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History

NASAWatch Is 26

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
April 1, 2022
Filed under

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 few things from those early days that are still online:
Rogue Webmasters, Government Executive, 1 Oct 1996
NASA’s Most Important Asset, Gerry Griffin, 31 December 1996
Dan Goldin Comments to the Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC) Meeting, 6/17/96
Changes in Thinking At NASA November 29, 1996, PBS News Hour

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

16 responses to “NASAWatch Is 26”

  1. John C Mankins says:
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    Happy Anniversary…! (Unless this is a fake post??? 😉

  2. Bad Horse says:
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    I know for sure you saved lives by bringing things to light. People trust NASA watch (even Sr, NASA and contractor management. But do fear it more.) I have been in meetings when someone has said “what if this gets on NASA watch?” No one fears the IG. But they do have a healthy respect for K Cowing. Well done NASA watch!

  3. Alan Ladwig says:
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    Happy Anniversary Keith.

  4. Michael Kaplan says:
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    Happy Anniversary Keith. Very well done!

  5. mfwright says:
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    Thanks for keeping the format the same although there are more scripting and ads, which is needed to pay the bills so people can get latest gossip for free. At times it might get out of hand but overall reasonably balanced and I trust you make judgements to not post certain material you receive that could be compromising. Also thanks for managing comments, especially when things get out of hand require locking or deleting. And thanks for providing interviews to media with your skilled Miles Obrien style of describing space activities.

  6. Bill Berry says:
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    Thank You Keith! You helped save Ames Research Center in 1996. Your support, insights and knowledge of what was happening at HQ was critical as we worked through through the Zero Base Review.

    • kcowing says:
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      My favorite NASA center!

    • Bob Mahoney says:
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      Has any NASA center ever actually been closed? I was always under the impression that closing ANY NASA center is a political impossibility so any internal proposals of such a thing aren’t ever entertained or supported by top management.

  7. rb1957 says:
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    Applaud the humour in picking the launch date !
    Applaud the efforts taken to keep it going a labour of love in a landscape of aridity and disenchantment.

  8. Homer Hickam says:
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    I remember it well. Thanks,, Keith, for the original RIFWatch and all that has followed. You’ve really made a positive difference.