation, such as the removal of the normal 24 hours day-night cycle.
The second series, Magellan, contains primarily journal articles about the Magellan Mission. Magellan was launched in 1989, arrived at Venus in and went into orbit around the planet in 1990, gathering radar images of its surface, data on its gravity field, and gathering data on its geologic structure. The mission was terminated in October 1994 when the Magellan spacecraft was sent into the atmosphere of Venus where it was destroyed, marking the first time an operating planetary spacecraft was intentionally crashed.
The third series, Pioneer, represents the majority of the collection. It contains clippings, images, journal issues, publications and reports on the Pioneer Missions 6-13. The Pioneer Missions were designed to study the sun's environment and the planets in the solar system, performing first of their kind explorations of the sun, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus.
The most significant of these spacecraft were Pioneer 10 and 11, the first spacecraft to explore Jupiter and Saturn, and the first spacecraft to exit the solar system. Pioneer 10's mission ended in 1997 and the spacecraft has continued to explore the solar system when its last contact with Earth was made in 2003. Pioneer 11's mission ended in 1995 when its instruments had no power to make scientific observations. Both Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 carry a gold anodized plaque bolted to the spacecraft’s main frame that contains a graphic message of Earth and its human inhabitants, in the event that the spacecraft are intercepted by other intelligence.
The fourth and final series in the collection, Voyager, contains images and a publication about the Voyager Mission. The Voyager Interstellar Mission was a two-spacecraft mission to the outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune that was launched in 1977. Voyager 2's mission is now known as Voyager Interstellar Mission as it heads out of the solar system at a rate of about 290 million miles a year.

Indexing Terms

The following terms may be used to index this collection.

Personal Names

Jackson, Robert W.

Subject Terms

Magellan Spacecraft
Pioneer Project
Pioneer (Space Probes)
Space Biology
Voyager Project

Geographic Names

Moffett Field (Calif.)

Corporate Names

Ames Research Center

Separated Materials

All NASA Special Publications (NASA SP) have been removed from the collection and placed with the Ames History Office Reference Collection.

 

Series I. Biosatellite, 1965-1996

Physical Description: 7 folders

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series is arranged in three subseries based on the Biosatellite projects: Biosatellite Project, Biosatellite II, and Biosatellite III. The first subseries, Biosatellite Project, contains two publications that introduce the project and report on the Biosatellite project in its entirety. The second subseries, Biosatellite II, contains a NASA publication on the experiments of the Biosatellite II. The third and final subseries, Biosatellite III, is composed of magazine and journal articles on the Biosatellite III project.
 

Biosatellite Project

Box 1, Folder 1

NASA Facts. Vol. II, No. 10. (1965?)

Box 1, Folder 2

Biosatellite Project: Historical Summary Report. December 1969.

 

Biosatellite II

Box 1, Folder 3

Saunders, Joseph F. The Experiments of Biosatellite II. Washington, DC: Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1972. NASA SP-204.

 

Biosatellite III

Box 1, Folder 4

Clippings, 1969

Box 1, Folder 5

Clippings, 1971. "Biosatellite III Results." Reprinted from Aerospace Medicine, Volume 42, Number 3, March 1971.

Box 1, Folder 6

Clippings, 1996

Box 1, Folder 7

Clippings, undated

 

Series II. Magellan,1993-1999

Physical Description: 3 folders

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series primarily contains journal articles related to the Magellan Mission to Venus. It also includes a copy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory newsletter "V-Gram: Magellan Bulletin about Venus and the Radar Mapping Mission."
Box 1, Folder 8

Clippings, 1993

Box 1, Folder 9

Clippings, 1994

Box 1, Folder 10

Clippings, 1999

 

Series III. Pioneer,1964-1997

Physical Description: 77 folders (3 boxes)

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series represents the bulk of the collection. It is arranged in five subseries: Clippings, Images, Journal Issues, Publications, and Reports. The first subseries, Clippings, contains journal and newspaper articles as well as NASA news press kits, press releases, newsletters and bulletins from NASA Ames Research Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and NASA News Special Reports. The Images subseries is further arranged in four sub-subseries by topic: Comets, Planets, Space Probes, and Other. Many images in this subseries are official NASA lithographs that include written descriptions in the back of the photos with the statement "This lithograph is a Government publication …" and others are JPL photographs. The Journal Issues subseries includes entire issues of journals that are devoted to the Pioneer Project and missions, such as the journal Science. The Publications subseries is further arranged in three sub-subseries by publisher: NASA Ames Research Center Publications, NASA Publications and Other Publications. The material in these sub-subseries includes monographs, magazines, and other informational publications. The NASA Special Publications monographs have been removed from the collection and placed with the NASA Ames History Office Reference Collection (separation sheets note this new location). The final subseries of Pioneer is Reports, which contains published and unpublished reports about the Pioneer Project and missions.
 

