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NASA’s next flagship space telescope, slated for launch in December after many years of delay, will retain its current name, the James Webb Space Telescope, despite controversy surrounding its winner.
The telescope was dedicated to James Webb, the administrator of the space agency from 1961 to 1968 and throughout the Apollo years, in 2002. However, in the past six years, evidence has emerged linking Webb’s work in the upper echelons of the State Department with what is known as Lavender Scare, the state-sponsored anti-LGBT purge that forced gay and bisexual scientists and officials to quit US federal jobs due to of their sexuality in the 1950s and 1960s.
Naming Hubble’s successor after someone involved in one of the most discriminatory political actions in American history has proven controversial enough that thousands of astronomers, astrophysicists and scientists have signed a petition calling for that it be renamed. The petition, started by cosmologist Dr Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, astrophysicist Dr Sarah Tuttle, astronomer Dr Lucianne Walkowicz and astrophysicist Dr Brian Nord, reads as follows:
“This new mission reflects the rainbow of possible universes that our community imagines, dreams of and works for, and its name should reflect its future legacy. We are not only space science professionals and space enthusiasts, we are also future users of JWST. Together, we are part of the constituency that NASA purports to serve and inspire through its mission to “reveal the unknown for the benefit of all mankind”.
The letter adds: “[U]Under Webb’s leadership, homosexuals have been persecuted. Those who would excuse Webb’s failure in leadership cannot simultaneously give him credit for his handling of Apollo. ”
The petition led NASA to launch an investigation to examine and examine archival documents related to Webb’s policies and actions. Following the investigation with the agency, IFLScience learned that the investigation is now complete and that there are no plans to rename the telescope due to the lack of evidence to justify a name change.
“We have not found any evidence at this time to justify changing the name of the James Webb Space Telescope,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement seen by IFLScience.
In June, the head of NASA’s astrophysics division, Dr Paul Hertz, called on the agency to be transparent with the community and the public about the investigation and whatever decision is made at the end. . When IFLScience asked if the results of the investigation would be released, a NASA spokesperson told us there was nothing to share.
“We really have nothing to report because our investigation found nothing,” Karen Fox, senior science communications officer for NASA, told IFLScience.
Earlier documents widely circulated online have highlighted the role Webb himself had in facilitating and supporting homophobic political discussions among U.S. senators as Under Secretary of State in 1950.
It’s not just its role in federal anti-LGBTQ policy that is widely seen as problematic. During her tenure as a NASA administrator, women were deliberately left out of the astronaut program despite the so-called Mercury 13 outperforming male astronauts. He also wrote an essay in 1980 titled “Women Can’t Fight”. It was the historic year that the first female officers graduated from the United States Naval Academy, where Webb was a professor at the time.
NASA has been receptive in recent years to requests for renaming of space objects that have proven to be unresponsive. A prime example is the renaming of an asteroid formerly known as “Ultima Thule” in Arrakoth in 2019 after learning that its original name had Nazi overtones. Last year, he announced he would stop using derogatory or problematic nicknames for objects, renaming both the Eskimo Nebula and the Siamese Twin Galaxy in less offensive terms.
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