Keith’s note: there’s some plans in under serious consideration at NASA Ames to do some “phone book updates” aka organizational changes. Most notable is the flattening of the ARC Science Directorate (Code S) into 4 divisions: Space Biosciences, Earth Science, Astrophysics, and Planetary Science / Astrobiology. Flattening = eliminating existing branches. Meanwhile ARC also wants to create an Astrobiology Office at the center’s directorate level. Not sure how this new directorate interacts with SMD Astrobiology management or efforts at other NASA centers. No one at PAO is going to comment on this because of that “predecisional” safety word thing. Stay tuned.

Keith’s note: I just learned of my friend Jack Boyd’s death. I met Jack shortly after I joined NASA In 1986 and stayed in regular contact with him ever since. Jack WAS NASA – having lived 99 years, starting at the agency before it was even called NASA – longer than anyone at NASA Ames. When he retired in 2020 I sent an email to NASA Ames PAO asking if this announcement was a typo. Jack was not the retiring type. Jack always had something valuable (and funny) to say to me and was probably one of the nicest people to have ever worked on America’s space program. #AdAstra Jack.

Keith’s note: All probationary employees at NASA Ames will be sent email termination notices next Tuesday, 18 February 2025.

A message from the NASA Ames Center Director Eugene Tu Ames family, It’s with a heavy heart and extreme sadness that I inform you of the passing of former Ames Center Director Dr. Henry (Harry) McDonald. Harry was the eighth center director, serving from 1996 to 2002. Harry arrived at Ames with the charge from Administrator Daniel Goldin to take our center into the 21st century and leverage the fact […]

IRIS Televised Launch Viewing at NASA’s Ames Research Center, NASA Ames “On Wednesday, June 26, NASA’s newest mission, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph or IRIS, will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. IRIS will take flight using a Pegasus XL rocket, carried aloft by an Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft from Vandenberg. This exciting launch will broadcast live at the NASA Ames Visitor Center at NASA’s Ames Research Center, […]

Memo from NASA Ames Federal Employee Union, IPFTE local 30 Re: “Library Reshaping”