Clippings

Box 1, Folder 11

1964

Box 1, Folder 12

1965

Box 1, Folder 13

1966

Box 1, Folder 14

1969

Box 1, Folder 15

1971

Box 1, Folder 16

1972

Box 1, Folder 17

1972

Box 1, Folder 18

1973

Box 1, Folder 19

1974

Box 1, Folder 20

1975

Box 1, Folder 21

1976

Box 1, Folder 22

1977

Box 1, Folder 23

1978

Box 1, Folder 24

1978

Box 2, Folder 25

1979

Box 2, Folder 26

1980

Box 2, Folder 27

1981

Box 2, Folder 28

1982

Box 2, Folder 29

1983

Box 2, Folder 30

1984

Box 2, Folder 31

1985

Box 2, Folder 32

1986

Box 2, Folder 33

1987

Box 2, Folder 34

1988

Box 2, Folder 35

1989

Box 2, Folder 36

1990

Box 2, Folder 37

1991

Box 2, Folder 38

1992

Box 2, Folder 39

1993

Box 2, Folder 40

1995

Box 2, Folder 41

1997

Box 2, Folder 42

Undated

 

Images

 

Comets

Box 2, Folder 43

Comet Halley

Box 2, Folder 44

Comet Wilson

 

Planets

Box 2, Folder 45

Jupiter

Box 2, Folder 46

Saturn

Box 2, Folder 47

Venus

 

Space Probes

Box 2, Folder 48

Pioneer Space Probes and Orbiters

 

Related

Box 2, Folder 49

Related

 

Journal Issues

 

1974

Box 3, Folder 50

Science. 25 January 1974. Vol. 183, No. 4122.

 

1975

Box 3, Folder 51

Science. 2 May 1975. Vol. 188, No. 4187.

 

1979

Box 3, Folder 52

Science. 23 February 1979. Vol. 203, No. 4382. Science. 6 July 1979. Vol. 205, No. 4401.

 

1980

Box 3, Folder 53

Science. 25 January 1980. Vol. 207, No. 4429.

 

1984

Box 3, Folder 54

JBIS: Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. October 1984. Volume 37, No. 10.

 

1988

Box 3, Folder 55

Mercury: The Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Vol. XVII, Number 2. March/April 1988. Mercury: The Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Vol. XVII, Number 3. May/June 1988.

 

1993

Box 3, Folder 56

Geophysical Research Letters. December 14, 1993. Volume 20, Number 23. Selected papers on Pioneer Venus Orbiter: Entry Phase.

 

Publications

 

NASA Ames Research Center Publications

Box 3, Folder 57

Pioneer Saturn Encounter. Moffett Field, CA: Ames Research Center, 1979.

Box 3, Folder 58

Pioneer F & G: Mission to Jupiter. Moffett Field, CA: Ames Research Center, [n.d.].

Box 3, Folder 59

Telemetry Coding Experiment for Pioneer Program. Moffett Field, CA: NASA Ames Research Center, [n.d.].

 

NASA Publications

Box 3, Folder 60

The Pioneer Mission to Jupiter. Prepared for the Office of Space Science and Applications. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1971. NASA SP-268.

Box 3, Folder 61

Corliss, William R. The Interplanetary Pioneers. Volume I: Summary. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1972. NASA SP-278.

Box 3, Folder 62

Fimmel, Richard O., William Swindell, and Eric Burgess. Pioneer Odyssey: Encounter With a Giant. Prepared at Ames Research Center. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1974. NASA SP-349.

Box 3, Folder 63

Fimmel, Richard O., William Swindell, and Eric Burgess. Pioneer Odyssey. Prepared at Ames Research Center. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1977. NASA SP-396.

Box 3, Folder 64

Fimmel, Richard O., Lawrence Colin, and Eric Burgess. Pioneer Venus. Prepared at Ames Research Center. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1983. NASA SP-461.

Box 3, Folder 65

Nicks, Oran W. Far Travelers: The Exploring Machines. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1985. NASA SP-480.

Box 3, Folder 66

Fimmel, Richard O., Lawrence Colin, and Eric Burgess. Pioneering Venus: A Planet Unveiled. Prepared at NASA Ames Research Center. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1995. NASA SP-518.

Box 3, Folder 67

Space Pioneers and Where They Are Now. Washington, DC: Educational Division, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1987. NASA EP-264.

Box 3, Folder 68

NASA Activities. January 1979. Vol. 10, No. 1.

 

Other Publications

Box 3, Folder 69

Pioneer to Jupiter: Second Exploration. Palo Alto, CA: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, November 1974.

Box 3, Folder 70

Pioneer Venus Encounter-1978. Moffett Field, CA: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, 1978.

Box 3, Folder 71

Pioneer Venus Mission Profiles-1978. Sunnyvale, CA: Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, 1978.

Box 3, Folder 72

A Diamond to Venus. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: D. Drukker & Zn. N.V, [n.d.].

Box 3, Folder 73

Pioneer Venus Exploration. [El Segundo, CA]: Hughes Aircraft Co., [n.d.].

 

Reports

Box 3, Folder 74

"Proposal for the design and development of the Pioneer Venus Spacecraft System. Summary." [El Segundo, CA]: Hughes Aircraft Company, August 1973.

Box 3, Folder 75

"Pioneer Program: Pioneer Venus Project Plan." Pioneer Document PC-400. Moffett Field, CA: NASA Ames Research Center, 1974.

Box 4, Folder 76

"Analysis of Spacecraft Anomalies." By Charles E. Bloomquist and Winifred C. Graham. March 1976. PRC R-1833. Prepared under Contract No. NAS 2-9041 for Ames Research Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Box 4, Folder 77

"Pioneer Venus: Final Project Report." December 1978. Contract No. NAS 2-8300. El Segundo, CA: Hughes Aircraft Company, 1978.

Box 4, Folder 78

"Pioneer Venus Extended Mission II: Presentation to NASA HQ." April 30, 1981.

Box 4, Folder 79

"Pioneer Venus Orbiter Mission Phases II and III." NASA Ames Research Center. Revised, March 1982.

Box 4, Folder 80

"Pioneer 10 and 1 Heliospheric Mission." Presentation. April 9, 1982.

Box 4, Folder 81

"Thermal Structure of the Atmosphere of Venus From Pioneer Venus Radio Occultations." Arvydas J. Kliore and Indu R. Patel, Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Revised August 30, 1982.

Box 4, Folder 82

"Post Launch Mission Operation Report: Pioneer Venus Orbiter & Multiprobe Mission Success Assessment." Report No. S-825-78-01/02. December 8, 1982.

Box 4, Folder 83

"Pioneer to Venus: The Multiprobe and Orbiter Missions." Roger A. Craig, Lawrence Colin and Richard O. Fimmel. NASA Ames Research Center. December 23, 1983.

Box 4, Folder 84

"Pioneer Venus Orbiter Mission: Post-Halley." July 1985.

Box 4, Folder 85

"Pioneer Venus Orbiter: Ten Years of Discovery." A Report of the Pioneer Venus Science Steering Group. Edited by Lawrence Colin. August 1989.

Box 4, Folder 86

"Pioneer Venus 12.5 km Anamoly Workshop Report (Volume I)". Proceedings of a workshop held at Moffett Field, California September 28-29, 1993. NASA Conference Publication 3303.

Box 4, Folder 87

"Pioneer Venus Orbiter Post-Entry Summary Report." Document No. P-1002. Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. May 20, 1994.

Box 4, Folder 88

"Interplanetary Pioneer Success Story." A paper prepared for Wincon 70, IEEE. By Thomas M. Lough, John Mulkern and Bernard Roseman, [n.d.].

 

Series IV. Voyager,1977-1980

Physical Description: 2 folders

Series Scope and Content Summary

The fourth and final series in the collection, Voyager, contains images and a publication about the Voyager Mission. The Voyager Interstellar Mission was a two-spacecraft mission to the outer planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune that was launched in 1977. The mission was designed to take advantage of a rare geometric arrangement of the outer planets that only happens every 175 years and that allowed the spacecraft to visit all four planets using the minimum amount of fuel and time. Voyager 1 visited Jupiter in March 1979 and Saturn in November 1980, and then continued on its way out of the solar system at a rate of 320 million miles a year, conducting studies of interplanetary space. Voyager 2 also visited Jupiter in July 1979 and Saturn in August 1981, but then continued on its way to Uranus (January 1986) and Neptune (August 1989). Voyager 2's mission is now known as Voyager Interstellar Mission as it heads out of the solar system at a rate of about 290 million miles a year.
 

Images

Box 4, Folder 89

Saturn

 

Publications

Box 4, Folder 90

Voyager to Jupiter and Saturn. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1977. NASA SP-420.